Ali v Liston

[Mars_ax]

Floyd was the second, or maybe third, worst hW champ of all time, ahead of only Johannsson for sure. Maybe he was better than Marvin Hart (lost to Burns), but I don't know much about him.

After Marciano retired in 1955, Patterson fought in a World Heavyweight Title eliminator against Tommy Jackson, after winning that fight by a SD, Patterson knocked out Archie Moore in the 5th round to win Marciano's vacated World Heavyweight Title in 1956. Patterson was far from great as a HW champion, but I wouldn't call him one of the worst, I give him credit for persevering and being persistent.
As for Patterson's 2 fights with both Liston and Ali, he basically just got bitch slapped by both bigger, stronger, and in Ali's case, more talented men.

In re: the 2 Liston vs. Ali fights, the first fight was legit, in the 2nd fight, it was either a mob fix, or Liston just decided to quit, the punch Ali hit Liston with to stop the 2nd fight, couldn't have crushed a grape.

Ali vs. Liston II - full fight:

[Master]

In that fight Liston still wanted to fight Ali, if he wanted to give up he would have stayed down for longer than the 10 count. He starts fighting again with Ali. So I think it was a legit punch.

[Mars_ax]

In that fight Liston still wanted to fight Ali, if he wanted to give up he would have stayed down for longer than the 10 count. He starts fighting again with Ali. So I think it was a legit punch.

Liston did get up, but I believe he thought the fight was over, in fact, if I remember right, the ref Joe Walcott, had fucked up the count, let the fight resume, but in meantime the timekeeper told Walcott the fight was over after the KD, and he stopped it. I still don't think the punch was hard enough to hurt Liston, it was all an act, but that's just me. I figure the mob made a killing on the 1st round KO.

[Master]

In that fight Liston still wanted to fight Ali, if he wanted to give up he would have stayed down for longer than the 10 count. He starts fighting again with Ali. So I think it was a legit punch.

Liston did get up, but I believe he thought the fight was over, in fact, if I remember right, the ref Joe Walcott, had fucked up the count, let the fight resume, but in meantime the timekeeper told Walcott the fight was over after the KD, and he stopped it. I still don't think the punch was hard enough to hurt Liston, it was all an act, but that's just me. I figure the mob made a killing on the 1st round KO.

No Liston and Ali carried on fighting for a few seconds and Liston was fine. The ref stopped them fighting and declared that Liston should have been counted out. So Liston was prepared to carry on. If he was going to lie down he would have stayed down.