Sonny Liston vs Rocky Marciano?

Question

Both in there primes.

Who wins and how

Answer 1

People often mistake Marciano's high KO ratio for punching power, he was a hard hitter but he was by no means the hardest hitter of his day, what helped him was his incredible stamina, he could punch you non stop for very long periods of time and thus he often punched his opponents down before finishing them with the legendary suzie q, if he had so much power he would have had many more first round knock outs to begin with.....that been said...Liston had more knock out power than Marciano, a much longer reach and better over all boxing skills and prior to his fight with Ali he had a decent chin ( inever understood why he went down so easily in their second fight) this would have been a little bit of a mismatch for the rock, moreover liston was much stronger and tougher than any of the guys Marciano faced (all the greats rocky beat were already too old and worn to be considered prime and Liston was much better than guys like Harry"kid Matthews and roland la starza), moreover the rock had the style that was tailor made for Liston:he liked to mix it from the inside and that would not have been possible against sonny liston who would have keept rocky at bay with his jab all day and simply hit him with crosses and more jabs to win an easy UD if not a Ko.

Answer 2

I think the difference would be Rocky's superior stamina.  Liston, even in his prime, fought mostly shorter fights and just devestated his opponents.  Rocky was more known for breaking his opponents down.

If Marciano could survive the early assault and start landing his body shots, he could stop Liston late.  It would also be contingent if his skin could hold up under Liston's attack too.  Liston was almost like a latter version of Tyson, devestating early but would seriously start fading late (see his first loss to Ali - after that 5th round, he was spent).

Answer 3

I give this fight to Rocky  Liston could not take Ali right and Rocky hit as hard as Ali but if I were putting money on it I would take Liston good big man beats good little man

Answer 4

I am not a big Marciano fan but I think he may have been able to outlast Liston. Dollbaby, I must make mention of this. As for best jabs since Liston and Foreman, you remember a few guys by the name of Holmes, Lewis and Bowe? They had tremendous jabs and I would rank them all up there with Big George's jab. By the way fans, can you believe George is gonna have his own reality show??????  LOL

Answer 5

Sonny Liston was basically if Joe Louis were bigger and had the "Telephone Pole Jab" of "Big" George Foreman of the 90's. A jab that legendary trainer Gil Clancy described as like a " Plank Crashing Out of a Window".

So basically Rocky would be facing an man of equal power, with better boxing skills and a jab that has outside of Foreman, never been matched. This does not bode well for the great "Brockton Blockbuster". Keep in mind however that Sonny was a prisoner under the mobs thumb. It is also well known that even though Rocky himself was a stand up guy, he did associate with people in the mob. They very well may fix this one for the Rock, although I.m sure Rocky would not be in on it. Under completely fair terms however Sonny wins with his forceful boxing ability and devastating jab. These things would set up a late round stoppage by the referee in a fight where Rocky would display A TON of heart. The fight would be remembered as much for Rocky's tremendous heart as it would be for Liston's outstanding performance.

Answer 6

liston is one of the most powerful punchers ever, but marciano had the heart, chin, will, and a powerful punch of his own.

liston would only be about 15 pounds heavier, but marciano will get inside and land, but although i have marciano in my top 6 all time hw champions, i pick liston to win this one by decision or late stoppage with liston using his 14 inch reach advantage.

Answer 7

Rocky. if Ali can KO Liston with a punch that missed, just think what one of Marciano's REAL punches would do to him!