Vitali VS Sonny Liston

[AlexKid]

Just think of the stare down!

That would have been epic!

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Tough fight to call,,

Liston might outpoint him due to his jab being a constant thorn in vitali's side..

But i could also see liston slowing down during the fight and vitali putting it on him late and possibly stopping him in the 10th or 11th

[Humean]

Tough fight to call,,

Liston might outpoint him due to his jab being a constant thorn in vitali's side..

But i could also see liston slowing down during the fight and vitali putting it on him late and possibly stopping him in the 10th or 11th

Yes Vitali's weight, size, strength and power would probably count eventually. Prime Liston was 210-220 pounds and only 6'0" or 6'1". Ridiculously long arms and a great jab to take advantage of that and he had a longer reach that Vitali but Vitali would likely be just too big. Vitali 8 times out of 10, the other 2 Liston wins with the superior jab.

[MotorCityJaguar]

Liston kills Vitali IMO


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[joseph5620]

Yes Vitali's weight, size, strength and power would probably count eventually. Prime Liston was 210-220 pounds and only 6'0" or 6'1". Ridiculously long arms and a great jab to take advantage of that and he had a longer reach that Vitali but Vitali would likely be just too big. Vitali 8 times out of 10, the other 2 Liston wins with the superior jab.

Byrd was smaller than Liston an Vitali didn't walk through him. He wouldn't have with Liston either.

[Humean]

Byrd was smaller than Liston an Vitali didn't walk through him. He wouldn't have with Liston either.

Sure a more defensive fighter went through 9 losing rounds against Vitali in one fight.....

[Cardinal Buck]

Vitali would beat him. Liston's style is pretty well suited for Vitali.

[forget]

Liston would do a number on Vitali. The fight would end between rounds in Vitali's corner.

[billeau2]

This is a classic example of "usable versus "unusable" strength and why a heavyweight fighter need not weigh more than just north of 210 at which point it is debatable extra weight us a help or a hinderance.

The key here is reach. Reach is the essence of "usable" strength. The size difference is almost irrelevent here because Sonny uses reach. Klitschko does not fight inside so he has virtually no advantage over Liston. He may sneak a punch in but we know Liston had a chin and we know that Vitali has limited weapons beyond an outside attack....one in which he depends on superior reach via size to deliver his attack.

Liston would flatten Vitali, probably fairly quickly. Liston could fight at all ranges, had at least as good a jab, similar reach, and was much more aggressive. We can say they both had good chins for the sake of argument. Vitali's strength advantage is severly curtailed under the following circumstances. If you cannot deliver strength via weight it is useless.

[joseph5620]

Sure a more defensive fighter went through 9 losing rounds against Vitali in one fight.....

The point was he didn't walk though him due to his size. And it's silly to think he would do that to Liston. Bryd even backed Vitali up but Liston couldn't?

In case you forgot, Vitali quit in that fight. So obviously it wasn't as easy as you would like to think.

Vitali wins a lot of fantasy fights over great fighters even though he has never beaten one in his career. He also lost to the best fighters he ever faced. I don't see him beating Liston either.