Charles "Sonny" Liston is one of the heavyweight greats. Relive his best years in this video.. • Muhammad Ali - At His ... Liston vs Ali in more depth as referenced in the video
In evaluating the career of the great Sonny Liston, we need to keep in mind the large dispute or mystery about his actual age. Though 1932 is usually given as his birth year, most researchers into his life suggest he was likely born in the 20s; indeed, one of Sonny's sisters (there were more than 20 children sired by his poor, violent and abusive father!) stated he had been born the year after World War I, so 1919/20. In appearance, Sonny certainly looked older than 32 when he fought Ali and lost his title. All things considered, he was probably somewhere between 35 and 38 years of age. In many ways a tragic story -- abused as a child, forced into hard labor as a youth, prison time, control by the Mob, regularly harassed by racist cops, the generally bad press he received -- and yet he overcame all of that to become a truly dominant and greatly feared champion in the ring. Thanks for sharing this tribute to Sonny's legacy.
@@BobBenson-qz8lp What would help matters greatly is if we had a time series of Liston press shots, so we could look for signs of aging in his face. To me it looks like he aged quite a bit between 1958 and 1964 -- so if I had to bet, I would take 1930 as his likely birth year, or your proposal of 1929.
How weird after all these years I've become a big Liston fan. I don't think he was really a bad guy at all, and amazingly my discovery came from comments right here on You Tube, from guys who as kids met Liston when he lived in Colorado.
@@andrejensen7837 always hard to say. No one knows for sure until they've been tested. And you can't presume someone is going to act in a particular way in a tight spot, sometimes people who appear the strongest are the weakest and vice versa. Being fair about it Liston wasn't brought up as a chld, he was kicked up, and had a harder than hard life, so it's probably a bit more complicated than my original statement. I don't idolise him like many others do however. At the end of the day he was a convicted armed robber and there was a trail of victims in his wake. People seem to forget that. And he definitely threw the second Ali fight.
well i think the punch was kinda hard in slowmo and hd you can see the punch land and his back muscles shake from it. it was a clean counter to the temple. and hitting at the temple can make u go off balance. so i think he was but his body was still kinda shook up by that so i dont think he did.@@marknorris1381
Sonny Liston was one of the hardest men who ever walked this planet. Forget about Cage Fighters. Full Contact or any other new category of one on one. Nothing is more frightening than going toe to toe with Sonny
As a young teenager I had listened to the Patterson Johansson fights on the radio with great interest, but I have no recollection of Liston at all, until he fought Clay. Clay was an Olympic champion and counter culture hero and we loved him. Liston, well we didn't know much about him, but sports pages described him as a brute under the control of the Mafia, so we cheered Clay, and soon forgot Liston. Thank you for this, it brings balance long overdue for Mr. Liston.
Excellent video! Liston deserves a lot more credit, He is easily in the top 10 greatest Heavyweights ever. And would have fared well in any Era in Heavyweight history.
Liston's punches were so short without telegraphing them in these earlier fights. When he fought Ali, his punches looked heavier and not not nearly as quick and sharp as they did earlier in his career. He also had very good and fast foot movement when he was younger. Definitely should be ranked higher then he is amongst the great heavyweights.
Ali not only had the lateral movement that Liston had trouble dealing with, but he was too fast. As for that second fight, that phantom punch, to me at least, was a genuine knockout punch. Ali had a way of throwing punches the opponent couldn't see either because they came from all angles or were lightning fast. Ali anchors himself from going backwards and throws his punch.
One of the last TRUE "men of mystery". We don't know when he was born - we don't know when he died (or how) we don't REALLY know how good he was or could have been we don't know what fights he threw or were fixed..... Some say he was the best of them all..... we will never know.........
At his peak in the mid to late 1950’s Liston was the perfect heavyweight boxer. So smooth and fluid with his punches. Power in both hands, immensely powerful physique coupled with freakishly long arms and enormous hands. Understandably people thought that he was unbeatable at the time.
@@johnreidy2804 for a start you make a ridiculous comment that highlights your lack of boxing knowledge. Liston had his first professional fight in 1953 and Marciano retired from boxing in April 1956, his last fight was in September 1955. They were never going to fight each other. Marciano fought Jersey Joe Walcott in 1953 for a second time and then had two fights with Ezzard Charles the last one in September 1954 a year before his last fight against Archie Moore! Marciano would not have known who Liston was at that time. Liston was a couple of years into his career and Liston had lost a fight having had his jaw broken in September 1954 by Marty Marshall.
How can Sonny be the greatest of all time when Cassius Clay defeated him so decisively in their first encounter? How can you rate Sonny above Cassius therefore? This view seems to have its basis in sentimentalism, rather than logic and reason.
Have an awesome photo of Sonny Liston with my great-grandfather and my two great-uncles as well some of the neighborhood kids in front of my great-grandfather’s general store in Northampton, PA. My guess is it’s from the late 50s/early 60s!
Thanks for doin a video on liston, he deserved the recognition he earned!! He definitely threw that 2nd fight with ali?? And probably whacked cos he knew too much!! Keep up the GREAT work.
Absolutely. An ere when men were men. The way people carry themselves now, attitude and the stupid antics at press conferences is embarrassing. The fights now are stopped way way earlier, people these days couldn't take or give as much punishment, too soft.
Decades ago I took our oldest son to a fight " East Coast" and walked down and alleyway and Floyd Patterson was standing there by the back door and i was talking to him for about five minutes and around the corner comes smokin Joe Frazier! I surely remember Sonny Liston and thankful i got to see the heavyweights at their best
I once read a Sports Illustrated story by George Forman. As a teenager, George was Liston's ring boy. And the article gave a detailed account of the Real Sonny. George would model himself after Sonny as a boxer.
Great video about Sonny Liston's boxing highlights. You've covered a lot of analysis about his fighting career primarily in this short video as well as his personal life and death. Even though Liston apparently acquired a reputation as an intimidator, as you said I think he was a really good guy inside, but the poor treatment has made him distancing from the public as legendary sports star of his time. Liston would've done remarkably well if he was born into 70's or 80's because he would've been able to distance himself from any mob activities in the later era of boxing after the emergence of Mohamad Ali. You've done a great job with this video. thank you.
Liston was in his prime in the late 50s- early 60s. Liston's age was listed at 32 when he fought Clay in 1964. He probably was closer to 35. Could have been champion for 5-6 years if he had been given the opportunity to fight for the title earlier in his career.
Liston was a great fighter who had a really rough life. He made some bad decisions, and that cost him. No one is all good or all bad, and that would definitely apply to Sonny Liston. He was made out to be a thug under the control of the mob. That was a skewed version of who he was, and he never seemed to get over the fact that the public never accepted him. He had the skills and the raw power to be one of the all time best - and he may have been one of the 10 best Heavyweight Champions of all time in that regard, but he could have had a much better career had he made better decisions in his life. It's a shame he didn't get a title shot in 1959 or 1960. His career may have looked very different if he would have gone into the Clay fight after 5 or 6 consecutive successful defenses of his title. Even losing to Clay/Ali at that point (which he always would have - Ali was too fast for him) it wouldn't have been so bad if he could have just defended his title successfully a few more times before that loss. Until Ali there was no one who could come close to beating him.
