Quote Originally Posted by Dav
Liston, in my opinion, was one of those fighters who is extremely powerful, but quite limited. He came along and dominated the division through sheer strength and intimidation in much the same way that Foreman and Tyson did later (although I beleive that the young Tyson had far more skill than either of the two aformentioned with superior defence and fantastic head-movement).

Liston was always there to be taken by a slick boxer who could think and move... in hindsight he was tailor made for Clay at that stage of his career. As mentioned in one of the earlier posts, there was so much uncertainty with Listons dodgy connections and corrupt managers that nobody can say for sure how good he really was (it is rumoured that at one stage his contract was sold so many times that 120% of him was owned.... the more he earned - the poorer he got!!).

I agree that the 2nd Ali fight was not above board, but I genuinely believe that he was beaten by skillful boxing in the first fight and just ran out of ideas (thats why he quit on his stool - not due to a shoulder injury as claimed).
Yeah I agree with that . But I do think Sonny is massivley under rated . He should be on everyones top 10 cuz some of the names maybe put ahead of him . . Demspey , Johnson , Tunney , Schmelling etc would have got battered by Liston in the ring no doubt . They may have achived more in their era in a historical sense but Liston would beat them should they have met and of that I am almost certain . It depends what your crieteria is when ranking them I suppose