BoxRec

tough call IMO. late KO marciano would be my guess.
simply wearing his man down and out. liston would be
stationary enough to let it happen but not tough enough
to outfight rocky.

who do you have?

i cant see marciano losing this type of fight - its going to be a war and he doesnt come close to losing wars

Liston by mid rounds execution

to me there are two things. liston is bigger,
technically maybe better-versed, but rocky
would have never in his life gone out against
ali the way liston had ... that is why i think
liston won't win this one. but i'd say that could
have been a great fight.

Shocked to see so many picking Marciano. This fight would look a lot like Foreman - Frazier.

The End wrote:Shocked to see so many picking Marciano. This fight would look a lot like Foreman - Frazier.

it always shocks me to see how easy it is
to make people "shocked" ...

Liston was a freak of nature. Tremendous reach, swift on his feet, and according to Chuck Wepner hit harder than George Foreman (if that is even imaginable). As much as I like Rocky Marciano, if he was going to get Liston, he would have to do it quick, throw all caution to the wind and hit him everywhere he could and hope and pray to Jesus that he could knock Liston out. The longer the fight goes, the worse it would be for Rocky. It is ironic in a sense that it was Marciano who saw through Liston's persona as a front, saying that the first man to stand up to Liston and hit him first and keep hitting, would break Liston's will. And Muhammad Ali did that. Liston is one of the few heavyweights, however, that I think would of beaten Marciano. Rocky has that punchers chance, and at 80-110 punches a round, he has more than a chance at that; but damn that battering ram of a jab of Liston's.

i think rocky got it right and thats how he'd win

Interesting story following the years of Marciano's retirement, he was offered paltry sums to come out of retirement to fight Patterson, Johansson, and Liston. From what I understand, the Liston account stemmed from an impromptu training event at Liston's camp, and The Rock was present. Liston was asked by a reporter whether he would of beaten Marciano in his prime, and Liston said he had no doubt that he would and Marciano over heard this. Marciano, of course, stood up for himself and said he would fight Liston right then and there in the gym, no questions asked and Liston declined. I think from that moment on, Marciano gauged Liston's personality as a bully and began to knock him from that day onward. There was talk of a Liston/Marciano fight, but whatever Marciano was offered it was such a low-balled figure that Marciano declined.

There's no technical argument to make for Marciano here, but I just have a feeling that Marciano would bust him up late. Liston, like Tyson, never beat anyone who hit him back.

HomicideHenry wrote:Interesting story following the years of Marciano's retirement, he was offered paltry sums to come out of retirement to fight Patterson, Johansson, and Liston. From what I understand, the Liston account stemmed from an impromptu training event at Liston's camp, and The Rock was present. Liston was asked by a reporter whether he would of beaten Marciano in his prime, and Liston said he had no doubt that he would and Marciano over heard this. Marciano, of course, stood up for himself and said he would fight Liston right then and there in the gym, no questions asked and Liston declined. I think from that moment on, Marciano gauged Liston's personality as a bully and began to knock him from that day onward. There was talk of a Liston/Marciano fight, but whatever Marciano was offered it was such a low-balled figure that Marciano declined.

wow ... cool story. is it more the rumor type or
was that pretty sure what happened? btw i do
not necessarily hold this against liston. why fight
rocky marciano for free? you can see marciano
as well as the bully who didn't follow up because
he seems to have declined an official fight after
offering a free, inofficial one ...

i have the rock in this one. this is about willpower
cause the skill diff, while present, is not as strong
as with ... let's say ali.

poll is even. i thought it would lean towards
marciano.

I think Liston would bust him up and stop him in 6 or 7 rounds, if he hadn't and the fight went into the 8th round on Rocky would take it. I don't think it happens though, Liston KO 6 is what I'd lean towards.

The End wrote:Shocked to see so many picking Marciano. This fight would look a lot like Foreman - Frazier.

Spot on mate Liston would have destroyed him IMO and again in my humble opinion Sonny would be high up in the top ten of all time he was a much maligned and complex character but having said that a great fighter with a tremendous jab

Flump wrote:There's no technical argument to make for Marciano here, but I just have a feeling that Marciano would bust him up late. Liston, like Tyson, never beat anyone who hit him back.

Cleveland Williams could hit back better than most heavyweights in history, and Sonny beat him in his peak.

Liston too big and strong I think. Liston two controversial losses to Ali tend to overshadow what a beast he was, he smashed up so many fighters upto fighting Patterson and then destroyed him twice. Marciano needed to batter fighters, he wore them down with his ferociousness and strength but to stand and trade with someone as strong as Liston would have been an up hill struggle I think. I could see Liston stopping him before the 10th round.

wow. now it's liston in a landslide ... :) ...

dr_devious wrote:

Flump wrote:There's no technical argument to make for Marciano here, but I just have a feeling that Marciano would bust him up late. Liston, like Tyson, never beat anyone who hit him back.

Cleveland Williams could hit back better than most heavyweights in history, and Sonny beat him in his peak.

Williams hit Liston a few good licks in their first fight agreed, in the first round when Liston was fresh.

Whether Williams could hit back better than most Heavyweights in history is another argument, for me most of his reputation is built on the first fight with Liston, a fight he got knocked out in early but again, that's another argument, he could certainly punch.

I just have a suspicion that Liston would have failed a gut check against The Rock.

this brawl comes down to heart - and when it really counts the rock sinks sonny

It is ironic that only 2-3 years ago the forums opinion on this fight was that Liston was just too big, too strong, and too tough for Marciano to contend with. Now that thought process has changed.

Marciano

I'm taking The Rock here by late stoppage.

Genuine question because I have not seen a lot of Liston`s fights: who was stylistically close to Marciano that Liston fought and how did he fare? Same thing with Marciano: how did he perform against a stylistic counterpart to Liston?

Jpreisser wrote:Genuine question because I have not seen a lot of Liston`s fights: who was stylistically close to Marciano that Liston fought and how did he fare? Same thing with Marciano: how did he perform against a stylistic counterpart to Liston?

Tbh, I dont think either man ever fought someone with the same size/attributes as the other. Liston was so swift on his feet, so unproprtioned (85" reach ffs!) and so powerful. Marciano, so underated in terms of getting on the inside, sheer volume of his punches (80-110 punches a round is a MW pace). Its very hard to find anyone from the eras they were in to compare, let alone find an oppnent they fought matching eachother.

.....liston...