Sonny liston in his prime was a rightfully feared boxer that no one wanted any parts of. It took a cocky, fast hands, fleet of foot fighter like Ali to beat him. My three dream fights would've been prime Liston vs. Marciano and Prime Frasier-vs- Tyson. Prime Foreman-vs- Shavers.
I'm old enough to remember when Floyd Patterson was champion and I admired him at the time. But that admiration lessened as I Iearned more about top contenders that his managers had him dodge. Those top contenders he dodged included not only Liston but also Cleveland Williams, Eddie Machen, and Zora Foley. Instead, he fought Tommie McNealy and only defended his title once a year. But eventually, against the directives of his trainer Cuss D'Amato, Patterson decided he needed to face Liston. D'Amato had told Patterson flatly that he could not beat Liston. Muhammed Ali, when he became champion, made a point of giving title shots to long slighted veteran contenders Cleveland Williams and Zora Foley. Unfortunately, by this time they were well past their prime, but those title shots gave them their biggest pay day.
I’m good friends with Chuck Wepner. Chuck was the last fighter to fight Sonney Liston, he also fought a young Forman, I asked him who hit harder. Chuck said it wasn’t even close. Liston gave him something like 75 stitches in his forehead. Imagine how hard hit Liston hit !
Born in 2017? NO. That will have made him 43 years old at the time of fight with Mohammed Ali, then Classius Clay in 1960 and could have missed to be enlisted at 24 years old in 1941 in WW2. 1930 is more likely
It is generally believed that Liston was born somewhere between 1927 - 1932. He claimed that he was born in 1932 but he was not really sure when he was born because of a lack of record keeping in Arkansas at the time of his birth. The year that has been most often believed in regard to Liston's birth is 1930. I suspect that what you are referring to is a book written about Liston by Paul Gallender who claims that Liston was born in 1919. Gallender is the only person that has suggested that Liston was born this early and I find it very difficult to believe. It is true that many people thought that Liston looked older than he claimed by several years but that doesn't prove much. It is well known that Liston was a very heavy drinker and it is also well known that heavy drinkers often look older than their actual age. Something that is worth noting is that some people who met Liston in the 1950's thought that he looked like a young man in his 20's at that time which would be in line with him having been born between 1927 - 1932 as is generally believed. It is only later that people began to think that Liston looked so old which could very well have been from many years of alcohol abuse.
A good video. Some comments from a person who followed Liston from about 1960. (1) It is fairly certain he was much older than on record. Lot of people suggest 1919, in which case he was about 45 years old when he was heavyweight champ. (2) As this video suggests. he was never the same after about 1963. Take. a look at his rock hard physique, flat tummy, in his earlier fights. Compare to the layers of fat around the midsection you begin to see later, yes, starting with the second Patterson fight. This was a formidable fighting machine, especially against Cleveland Williams, a fighter everyone else avoided. A total of five rounds in two fights, taking on some really heavy punches before finishing off Williams in devastating fashion. Years later Ali took out Williams convincingly; but this was a much reduced fighter, shot in the stomach and almost dying on the operating table. The total lack of any public support after he won the Championship was totally devastating for him, and he was never the same again. I like a story I heard around that time (1960). Before the second Williams fight in Houston, Liston is supposed to have told the ref. This is this guy's hometown, I don't want no favors. If he is standing after the third round, give him the fight. All over in the second. A formidable fighting machine, who almost certainly never trained fully for any fight, after the first one against Patterson. The Lewiston fight was a total farce, I saw it on closed circuit in Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens. Paid $25 to be in the cheap seats - a lot of money for a new grad student - and was surrounded by very knowledgable people. We had just settled down, when the fight was over. Everyone laughed and said we had been totally had. What many people forget is Liston had never been knocked down before that - I believe even when Marty Marshall broke his jaw in 1955.
But even in those two fights, don't you suspect they *might* be rigged? He didn't look hurt when one was stopped, and in the other the punch looks far too mild to flaw a man of this strength and stature. Look at the fall: it looks theatrical.
@@jimnewcombe7584 certainly both of them, by Liston who knew he could never catch Clay Why people suspect Clay I would never know. As good as he was Liston could never out do Clay. Nobody could catch Clay not even Ali.
Ali Liston fight was rigged even Ali couldn’t beat Liston he way tougher than Ali he was a monster in his prime it was mafia controlled don’t get me wrong loved Ali but Sonny was the greatest
Sonny Liston never got the respect that he deserved. A very tragic story with him. The guy just wanted to be liked. But he was never really given that chance, and that's very sad. Rest in peace champ. You deserved better.
Sonny honed his skills in prison actually. Sonny was fearless. You can see very clearly, that in the middle of any of his matches, he's completely collected, - he takes his time, and just patiently waits for that next opening to bring another organ-destroying drive into the other's body, or bring down another building on your head. Sonny's extremely powerful, and those what-look-like slaps to the face, are in- truth another 11 pound steel bar shakin your whole head around. Sonny had an incredible reach. He'd just stand out of range, snapping that heavy-ass jab upside your head, take his time, and just study. And you may not really notice it from fight films, but Sonny hit HARD, I mean REALLY HARD. Sonny could hit you in your arm, and break both of your legs. But he wasn't wild. The best ? Everyone always mentions Tyson, Ali, and Lewis (among a few others), - but when trying to imagine the 'best' people always leave-out context; Sonny was one though, no doubt. I always liked him.
With his fists being about 5 inches across, I often say that he probably had to fight in at least 12-ounce gloves; 8-ounce gloves would be paper thin on him.
Fully watched. I love Liston, he is the Greatest heavyweight and an extremely powerful fighter, I recommend you do a video on RUBIN Hurricane Carter. They sparred together.
Yes ,indeed , Sonny Liston was great boxer , with powerful punches (ONE OF MOST POWERFUL PUNCHERS) . In his Era , he was UNDOUBTLY THE HEAVYWEIGHT BEST BOXER . ALI WON AND BEGAN TO BE WORLD CHAMP WHEN SONNY WAS OLDER AND ALI, A YOUNGER HEAVYWEIGHT BOXER BEGUINNING TO BE THE GREATEST
@scarletmacaw Prime Liston was quicker, with better balance. Foreman tended to throw single punches, while Liston put together some sequences. Basically, Liston was a more athletic and skilled fighter. Not saying if two had met at their best that Sonny would have prevailed, because George was so big and so heavy a puncher. It would have been some match.
