Sonny liston was a greater fighter than people give him credit for?

Question

liston beat most of the best fighters of his day floyd patterson zora folley big cat williams nino valdez just to name a few those names alone were decent fighters there were others he beat that were good too just too many boxers to name in his prime he lost to marty marshall but destroyed him in a rematch and lossed to the best heavyweight off all time ali the rest of his losses were well past his prime liston is a great

Answer 1

Liston was tainted by his connections with criminals.

There was the talk about him throwing the fights with Ali, since he was the heavy betting favorite in both fights.

No one is really sure about his real age, some think he was much older than he claimed.

He died from a drug overdose, which was also alleged to have been murder rather than an accident or suicide.

He was a great fighter, but the public is fickle and since Ali was disliked by the in crowd at the time they did not like the fact that Liston lost to him when they thought Liston was unbeatable.

Answer 2

Unfortunately for many casual boxing fans Liston is basically the guy who lays flat on his back while a prime, taunting Muhammad Ali stands over him, yelling for him to get up. An unfair way to remember the great Liston. Liston had one of the best jabs of all time, and possessed a powerful left hook. Before capturing the heavyweight title, he forced a match with then champion Floyd Patterson by cleaning out the division. After losing the title to Ali, Liston would try to force a third match with Ali by beginning a comeback. He won several easy fights. He fought and defeated a young Henry Clark primarily with jab. Liston looked slow and ponderous but his jab was very accurate and quite devastating. He went on to fight Leotis Martin and was beating him convincingly, even scoring a knockdown with his feared left hook in the 4th round. But Martin would rebound and score and brutal one punch knockout in the 10th. It was the only time Liston was knocked cold. However, Liston would fight once again, this time stopping Chuck Wepner on cuts. It would his last fight. Liston was found dead in a hotel room not long after. Liston was a tremendous champion,a feared opponent, a great puncher and one that would've given any great heavyweight a war.

Answer 3

yea he was just that he was underrated like many boxers that end up coming up

Answer 4

the public just couldnt except sonny liston, he was the mike tyson of the 1960's, and in those days there was only one heavyweight title and no mandatories, so liston was avoided  by patterson for almost 3 years before he got a shot (it wasnt pattersons fault, it was his manager, cus d amato, that did the avoiding) by the time liston got a shot he was past his prime, his prime being 56'-59', but when he fought patterson in 1961 he was already around 32 years old, and fighters didnt last much longer than that in those days, it didnt matter as patterson was just to small and got annihiltated anyway, but by the time ali came around liston was an old 34 and didnt train very hard, as the boxing public didnt think much of ali at the time, and when he was beat badly by ali, the general public based sonny's entire career off one performance ( a regular occurence in boxing) the first fight and the mob-fixed rematch pretty much destroyed sonny's reputation

Answer 5

if not for ali, liston would probably have reigned 'till joe frazier got his shot at the title in '67/'68.

Answer 6

Sonny was about the most menacing fighter to ever step inside of a ring and is legendary for the way he would use his intimating scowl at opponents.  He beat such fighters as Cleveland Williams twice, Eddie Machen, Zora Folley, and Floyd Patterson twice.  His career record is 50-4-0 with 39 kayo's.  He is usually in everyone's top 10 list of greatest heavyweights.  What hurts Sonny is the opinion that he just quit on his stool against Ali in their first fight and the controversy of his 1st round loss to Ali in their second fight.  Sonny was a great fighter who was well known for his powerful jab and for having great punching power in both hands.

Answer 7

Sonny gets plenty of credit, at least in knowledgeable boxing circles.  I have Liston in or at least near the top ten best all time.  Sonny was a true all time great, great jab and fearsome KO power in either hand.  His reign as champion was sandwiched in between Marciano's and Ali's so he had some pretty big shoes to follow or try to compare his accomplishments to, but over all Sonny rates very high on most peoples all time great list.

Answer 8

Absolutely...I am old enough to remember Liston well and other than his early loss to Mardhall & his loss to Ali .....Liston destroyed Fighters who tasted his jab.--- Also, around the time of  Sonny's death it was discovered that he was about 10 years older than he claimed to be. A Woman appeared & identified herself as Sonny's daughter. When it was confirmed that she was Liston's daughter , it was also revealed that IF Liston was as young as he claimed to be.....he would have been about 11 years old when he fathered thise girl.