Thread: David Haye vs Sonny Liston

Does Liston's jab dominate or is Haye's head movement too much?

Haye wins pretty easily IMO and would probably stop him. He's majorly underrated IMO and too judged on wladimir rather than the fact he knocked out pretty much every good cruiser at the time & did a very decent job on most of the heavys as well.

Yes he lost to wlad comprehensively - but I think he'd stop Liston in 5 or 6 (genuinely!)

Originally Posted by oakleyno1

Haye wins pretty easily IMO and would probably stop him. He's majorly underrated IMO and too judged on wladimir rather than the fact he knocked out pretty much every good cruiser at the time & did a very decent job on most of the heavys as well.

Yes he lost to wlad comprehensively - but I think he'd stop Liston in 5 or 6 (genuinely!)

Interesting call on that. I think Hayes speed would be a huge problem for Liston.

Liston crushes Haye like a roach, leaving him so devastated that he can't even blame his little toe

Originally Posted by X

Liston crushes Haye like a roach, leaving him so devastated that he can't even blame his little toe

Is this prime vs prime? Because if it is I agree with the above statement.

Originally Posted by mrbig1

Originally Posted by X

Liston crushes Haye like a roach, leaving him so devastated that he can't even blame his little toe

Is this prime vs prime? Because if it is I agree with the above statement.

I agree Liston wins in a mid-to-late TKO.

If that little glancing tap from Ali can have Liston rolling around on his back he has no chance against Haye.

Haye KO 1 with a jab. Fact.

((if the mob ain't involved, Haye KO 1 with a right hand. Fact))

Could Haye take those power shots?

Originally Posted by brocktonblockbust

Could Haye take those power shots?

Probably not for too long no, but then I don't think that he'd get much of a chance to land them.

Originally Posted by Jimanuel Boogustus

Originally Posted by brocktonblockbust

Could Haye take those power shots?

Probably not for too long no, but then I don't think that he'd get much of a chance to land them.

True. But if he just landed that left hook.....

Cassius Clay was the only fighter in history that Could give Sonny Liston a really hard time

Liston was a bona fide hard case. He was a mob enforcer and 'strike breaker' .... That means that when people went on strike, he waded into the crowd and beat the shit out of the ringleaders. He was a genuinely scary guy and, in my humble opinion, the only opponent that Ali was ever truly scared of.

hOWEVER .... When Liston was in jail, he was one of the most feared guys there, but the only only people he avoided were the ones who were truly mentally disturbed. If you read some of the better biographies, his view was they (and I paraphrase) 'they were crazy and unpredictable, so you never knew what they might do next'

I think Cassius Clays great feat in the build up to their fight was to convince Liston that Clay was mentally unbalanced. They were the only people Liston was scared of, and Clay pulled this off and that was the single biggest reason he won the fight.

Back to the original question, Haye is athletic and has good power and a pretty unorthodox style, but PRIME Liston, and by the way that's not the Sonny that fought Patterson or Clay, was was well schooled, technically clumsy but brutally efficient, and a serious hard man.

Haye would blink, and back off from engaging Liston toe to toe. He would move backwards, dummy and fake, and try to ambush Sonny. Haye had good power. His problem is that Liston had a concrete chin in his prime and I suspect Haye would become discouraged and begin to look for a way our after about the 6th round.

Controversially, I think Liston might win after Haye is disqualified for persistent fouling or something like that once he begins to gas out.

The old timers had harder bodies, tougher chins, and stronger characters than the modern fighters. More pride and resolve.

Marciano, Liston, Walcott, Louis, Dempsey...

They would beat the snot out of Tyson, Klitschko, Moorer, Haye, Arreola, Wilder, Brewster, etc.

Greb, Jeffries, Johnson, Zale, Graziano, Saddler, Gunboat Smith, Baer, Basilio, Canzeroni, Fireman Jim Flynn, Beau Jack, Sullivan ...... Can't see any of those guys saying

"I hurt my LITTLE TOE and that's why I lost".

There is a huge chasm between Maccarinelli Valyuev and Liston. Hate would realize that early on and be utterly persuaded by the end of five rounds.