I dont have names atm. However. I have seen it said on several occacions he was overrated. Also that he was not good. My nr 1 boxer what so ever. Rest in peace champ.
couple of things no one answers about Sonny supposedly throwing the fight. first, he did walk flush into a shot which came from below Muhammad Ali's shoulder and caught him blind. Second, there were several neurological signs of a concussion, the upward jerking of Sonny's rear foot is consistent with the kind of mini seizure the motor cortex a fighter is expected to demonstrate when hit to that effect. Dr. Carol Whitten had examined Sonny and had seen the effect from ringside, noting nystagmus of his eyes, consistent with a concussion But there are a couple of other details particular to boxing and not neurology. do you notice that Sonny did in fact walk right into that punch, his rear foot lifting off the canvas, his head swing at great speed as a number of Muhammad Ali's stoppage victims experienced… sort of a hard thing to fake, falling flat on your face in the theme direction you were moving after being hit by a solid punch… And the solidness of the punch is glaringly obvious, again, from the moment of impact. But here's one more trivial little detail that no one has ever attempted to use to reboot my claim: Sonny Liston got back up to fight. Joe Wolcott had never caught the timekeepers count, and neither had Sonny. Can you explain to me why a fighter throwing a major fight, with or without mob influence, gets up to continue, seemingly reluctantly accepting it when referee Wolcott, listening to journalist Dick Young and not the timekeeper, finally does interrupt the action which had resumed to wave it off? People have opinions. Folks don't believe Muhammad Ali hit hard enough. Well, Ali landed lightning fast right hand which a number of very durable opponents didn't see, and it had a similar effect of paralyzing them. There's this little thing called physics. One of the simplest equations is that force times velocity equals power. Numerous opponents, particularly George Foreman and Ken Norton, have commented on Muhammad Ali's unusual and very surprising physical strength. His speed not only multiplies the force he puts into a shot so that the payload is that much greater, but considering the speed of the shot from another perspective, Sunny Liston also never saw the punch coming, and any of us in the sport know that the most dangerous punch is the one you don't see. When you didn't see it because it was both beautifully set up, timed perfectly, preventing you from bracing or attempting to roll with it well, Sonny Liston took the full force of an unseen right cross which he walked into and which was faster than any right hand he ever been hit with before. Quite a number of Muhammad Ali's opponents have reported how those shots are, how they hit you flush because you never expected them to land to begin with, that they came from angles and at a distance which should not have worked. Doubt it? Round 11, late 1975, a slower and more worn out Muhammad Ali, having some very nice moments in a tough fight against Ron Lyle… A man who withstood dozens of flush power punches from George Foreman,… Landed a short lightning fast right lead which completely froze Lyle and left him defenseless, floundering around the ring and attempting to cover up on the ropes without being able to move a muscle. There are plenty more examples of shots from Ali which were so efficient and devoid of excess movement that they didn't seem to have much on them. And yet, prior to exile, he had one of the highest knockout percentages of all time. and while he threw lightning fast combinations, many of those knockouts came from one, two, or three decisive blows. sure, Cleveland Williams had recovered from his gunshot and surgery, but he was performing much as he always had leading up to their fight. remember how many shots it took for Sonny Liston to take Williams out? Allie dropped him on his face with a similar right hand, except this one was thrown while Ali was moving backwards, his unusual coordination allowing him to torque his upper body into that right hand even while his feet were moving backwards. And then there was that magnificent double left hook right cross combination which all but finished Williams. Sonny had a very good chin, he had been wobbled a few times in his career, not counting the broken jaw he suffered early on, or the ko loss when he was in his mid 40s at the very youngest, and used up. when Muhammad Ali sat down on his punches, they always had an effect, and the effect was often very dramatic. No one had knocked our fully out cold. Certainly not with a double right cross over a jab. That's a special punch, with an effect one wouldn't usually see from an ordinary shot. If it matters, I've been boxing for nearly 45 years, I'm a psychologist with a good deal of neuro training, have worked to improve fighter safety, and the effect of different kinds of punches on the brain of fighters under different conditions is something I've put a good deal of work into. If anyone's interested, fighters who have dehydrated too much in order to cut weight at the lower weight classes are going into the ring without a functioning protective cushion around their brain, the middle layer of the meninges. When you're dehydrated, it becomes like shoe leather. It takes 48 to 72 hours to pump back up with lots of water intake. it's like an internal batting helmet… But without the foam. anyway… Sonny might not have been thrilled with the idea of continuing that fight
Not goin to lie as much as love Ali, God sure blessed him in that fight against liston. If Ali didn't have that legendary coordination and foot work Sonny would have laid him out cold.
Several of the hardest, brutal and feared Boxer's, were former resident's of America's Penal institutions, including Liston..That is why I refuse to believe one punch from Ali, made Sonny go down in the First round, never to stand again..🙄
I was watching an interview with Eddie Hearn and he was saying that Joe Joyce made Zhang "look like a prime Sonny Liston". I started looking more into Sonny after that comment and while I don't like Eddie Hearn I have to say he understands boxing. Liston was a beast. That head movement is slick. POWER PUNCHER with his hooks. Nice jab and good counter punching. A very solid heavyweight who came in with some serious intimidation also which was scaring opponents but I also have to say that Liston seems to me like a gentleman. Why the hell was HIS OWN HOMETOWN still seeing him as a bum and thug? Was it mob connections? Or just plain racism? Because I'm only seeing a pretty nice guy here. I expected to see some thugish guy coming from his reputation. The kind of mean guy who would probably hate kids rather than looking like a big kid himself while playing with them. You can't fake those interactions with the kids. The guy seems like a stand up guy overall. I would be happy to have him and his wife living in the house beside mine. Actually I would be delighted! I think they should have been throwing parades for him. He was the heavyweight champion of the world and he had to leave his own hometown for christs sakes!! Having to resort to begging his own hometown to accept him!? What am I missing here? Even if they dislike him surely the politicians could see that the heavyweight champion is going to be boosting the economy of the town with his fights covered all over the world? Something doesn't make sense.
Sonny Liston was a BAD MAN, he walked through the entire division, until he met the "Greatest" and we all know how that went, both times. One of my favorites.
Sonny had a serious injury, had not trained was struggling with alcoholism.and was far older than the records state. He really underestimated Ali. Ali was the greatest but a prime , focused Sonny would have made it far closer.
Liston was barely known and had fought only 13 fights at the time of Marciano's last fight in 1955. He could have been champion by the late 1950s though.
@@anonymike8280 He was the Number #1 contender for the title in 1957 when Marciano still had the belt. Marciano retired in 56 when Liston was the Number #3 ranked contender and they even had a tournament scheduled to take place to decide Marciano's last match in 56 in which Liston was invited to take place in, however Liston got arrested and the tournament was called off.
