Sonny Liston vs Joe Louis

[Silencers]

I think this would have been a great fight for as long as it lasted. Liston would have given Louis trouble with his jab, which was one of the greatest of all time, but Louis' superior timing would give Liston a lot of trouble as well. Liston obviously had tremendous power is both hands and Louis always had that flaw of bringing his left hand back in low, even though it got much better after he got knocked out, it was always there.

I think Louis would have had rocky moments early when he would still be feeling Liston out, quite possibly getting hurt and maybe even going down but I think he gets back up and rallies to beat Liston in about 7 rounds. Would've been great.

[them_apples]

I don't think there's much of a size difference at all. Liston was slightly heavier at his peak, Louis was slightly taller. Liston of course had the longer reach.

The fastest of Liston I've seen was when he smashed the durable Wayne Bethea in one round. He weighed 204 lbs in that fight and around 26-29 years of age.

I think Liston's best showings were against Cleveland Williams. He was around 212 lbs.

Louis was at his fastest when he fought Max Baer, at 21 years of age and 198 lbs.

Perhaps the best version of Louis I saw was the one who fought Abe Simon and Buddy Baer in rematches, he was 28 years old and weighed 208 lbs.

I think Louis was much quicker with his hands, put together better combinations, counter punched well (unlike Liston who rarely did) and never got tired or frustrated even if a fight wasn't going his way.

Liston is not the lumbering slugger that he is made out to be. He was a solid technical boxer who rarely pressed the fight. He was content on using the jab and looking for opportunities to land his power punches. Liston is often criticized for being slow, which is somewhat true, but he did have decent footwork and handspeed at his best.

Liston was a big strong man, he just didn't carry much weight in his legs, but had huge arms.

weight isn't everything. George Foreman weighed less than Joe frazier when they fought (or close to) and look who was the bigger stronger man. I'm not saying Liston wins, but in terms of size and strength, it goes to Liston.

not to bring up Mike Tyson, but frame wise he was only Pattersons size (only he carried a lot more dense muscle) going by the picture of him standing beside Patterson. Liston dwarfed Patterson.

Liston would appear the bigger man because of his huge arms and shoulders, he weighed in at around 210 because of his smaller legs.

Size doesn't matter here anyways, Either Louis get's to Listons chin on the inside with a brutal combo, or Liston's Jab pounds Louis' stationary head for a good number of rounds and stops him.

[Obama]

And how would his fights with ali work to liston's advantage when trying to make an argument(there should be no debate here)for liston in this dream match?

They wouldn't genius, learn to read.

[RightCross94]

Liston by Knockout.

[mickey malone]

Providing Louis gets inside the jab, he'd have too much on the inside for Liston, combinations wearing him down for a stoppage around the 13th..

[boxingbuff]

Providing Louis gets inside the jab, he'd have too much on the inside for Liston, combinations wearing him down for a stoppage around the 13th..

You REALLY see Louis taking Liston's punches?

If it goes 13 rounds as you say.....Liston would have hit Louis many times.Louis would crumble under Liston's shots.

BTW-Who do you pick in a PRIME Forman-Louis fight?

[The Surgeon]

GREAT fight! And tough to call! Im gonna say Joe Louis takes Sonny outta there around the 8th or 9th after taking some thudding shots himself, mabey even tasting the canvas! Listons jab would be a big factor but Joe would rack up his power shots and stop him eventually i feel. Real Tough pick tho i could easily make a case for Liston winning

[joseph5620]

Long as you guys picking Liston realize that he wasn't at his peak for the Ali fights, I'm cool with it. Otherwise...you may be some serious Ali huggers.

I don't recall Liston showing any deterioration of skills before the Ali fight. It's easy to say he was past it after the fact because the 8-1 underdog beat him. Clay/Ali was a bad style match up for Liston at any stage of his career.

[joseph5620]

Sonny Liston had a great chin,better than Joe Louis.This is important.

Louis would be in a surprize when Liston would out jab him with his long reach.Liston's jab is also harder than the brown bomber's.Liston also had about 15-20 pounds on Louis.

Louis's punches were faster than Liston's,and his great combination punching.But Sonny had more power in both hands.

I believe Liston's ability to take Joe's punches,and establish the jab are the most important factor's of the fight.

I see Liston stopping Louis in between 6-10 rounds.

As unpopular as this might be, I'm leaning towards this analysis. I think it's a bad style and physical match up for Louis although I don't rule out him winning either.

[TheGreatA]

I don't recall Liston showing any deterioration of skills before the Ali fight. It's easy to say he was past it after the fact because the 8-1 underdog beat him. Clay/Ali was a bad style match up for Liston at any stage of his career.

Agreed, but I don't think he was quite as good against Ali as he was in the late 50's.

He would've still beaten most of the fighters out there, mostly due to them being intimidated by him. Even Patterson could've put up a much better fight, the rumour has it that Liston hardly trained a day for the rematch.

Against Ali he was motivated to shut him up but completely underestimated Ali's abilities as did everyone else at the time. Who could've known that the loudmouth who was knocked down by Henry Cooper would go onto become the greatest?

As I said before in this thread, this is the fastest I've seen of Liston at just 204 lbs:



He was certainly still capable against Ali and put up a decent fight until the sixth round which was dominated by Ali: