Why was Sonny Liston considered invincible before Clay-Liston?

[irishdude]

Liston went into the fight 35-1 with 24 KO's. Him, Foreman and Tyson are put in the same bracket, but when Tyson won the championship he was 27-0 with 25 KOs and Foreman 37-0 with 34 KOs. A difference between Liston and Foreman, Tyson.

He was at that time being heralded in some circles as the greatest fighter of all time, classified as unbeatable. But why was this?

[BattlingNelson]

Liston had been sidetracked by Floyd Pattersons management for a very long time. It was pretty much everybody's belief that Liston was the best then. And when he actually did get Pattersson in the ring, by Patterssons insestence I might add, Floyd was utterly destroyed. In the encore Pattersson did better. About 5 seconds better.........

[Check_hooks]

Probably because of what he did to Patterson. He couldn't hold Ali's jockstrap tho.

[Schmerzen]

this is the reason why everyone feared him

[BigStereotype]

The same reason as Foreman and Tyson - the power. He was knocking guys out with his jab. When you put a beast like Liston in with a mediocre crop of heavyweights like he faced (excluding Patterson), he's going to look like a worldbeater.

[Canelo Phresh]

The same reason as Foreman and Tyson - the power. He was knocking guys out with his jab. When you put a beast like Liston in with a mediocre crop of heavyweights like he faced (excluding Patterson), he's going to look like a worldbeater.

this right here.

[Forza]

He was knocking guys out with just a jab at one point. He was extremely powerful and made patterson look like an amatuer twice. Not trying to make excuses for patterson but I believe he was scared, and lost both fights before he even entered the ring. His speed alone should've given liston a better fight.

[boxing boy]

Sonny Liston seemed invincible because he easily destroyed and cleaned out a good Heavyweight division before destroying Patterson twice.Outside the ring he was a thug and even KO'd some police officers....His huge fists against there clubs,and came out on top.He was arrested over 50 times,and spent time in prison on a couple occassions.He was menacing and feared in and outside the ring.

Liston's only loss in the ring was very early in his career against a veteran fighter,a fight he fought with a broken jaw.In the 10th and final round Liston was hitting Marshall so hard that Marshall actually stepped out of the ring!! In rematches with Marshall, Liston got revenge by knocking him out and winning a one-sided UD.

Liston had a huge reach and huge fists so big that special gloves had to be made for him! Liston had a long powerful left jab that could hurt you or even knock you down.Liston's left jab actually knocked out some of Wayne Bethea's teeth!!

Sonny Liston cleaned out a good heavyweight division by destroying everyone he fought.He KO'd Mike DeJohn,the hardest hitting white heavyweight in the world.He Ko'd the Big cuban Nino Valdez in 3 rounds.Valdez was once the #1 contender.Liston twice KO'd Cleveland "Big Cat" Williams in brutal fashion,in 2 and 3 rounds.Liston destroyed Eddie Machen and Zora Folley,two great boxing stylist.He also destroyed everyone else he fought,normally in brutal fashion.

He looked impossible to KO.He had a great chin,and took the best punches from his opponents without even blinking.Including Cleveland "Big Cat" Williams,who had a murderous left hook.But Liston barley blinked when Williams landed his big left hook.

Liston looked unbeatable.He was menacing and had great power in each hand.He looked invinsible with his pole-like left jab,and his killer instict.

George Foreman said Sonny Liston was the only fighter who could ever make him move backwards in the ring.He said when he sat beside Liston after sparring that he feared him!! He said Sonny Liston was the only man that he was ever afraid of!!

These are just some of the reasons Liston was said to be unbeatable and invincible before his fight with Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali.

[Wild Blue Yonda]

The man had one loss in how many years pro? Ten? The late-50's, early-60's was a fairly deep pool for HW talent, & Liston cut a swathe through the other front-runners of the division. Johansson & Cooper (one of whom openly admitted to ducking Liston) were about the only men of note he missed in a first-class run through the division, en route to not one, but two first-round, ten-count KO's over the Champion.

It's not so difficult to see where his reputation was born. His jab by its lonesoem was literally sapping the will from some of his lesser rivals.

[RubenSonny]

The same reason as Foreman and Tyson - the power. He was knocking guys out with his jab. When you put a beast like Liston in with a mediocre crop of heavyweights like he faced (excluding Patterson), he's going to look like a worldbeater.

He cleared out the division beating the top contendersso I don't know what you mean by mediocre.