@@kantovagrant3194 Everybody loses if they go on long enough. Marciano might have been close to 34 by the time the bout actually took place. There's plenty of film here showing smaller fighters handling themselves against Liston's power for a while. Peak Marciano could have fought peak Liston, and who knows what would have happened, but their peaks did not coincide. No athlete knows when time is going to catch up with them. It's called the fight game for a reason. Rocky quit at the right time. By the way, Floyd Patterson's people did not want him to fight Marciano. They knew the jeopardy he was in facing a power puncher. He faced two powerful hitters in his career and lost fights to both of them. If Johansson could beat him at least once, how would Patterson have done at 21 against a 32-year-old Marciano? Patterson was popular and he lived a very adult life outside of the ring, but he was not a powerful heavyweight.
@@andyking5431 he got up before he was counted out. i guess if you want to say the ringside referee was bought off you could, but liston clearly did not stay down for the count. the fight was a mismatch. slow motion film shows him getting hit coming in. but i agree liston is underrated.
@@andyking5431 ali could still punch. ali hits liston in the right place when liston doesn't expect it, he'll go down. ali basically caught liston coming in with a lightening fast karate punch that shook listons entire upper body.
@@OliverOilsNeither were legit. Both were fixed. No way could Clay beat Liston at that time of his career. Henry Cooper knocked Clay down, and Liston hit far harder than Cooper. The mob made money. Clay was 8 to 1.
Maybe the best .after Ali ...Both fighters fought Cleveland Williams and BOTH Fighters were able to destroy the "Big cat" .Ali was in devastating form, skill speed and power made ali untouchable then..Always felt that somehow Liston was manipulated by organised crime and never really was his own man
@@robertpegg7251 Besides Cleavland Williams, they both fought Floyd Patterson (twice) and Zora Folley. Ali stopped Patterson in 12 rounds in their first fight and seven rounds in their second. Liston bombed Floyd out for the count in the first round in both fights. Folley was knocked out by Ali in seven rounds, and Liston knocked him out in three rounds. I agree that Ali was the greatest of all time BUT the Liston who fought from 1959 to 1963 would have had an excellent chance!
ALI WAS!!!, HE'D HAVE ANHIALATED LISTON , WHEN HE WAS 33, AND NEARLY 34, JUST LIKE HE DID TO, A NEARLY 25 YEARS OF AGE,, AN IN THE PRIME OF HIS PROFESSIONAL CAREER FOREMAN!!!!, SO, TALK SENSE!!!
A prime, focused and unijured Liston of 58-61 is a different prospect altogether. Ali would win as he was the GOAT but it would be close and an all time classic fight. That is unless the f***ing Mob or Black Mulsims were not involved of course. Phil.
In that period before the Ali fight, Liston transcended from undisputed to indisputable. A legend.
This documentary has provided a rightfully sympathetic point of view for a World's Champion who is truly deserving of better acknowledgement.
In evaluating the career of the great Sonny Liston, we need to keep in mind the large dispute or mystery about his actual age. Though 1932 is usually given as his birth year, most researchers into his life suggest he was likely born in the 20s; indeed, one of Sonny's sisters (there were more than 20 children sired by his poor, violent and abusive father!) stated he had been born the year after World War I, so 1919/20. In appearance, Sonny certainly looked older than 32 when he fought Ali and lost his title. All things considered, he was probably somewhere between 35 and 38 years of age. In many ways a tragic story -- abused as a child, forced into hard labor as a youth, prison time, control by the Mob, regularly harassed by racist cops, the generally bad press he received -- and yet he overcame all of that to become a truly dominant and greatly feared champion in the ring. Thanks for sharing this tribute to Sonny's legacy.
No way this 1958 Liston looked older than 30. I think 1932 is accurate. Worst maybe 1929,
@@BobBenson-qz8lp What would help matters greatly is if we had a time series of Liston press shots, so we could look for signs of aging in his face. To me it looks like he aged quite a bit between 1958 and 1964 -- so if I had to bet, I would take 1930 as his likely birth year, or your proposal of 1929.
How weird after all these years I've become a big Liston fan. I don't think he was really a bad guy at all, and amazingly my discovery came from comments right here on You Tube, from guys who as kids met Liston when he lived in Colorado.
Not me. Anyone that throws a fight like he did against Ali in the return shouldn't be in professional boxing in my opinion.
@@marknorris1381walk a mile in his shoes, and I bet your are the weak one.
@@andrejensen7837 always hard to say. No one knows for sure until they've been tested. And you can't presume someone is going to act in a particular way in a tight spot, sometimes people who appear the strongest are the weakest and vice versa. Being fair about it Liston wasn't brought up as a chld, he was kicked up, and had a harder than hard life, so it's probably a bit more complicated than my original statement. I don't idolise him like many others do however. At the end of the day he was a convicted armed robber and there was a trail of victims in his wake. People seem to forget that. And he definitely threw the second Ali fight.
well i think the punch was kinda hard in slowmo and hd you can see the punch land and his back muscles shake from it. it was a clean counter to the temple. and hitting at the temple can make u go off balance. so i think he was but his body was still kinda shook up by that so i dont think he did.@@marknorris1381
@@marknorris1381 Maybe he wasn't given a choice, that's all I can think.
The origonal baddest man on the planet if George Foreman says he was s tough guy
But George said the hardest puncher was Lyle, he said his punch could knock out any man
@@benpotaka5893 true but George didn’t fight shavers but to be honest you wouldn’t want to get hit by any of these guys they could kill you
This is the first video of yours I've seen, and I really think you did Sonny Liston justice here. My all-time favourite boxer. Really great video man.
My gosh he was good. Great video. Thanks so much.
Sonny Liston was one of the hardest men who ever walked this planet. Forget about Cage Fighters. Full Contact or any other new category of one on one. Nothing is more frightening than going toe to toe with Sonny
If he was in mma he would be champion imo
As a young teenager I had listened to the Patterson Johansson fights on the radio with great interest, but I have no recollection of Liston at all, until he fought Clay. Clay was an Olympic champion and counter culture hero and we loved him. Liston, well we didn't know much about him, but sports pages described him as a brute under the control of the Mafia, so we cheered Clay, and soon forgot Liston.
Thank you for this, it brings balance long overdue for Mr. Liston.
You don't remember Liston demolishing Floyd twice?
@@fidge54nope. Probably school/opposite sex had taken precedence.
Then you weren't following the news very closely. Patterson ducked Liston for several years until the pressure grew and Patterson had to fight him.
@@anonymike8280 facts
@@theblacksmith4900 I told you the facts. You're just another who wants to play king of the mountain. Go do your own research.
Excellent video! Liston deserves a lot more credit, He is easily in the top 10 greatest Heavyweights ever. And would have fared well in any Era in Heavyweight history.
2nd ATG for me .. after The Greatest of course.
He was one of my favourite boxers.
Liston's punches were so short without telegraphing them in these earlier fights. When he fought Ali, his punches looked heavier and not not nearly as quick and sharp as they did earlier in his career. He also had very good and fast foot movement when he was younger. Definitely should be ranked higher then he is amongst the great heavyweights.
