Sonny liston prime verse ali prime?

Question

not rigged all ready trained perfect

Answer 1

Liston was not and old man when he fought Ali lets get that straight Ali wins any time every time remember at the time the press was afraid for Ali life Liston was the most feared man on the planet at the time of that fight so lets not get into Liston being old because he was not . Now when Marciano beat Joe Lewis Joe was old

Answer 2

I stil believe that Liston would have beaten Clay in the first fight if he had been properly trained and fit. Before the Clay fight, Liston had fought Patterson twice, knocking him out each time in the first round. He'd barely fought 3 and a half minutes of boxing in two years. Clay was a massive under-dog for the first fight and Liston was a massive favourite. Because of this, Liston did not train properly as it was assumed that his punching power would be enough in the early rounds and he wouldn't need to have the conditioning to go for a full 12, and assumed that victory over a young, brash up and comer was a formality.

As Liston discovered in the first fight, Clay was fast and danced around the ring. Liston was unable to catch him and resorted to allegedly placing a solution on his gloves to blind Clay (as he had allegedly done in previous fights).

Liston quit on his stool citing a shoulder injury, but in truth he just didn't have anything left in him because he had not trained sufficiently.

I have no doubts at all that the second fight was a fix, Liston dived and Nat Fleishcer called it a KO from ringside when he hadn't even been down long enough, the whole fight was a sham.

In their prime, Ali would win. In Liston's prime, he would've beaten Clay in the first fight, but taking them as even at the prime point of their career, Ali would've been too good for Liston.

Answer 3

We never saw Liston in his prime. Most of it was spent in prison.

When they fought the first time Ali did not want to continue and was pushed out of the corner.

After Ali matured he became a much better fighter and could have beaten Liston with his speed.

I would give the fight to Ali even if Liston did not quit on his stool or fall down because he lost his balance, which is what he said when he did not get up for the count in their second fight.

Answer 4

ali still wins, probably by decision....staying away from the  liston's awsome power and landing combo's whenever he gets in close.

Answer 5

liston was never trained to fight a guy like muhummad ali you can clearly see it in their first fight ali was too fast for liston at anytime in his career liston was always a puncher with no speed

Answer 6

Ali - hands down

hated him when he beat Liston but as years went by, I began to appreciate that he was one of greatest boxers of all time

changed the sport - not all good

was indeed The Great if not The Greatest

Answer 7

Great question.  Liston would get his shots in but Ali is just too quick for him.  Ali, as known, took an opponents punishment pretty well.  Liston was a decent boxer, puncher but compared to Ali is slow as witnessed in their first fight.  In a valid rematch I have Ali winning by decision in a fight that goes the distance.

Answer 8

IMO, If the second fight which was scheduled for November 1964 in the BOSTON Garden had taken place, Liston had a far better chance of beating Ali. He had trained to a svelte 209 and was much faster than in their first fight. When Ali became ill with the hernia operation three days before the fight and it being cancelled, that killed Liston's edge and the rest is history. Weather Sonny beats Ali or not, he was far better than the actual 2 fights showed.