Quote Originally Posted by Mars_ax View Post
Quote Originally Posted by JazMerkin View Post
Liston is the worst suggestion on this list (apart from what I hope were jokes about Duran & Pacquiao). He fought just 2 opponents with sub .500 records his whole career & was beating up on experienced guys from his 6th fight. Avenged his first loss, which he fought with a broken jaw. Apart from Patterson, he beat some really credible guys in Summerlin, Cleveland Williams, Folley & Machen. He's much more than a 1 hit wonder, he just happened to get defined by his losses to probably the greatest HW of all time.
I'm gonna stick with Liston being a 1 hit wonder, like I said earlier in this thread, he won the HW title from Floyd Patterson, defended it against Patterson 10 months later, then lost the HW title to Ali 6 months later. His main claim to fame at the Championship level was his two 1st round destruction's of Patterson which made everyone believe he was fuckin' superman.

Was Liston a feared above average HW, and did he have a few nice wins besides Patterson? Sure, but what he was actually able to accomplish in ring wasn't really all that special, especially in title fights. Remember, Ali was far from being a "legend" when he fought Liston, he was a 22 year old kid with 19 pro fights and was something like a 7 -1 underdog before their first fight.
Well, if he won twice, surely he would be a two hit wonder

You've also got to remember that he beat the shit out guys like Folley & Machen who the Champ really wanted no piece of. It's like saying that Charley Burley wasn't great because he never fought at Championship level. Beating everyone available is all that a guy can do. He lost to Ali, but he was somewhere between 34 & 39 by that point. I see him as the Tyson of his day. Just with a much worse publicist.