Liston wasn't out of his prime when he fought Ali. He was only thirty. Plus liston came back and beat the crap out of chuck wepner
He also had a hurt shoulder through much of the first Ali fight
@@DennisHala-bg4mtchuck was trash compared to the greats
@@DennisHala-bg4mt According to Boxing Expert Paul Gallender, Sonny was 45 years old when he fought Ali in 1964. So he was well past his prime.
Ali not only had the lateral movement that Liston had trouble dealing with, but he was too fast. As for that second fight, that phantom punch, to me at least, was a genuine knockout punch. Ali had a way of throwing punches the opponent couldn't see either because they came from all angles or were lightning fast. Ali anchors himself from going backwards and throws his punch.
I am truly impressed by Liston's defence and head movement.
One of the last TRUE "men of mystery".
We don't know when he was born - we don't know when he died (or how)
we don't REALLY know how good he was or could have been
we don't know what fights he threw or were fixed.....
Some say he was the best of them all..... we will never know.........
At his peak in the mid to late 1950’s Liston was the perfect heavyweight boxer. So smooth and fluid with his punches. Power in both hands, immensely powerful physique coupled with freakishly long arms and enormous hands. Understandably people thought that he was unbeatable at the time.
Then why didn't he challenge Marciano for the title. I guess he wasn't that good right?
@@johnreidy2804 he went to jail in later on and ge didn't have good management and wasn't a contender at that time meat rider
@@SheaWaters-pe9eg Good point I forget he was a drug user and connected with the mob
@@johnreidy2804 for a start you make a ridiculous comment that highlights your lack of boxing knowledge. Liston had his first professional fight in 1953 and Marciano retired from boxing in April 1956, his last fight was in September 1955. They were never going to fight each other. Marciano fought Jersey Joe Walcott in 1953 for a second time and then had two fights with Ezzard Charles the last one in September 1954 a year before his last fight against Archie Moore! Marciano would not have known who Liston was at that time. Liston was a couple of years into his career and Liston had lost a fight having had his jaw broken in September 1954 by Marty Marshall.
@@vantheman1238 LOL run along
10:00 bro i felt that liver shot😭💀
5:17 i felt that one
@@grinder-mari"he hit me so hard it Jared my kinfolks in Africa"😭
-Muhammad Ali
You're not sane
I learned a lot here, thanks for posting. Hadn't realised Liston was so skilled.
Had a great skill set - the full set really. Gets overlooked due to his pulverising power and superlative strength.
Truly the greatest heavyweight boxer of all times. Rest up champ. X
not the greatest, but he was great and definatly in the top 5 best ever heavyweights i think...
How can Sonny be the greatest of all time when Cassius Clay defeated him so decisively in their first encounter? How can you rate Sonny above Cassius therefore? This view seems to have its basis in sentimentalism, rather than logic and reason.
@@graemechristopher4008I agree but then again I don't believe in the greatest "anything". Sonny is however a damn fine boxer and one of the greats.
@graemechristopher4008 Both fights were fixed, do keep up.
Thanks for this! I had no idea. I'd just assumed what everyone told me that he was a "bad guy..."
Have an awesome photo of Sonny Liston with my great-grandfather and my two great-uncles as well some of the neighborhood kids in front of my great-grandfather’s general store in Northampton, PA. My guess is it’s from the late 50s/early 60s!
Sonny Liston, an all time great
Thanks for doin a video on liston, he deserved the recognition he earned!! He definitely threw that 2nd fight with ali?? And probably whacked cos he knew too much!! Keep up the GREAT work.
Under rated. I believe Sonny is up there with the very best.
Definitely a powerful and skilled fighter to reckon with
Excellent job on this video. I enjoyed every second of it and learned a lot!
CHARLES SONNY LISTON , one of the GREATEST BOXING CHAMPIONS of all times !
Thank you for this I've learned a lot from your video and appreciate Sonny more than before.
Liston definitely took a dive against Ali the second time
Liston was a darn good boxer! You are right, he was a good guy who had a rough life.
Good show thank you.
Sonny was a very good boxer but he was also a very hard puncher and a very hard man if you went up against Sonny you were a brave man
Knowledgeable commentary.
Sonny Liston was a great champion!
So "great" he literally refused to answer the bell for the 7th against Clay.
@@justintime1343 I was referring to Sonny's entire career.
Ok,@@marcocarosi7736.
@@justintime1343that fight was fixed
Had he been compelled to take a dive, he likely would've taken one instead of refusing to even answer the bell,@@KingKongbabe.
Was a good one. Thanks
Amazing work ❤.
sonny liston beats any heavyweight from this era
Easily.
Absolutely. An ere when men were men. The way people carry themselves now, attitude and the stupid antics at press conferences is embarrassing. The fights now are stopped way way earlier, people these days couldn't take or give as much punishment, too soft.
@@justbreakingballs sonny weighed 230🤦🏾♂
@@justbreakingballsy‘all gotta stop discrediting him
Nope he is just Anthony Joshua that is not stiff😂😂😂,Fury and wilder will destroy him
Decades ago I took our oldest son to a fight " East Coast" and walked down and alleyway and Floyd Patterson was standing there by the back door and i was talking to him for about five minutes and around the corner comes smokin Joe Frazier! I surely remember Sonny Liston and thankful i got to see the heavyweights at their best
Great content! Liston was a great boxer!
Thank you 😊
Quality Video Mate🤝
I once read a Sports Illustrated story by George Forman. As a teenager, George was Liston's ring boy. And the article gave a detailed account of the Real Sonny. George would model himself after Sonny as a boxer.
Great narrative. Good descriptions. Enjoyed this. Very sad ending for this Knight of Shining Armor.
Sonny Liston was a king
Great editing and a great fighter, thanks... Subscribed
One really good youtube video of a great fighter.
Good work my friend
Great video about Sonny Liston's boxing highlights. You've covered a lot of analysis about his fighting career primarily in this short video as well as his personal life and death. Even though Liston apparently acquired a reputation as an intimidator, as you said I think he was a really good guy inside, but the poor treatment has made him distancing from the public as legendary sports star of his time. Liston would've done remarkably well if he was born into 70's or 80's because he would've been able to distance himself from any mob activities in the later era of boxing after the emergence of Mohamad Ali. You've done a great job with this video. thank you.
He was invincible
Liston was in his prime in the late 50s- early 60s. Liston's age was listed at 32 when he fought Clay in 1964. He probably was closer to 35. Could have been champion for 5-6 years if he had been given the opportunity to fight for the title earlier in his career.
I rhink he was at least 40.
The man was robbed of everything. The USA system was horrible to Sonny. He never get what he deserve in any aspect. Tragedy of boxing.
@fights1397
I do like Tyson fanboys. They think he would go through Sonny and Geosrge.
The little shit alnist lost to Tiliis.
Sonny Liston Number One.
Liston é il più forte di sempre.
