Topic Originator: sammer
Date: Thu 18 Jul 02:15
Sonny Liston had a hard life and his date of birth and date of death are still a matter of debate. He should really have been heavyweight champion from around 1958 when he was flooring genuine challengers like Cleveland Williams and Zora Folley within a couple of rounds, but Floyd Paterson- who was fighting none of these people- ducked the Liston challenge until 1962. Two subsequent one round knock outs by Liston established him as a fearsome champion, but he could not cope with the pace of the then Cassius Clay who Liston underestimated and claimed should be arrested for impersonating a boxer.
Liston is now remembered for his two poor performances against Ali but he was a better boxer than George Foreman and had a better ring sense than Mike Tyson, two champions who hit as hard as he did. If he had been given his title chance earlier and retired before Ali came on the scene he would be ranked alongside Jack Johnson and Joe Louis. Even when almost 40 years old Liston managed to pulverise Chuck Wepner, the durable ‘Bayonne Bleeder’ that Ali struggled to finish off.
sammer
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