Liston was a great fighter who had a really rough life. He made some bad decisions, and that cost him. No one is all good or all bad, and that would definitely apply to Sonny Liston. He was made out to be a thug under the control of the mob. That was a skewed version of who he was, and he never seemed to get over the fact that the public never accepted him. He had the skills and the raw power to be one of the all time best - and he may have been one of the 10 best Heavyweight Champions of all time in that regard, but he could have had a much better career had he made better decisions in his life. It's a shame he didn't get a title shot in 1959 or 1960. His career may have looked very different if he would have gone into the Clay fight after 5 or 6 consecutive successful defenses of his title. Even losing to Clay/Ali at that point (which he always would have - Ali was too fast for him) it wouldn't have been so bad if he could have just defended his title successfully a few more times before that loss. Until Ali there was no one who could come close to beating him.
Sonny liston in his prime was a rightfully feared boxer that no one wanted any parts of. It took a cocky, fast hands, fleet of foot fighter like Ali to beat him. My three dream fights would've been prime Liston vs. Marciano and Prime Frasier-vs- Tyson. Prime Foreman-vs- Shavers.
I'm old enough to remember when Floyd Patterson was champion and I admired him at the time. But that admiration lessened as I Iearned more about top contenders that his managers had him dodge. Those top contenders he dodged included not only Liston but also Cleveland Williams, Eddie Machen, and Zora Foley. Instead, he fought Tommie McNealy and only defended his title once a year. But eventually, against the directives of his trainer Cuss D'Amato, Patterson decided he needed to face Liston. D'Amato had told Patterson flatly that he could not beat Liston. Muhammed Ali, when he became champion, made a point of giving title shots to long slighted veteran contenders Cleveland Williams and Zora Foley. Unfortunately, by this time they were well past their prime, but those title shots gave them their biggest pay day.
He deserves a movie
The Greatest Ever!
I’m good friends with Chuck Wepner. Chuck was the last fighter to fight Sonney Liston, he also fought a young Forman, I asked him who hit harder. Chuck said it wasn’t even close. Liston gave him something like 75 stitches in his forehead. Imagine how hard hit Liston hit !
Greatest champion.
Liston was born 1917 had he fought in his prime no one ever could beat him
I'm not sure but I never heard he was quite that old.
Liston was born around 1930.
Born in 2017? NO. That will have made him 43 years old at the time of fight with Mohammed Ali, then Classius Clay in 1960 and could have missed to be enlisted at 24 years old in 1941 in WW2.
1930 is more likely
@user-yo3vp5hk1w ...Charles Louis "Sonny" Liston wasn't born in 1917. Knock it off!
It is generally believed that Liston was born somewhere between 1927 - 1932. He claimed that he was born in 1932 but he was not really sure when he was born because of a lack of record keeping in Arkansas at the time of his birth. The year that has been most often believed in regard to Liston's birth is 1930.
I suspect that what you are referring to is a book written about Liston by Paul Gallender who claims that Liston was born in 1919. Gallender is the only person that has suggested
that Liston was born this early and I find it very difficult to believe. It is true that many people thought that Liston looked older than he claimed by several years but that doesn't prove much. It is well known that Liston was a very heavy drinker and it is also well known that heavy drinkers often look older than their actual age.
Something that is worth noting is that some people who met Liston in the 1950's thought that he looked like a young man in his 20's at that time which would be in line with him having been born between 1927 - 1932 as is generally believed. It is only later that people began to think that Liston looked so old which could very well have been from many years
of alcohol abuse.
Strongest boxer that ever lived.
9:47 Sonny was about to kill him😭
A good video. Some comments from a person who followed Liston from about 1960. (1) It is fairly certain he was much older than on record. Lot of people suggest 1919, in which case he was about 45 years old when he was heavyweight champ. (2) As this video suggests. he was never the same after about 1963. Take. a look at his rock hard physique, flat tummy, in his earlier fights. Compare to the layers of fat around the midsection you begin to see later, yes, starting with the second Patterson fight. This was a formidable fighting machine, especially against Cleveland Williams, a fighter everyone else avoided. A total of five rounds in two fights, taking on some really heavy punches before finishing off Williams in devastating fashion. Years later Ali took out Williams convincingly; but this was a much reduced fighter, shot in the stomach and almost dying on the operating table. The total lack of any public support after he won the Championship was totally devastating for him, and he was never the same again. I like a story I heard around that time (1960). Before the second Williams fight in Houston, Liston is supposed to have told the ref. This is this guy's hometown, I don't want no favors. If he is standing after the third round, give him the fight. All over in the second. A formidable fighting machine, who almost certainly never trained fully for any fight, after the first one against Patterson. The Lewiston fight was a total farce, I saw it on closed circuit in Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens. Paid $25 to be in the cheap seats - a lot of money for a new grad student - and was surrounded by very knowledgable people. We had just settled down, when the fight was over. Everyone laughed and said we had been totally had. What many people forget is Liston had never been knocked down before that - I believe even when Marty Marshall broke his jaw in 1955.
What a great post
In my eyes, no one today knows how great a prime Liston was.
Ali and Emmanual Stewad said he was possibly the GOAT at his very best.
Sonny Liston would've knocked Rocky Marciano out inside of three if they had fought...
And I believe Rocky Marciano knew it as well...
Sonny Liston would've sent Marciano to the Brockton hospital
Rocky in 10.
Rocky TKO 11.
@@chuckcollins2349L
That, is just plain ridiculous....!
I miss boxing.
Liston was the greatest Heavyweight ever after Muhammad Ali.
But even in those two fights, don't you suspect they *might* be rigged? He didn't look hurt when one was stopped, and in the other the punch looks far too mild to flaw a man of this strength and stature. Look at the fall: it looks theatrical.
@@jimnewcombe7584 certainly both of them, by Liston who knew he could never catch Clay Why people suspect Clay I would never know. As good as he was Liston could never out do Clay. Nobody could catch Clay not even Ali.
Ali Liston fight was rigged even Ali couldn’t beat Liston he way tougher than Ali he was a monster in his prime it was mafia controlled don’t get me wrong loved Ali but Sonny was the greatest
When entered the ring he was scared of Liston.The mob had controll over both fights.If not the results would have been different.
@@jamesbrackett575bro crack kills 🤡
RIP SONNY, great fighter
Sonny Liston never got the respect that he deserved. A very tragic story with him. The guy just wanted to be liked. But he was never really given that chance, and that's very sad. Rest in peace champ. You deserved better.
Nice video! List on was a bad dude!
Sonny Liston Destroys EVERYONE! #MYGOAT 🙏🏾🥊👑🕊️
Sonny honed his skills in prison actually. Sonny was fearless. You can see very clearly, that in the middle of any of his matches, he's completely collected, - he takes his time, and just patiently waits for that next opening to bring another organ-destroying drive into the other's body, or bring down another building on your head. Sonny's extremely powerful, and those what-look-like slaps to the face, are in-
truth another 11 pound steel bar shakin your whole head around. Sonny had an incredible reach. He'd just stand out of range, snapping that heavy-ass jab upside your head, take his time, and just study. And you may not really notice it from fight films, but Sonny hit HARD, I mean REALLY HARD. Sonny could hit you in your arm, and break both of your legs. But he wasn't wild.
The best ? Everyone always mentions Tyson, Ali, and Lewis (among a few others), - but when trying to imagine the 'best' people always leave-out context;
Sonny was one though, no doubt. I always liked him.
The book, "The Devil and Sonny Liston" is a must read. Accurately tells the life story of a very interesting and misunderstood man.
I have that book --- great read.
Sonny Liston with those massive 15 inch hands
With his fists being about 5 inches across, I often say that he probably had to fight in at least 12-ounce gloves; 8-ounce gloves would be paper thin on him.
Fully watched. I love Liston, he is the Greatest heavyweight and an extremely powerful fighter, I recommend you do a video on RUBIN Hurricane Carter. They sparred together.
Sonny was the man! A sledgehammer.
Yes ,indeed , Sonny Liston was great boxer , with powerful punches (ONE OF MOST POWERFUL PUNCHERS) . In his Era , he was UNDOUBTLY THE HEAVYWEIGHT BEST BOXER .
ALI WON AND BEGAN TO BE WORLD CHAMP WHEN SONNY WAS OLDER AND ALI, A YOUNGER HEAVYWEIGHT BOXER BEGUINNING TO BE THE GREATEST
Same punching style as his ex-sparring partner, a young George Foreman.
Actually not quite He threw shorter, not as looping shots.
@scarletmacaw Prime Liston was quicker, with better balance. Foreman tended to throw single punches, while Liston put together some sequences. Basically, Liston was a more athletic and skilled fighter. Not saying if two had met at their best that Sonny would have prevailed, because George was so big and so heavy a puncher. It would have been some match.
Good observations.@@vestibulate
Underrated? Who ever underrated sonny liston?
I dont have names atm. However. I have seen it said on several occacions he was overrated. Also that he was not good. My nr 1 boxer what so ever. Rest in peace champ.
A lot of current pundits have, in effect, ignored his true abilities. You rarely hear his name anymore
It's True Sonny Liston Threw the fight Against Ali the Mafia Had there Hands in it For Sure
Ever body No's that Sonny Threw the Fight Against Ali😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
Per the wife of Joe Louis he had to. They threatened to kill his family. Fuck Ali.
It’s “knows”,…. Not “Nos”,…. 🙄
"Life, a funny thing." -- Charles Liston
couple of things no one answers about Sonny supposedly throwing the fight. first, he did walk flush into a shot which came from below Muhammad Ali's shoulder and caught him blind.
Second, there were several neurological signs of a concussion, the upward jerking of Sonny's rear foot is consistent with the kind of mini seizure the motor cortex a fighter is expected to demonstrate when hit to that effect. Dr. Carol Whitten had examined Sonny and had seen the effect from ringside, noting nystagmus of his eyes, consistent with a concussion
But there are a couple of other details particular to boxing and not neurology. do you notice that Sonny did in fact walk right into that punch, his rear foot lifting off the canvas, his head swing at great speed as a number of Muhammad Ali's stoppage victims experienced… sort of a hard thing to fake, falling flat on your face in the theme direction you were moving after being hit by a solid punch… And the solidness of the punch is glaringly obvious, again, from the moment of impact. But here's one more trivial little detail that no one has ever attempted to use to reboot my claim: Sonny Liston got back up to fight. Joe Wolcott had never caught the timekeepers count, and neither had Sonny. Can you explain to me why a fighter throwing a major fight, with or without mob influence, gets up to continue, seemingly reluctantly accepting it when referee Wolcott, listening to journalist Dick Young and not the timekeeper, finally does interrupt the action which had resumed to wave it off? People have opinions. Folks don't believe Muhammad Ali hit hard enough. Well, Ali landed lightning fast right hand which a number of very durable opponents didn't see, and it had a similar effect of paralyzing them.
There's this little thing called physics. One of the simplest equations is that force times velocity equals power. Numerous opponents, particularly George Foreman and Ken Norton, have commented on Muhammad Ali's unusual and very surprising physical strength. His speed not only multiplies the force he puts into a shot so that the payload is that much greater, but considering the speed of the shot from another perspective, Sunny Liston also never saw the punch coming, and any of us in the sport know that the most dangerous punch is the one you don't see. When you didn't see it because it was both beautifully set up, timed perfectly, preventing you from bracing or attempting to roll with it well, Sonny Liston took the full force of an unseen right cross which he walked into and which was faster than any right hand he ever been hit with before.
Quite a number of Muhammad Ali's opponents have reported how those shots are, how they hit you flush because you never expected them to land to begin with, that they came from angles and at a distance which should not have worked.
Doubt it? Round 11, late 1975, a slower and more worn out Muhammad Ali, having some very nice moments in a tough fight against Ron Lyle… A man who withstood dozens of flush power punches from George Foreman,… Landed a short lightning fast right lead which completely froze Lyle and left him defenseless, floundering around the ring and attempting to cover up on the ropes without being able to move a muscle. There are plenty more examples of shots from Ali which were so efficient and devoid of excess movement that they didn't seem to have much on them. And yet, prior to exile, he had one of the highest knockout percentages of all time. and while he threw lightning fast combinations, many of those knockouts came from one, two, or three decisive blows.
sure, Cleveland Williams had recovered from his gunshot and surgery, but he was performing much as he always had leading up to their fight. remember how many shots it took for Sonny Liston to take Williams out? Allie dropped him on his face with a similar right hand, except this one was thrown while Ali was moving backwards, his unusual coordination allowing him to torque his upper body into that right hand even while his feet were moving backwards.
And then there was that magnificent double left hook right cross combination which all but finished Williams.
Sonny had a very good chin, he had been wobbled a few times in his career, not counting the broken jaw he suffered early on, or the ko loss when he was in his mid 40s at the very youngest, and used up.
when Muhammad Ali sat down on his punches, they always had an effect, and the effect was often very dramatic. No one had knocked our fully out cold. Certainly not with a double right cross over a jab. That's a special punch, with an effect one wouldn't usually see from an ordinary shot.
If it matters, I've been boxing for nearly 45 years, I'm a psychologist with a good deal of neuro training, have worked to improve fighter safety, and the effect of different kinds of punches on the brain of fighters under different conditions is something I've put a good deal of work into.
If anyone's interested, fighters who have dehydrated too much in order to cut weight at the lower weight classes are going into the ring without a functioning protective cushion around their brain, the middle layer of the meninges. When you're dehydrated, it becomes like shoe leather. It takes 48 to 72 hours to pump back up with lots of water intake. it's like an internal batting helmet… But without the foam.
anyway…
Sonny might not have been thrilled with the idea of continuing that fight
Not goin to lie as much as love Ali, God sure blessed him in that fight against liston. If Ali didn't have that legendary coordination and foot work Sonny would have laid him out cold.
Big hands!!!
Several of the hardest, brutal and feared Boxer's, were former resident's of America's Penal institutions, including Liston..That is why I refuse to believe one punch from Ali, made Sonny go down in the First round, never to stand again..🙄
Man they should bring back those mma sized gloves back into boxing
sad or no sad father time is undefeated.
I was watching an interview with Eddie Hearn and he was saying that Joe Joyce made Zhang "look like a prime Sonny Liston". I started looking more into Sonny after that comment and while I don't like Eddie Hearn I have to say he understands boxing. Liston was a beast. That head movement is slick. POWER PUNCHER with his hooks. Nice jab and good counter punching. A very solid heavyweight who came in with some serious intimidation also which was scaring opponents but I also have to say that Liston seems to me like a gentleman. Why the hell was HIS OWN HOMETOWN still seeing him as a bum and thug? Was it mob connections? Or just plain racism? Because I'm only seeing a pretty nice guy here. I expected to see some thugish guy coming from his reputation. The kind of mean guy who would probably hate kids rather than looking like a big kid himself while playing with them. You can't fake those interactions with the kids. The guy seems like a stand up guy overall. I would be happy to have him and his wife living in the house beside mine. Actually I would be delighted! I think they should have been throwing parades for him. He was the heavyweight champion of the world and he had to leave his own hometown for christs sakes!! Having to resort to begging his own hometown to accept him!? What am I missing here? Even if they dislike him surely the politicians could see that the heavyweight champion is going to be boosting the economy of the town with his fights covered all over the world? Something doesn't make sense.
A very sad story. Great technical skills and thunderous power. I think the conclusion here is correct; Sonny was a man with a broken heart.
Sonny Liston was a BAD MAN, he walked through the entire division, until he met the "Greatest" and we all know how that went, both times. One of my favorites.
Sonny had a serious injury, had not trained was struggling with alcoholism.and was far older than the records state.
He really underestimated Ali.
Ali was the greatest but a prime , focused Sonny would have made it far closer.
Sonny as a boxer, shouldve been champ at around 1954.
Liston was barely known and had fought only 13 fights at the time of Marciano's last fight in 1955. He could have been champion by the late 1950s though.
@@anonymike8280 He was the Number #1 contender for the title in 1957 when Marciano still had the belt. Marciano retired in 56 when Liston was the Number #3 ranked contender and they even had a tournament scheduled to take place to decide Marciano's last match in 56 in which Liston was invited to take place in, however Liston got arrested and the tournament was called off.
@@kantovagrant3194 Everybody loses if they go on long enough. Marciano might have been close to 34 by the time the bout actually took place. There's plenty of film here showing smaller fighters handling themselves against Liston's power for a while. Peak Marciano could have fought peak Liston, and who knows what would have happened, but their peaks did not coincide. No athlete knows when time is going to catch up with them. It's called the fight game for a reason. Rocky quit at the right time.
By the way, Floyd Patterson's people did not want him to fight Marciano. They knew the jeopardy he was in facing a power puncher. He faced two powerful hitters in his career and lost fights to both of them. If Johansson could beat him at least once, how would Patterson have done at 21 against a 32-year-old Marciano? Patterson was popular and he lived a very adult life outside of the ring, but he was not a powerful heavyweight.
@@anonymike8280age is not a reason, Sonny was older than Marciano in 1957
@@tloustrats Sonny was born c. 1930. The idea that Lison was fantastically old is asn urban legend.
The second fight with clay def fixed . The way Liston went down you could tell he could got up .
he did get up. walcott just lost the count. it was no fix.
@@driger888 yes I know he got up, but I mean before the 10 second count .
@@andyking5431 he got up before he was counted out. i guess if you want to say the ringside referee was bought off you could, but liston clearly did not stay down for the count. the fight was a mismatch. slow motion film shows him getting hit coming in. but i agree liston is underrated.
@@driger888 Ali was never a knockout puncher no way would he knock Liston down one punch the way Liston went down in my opinion it was fixed.
@@andyking5431 ali could still punch. ali hits liston in the right place when liston doesn't expect it, he'll go down. ali basically caught liston coming in with a lightening fast karate punch that shook listons entire upper body.
This makes me believe that the Clay fights were fixed! Period!
The first is suspect but the second no doubt at all. The Ali fanboys will argue over that though.
@@marknorris1381 isn't it the other way around?
the first fight seemed more legit
@@OliverOilsNeither were legit. Both were fixed. No way could Clay beat Liston at that time of his career. Henry Cooper knocked Clay down, and Liston hit far harder than Cooper. The mob made money. Clay was 8 to 1.
Liston at his peak was perhaps the greatest heavyweight in history.
no doubt
Nobody beats Sonny Liston if the mob didn't have control over him.
Maybe the best .after Ali ...Both fighters fought Cleveland Williams and BOTH Fighters were able to destroy the "Big cat" .Ali was in devastating form, skill speed and power made ali untouchable then..Always felt that somehow Liston was manipulated by organised crime and never really was his own man
@@robertpegg7251 Besides Cleavland Williams, they both fought Floyd Patterson (twice) and Zora Folley. Ali stopped Patterson in 12 rounds in their first fight and seven rounds in their second. Liston bombed Floyd out for the count in the first round in both fights. Folley was knocked out by Ali in seven rounds, and Liston knocked him out in three rounds. I agree that Ali was the greatest of all time BUT the Liston who fought from 1959 to 1963 would have had an excellent chance!
ALI WAS!!!, HE'D HAVE ANHIALATED LISTON , WHEN HE WAS 33, AND NEARLY 34, JUST LIKE HE DID TO, A NEARLY 25 YEARS OF AGE,, AN IN THE PRIME OF HIS PROFESSIONAL CAREER FOREMAN!!!!, SO, TALK SENSE!!!
Liston was brutally strong with great boxing skills. I wonder how Ali would have gone against him in his prime.
A prime, focused and unijured Liston of 58-61 is a different prospect altogether.
Ali would win as he was the GOAT but it would be close and an all time classic fight.
That is unless the f***ing Mob or Black Mulsims were not involved of course.
Phil.
Some people, under estimating brick hard punches!! Wow 😳 looks out!!
Le plus fort de tous
Liston was 6ft tall with a 7 ft wingspan,think about how crazy is that!
And a 15 inch hands!!
Excellent video. You have a new subscriber. I don't think Wepner was staggered. I think his corner man got in his way.
Without experience as modern fighters he was a natural. To bad he started in his mid thirties.
Really wish he had not thrown this fight. Dude was an excellent heavyweight. F he was around today he’d kill most of the guys fighting. 😢
Liston took a dive, no doubt!
LEGEND LEGEND LEGEND.!!!!! I HAVE ONE QUESTION,? SONNY LISTON VS GEORGE FOREMAN WHO WILL WIN??? PLS
It is a war for the ages, George (arguably) hit slighter harder, Sonny was the better technician.
1958-1963 in his prime,in and out of the ring.