BoxRec

Who wins

Well in real time...you'd have to pick a year.....and any year that Foreman Wins, is a year where Sonny is past his prime, and any year that Sonny wins is a year that Foreman is a kid.



At their mutual primes? Anyone who could get their hands on a ticket to see such a fight would win.

Who would play the role of the bad guy ?

Well George did develop a "good guy" persona.....Sonny...not so much.

So Older George could be considered as the good guy.....if they could choose from their various incarnations.

The 1950's Liston terrorized the division... Roy Harris gave Patterson a competitive fight for 12 rounds... Liston said, "Harris is going out in the 1st round"

Patterson said, "If this were Football I would be at a disadvantage. I won't be fighting Liston. I'll be skillfully boxing him." Liston said. "It's done in one."

Liston also had the jab to solidly outpoint Eddie Machen -- a guy almost equal to Jimmy Young in boxing skills... Liston had 2 blowouts of a prime Cleveland Williams. The first in 3 rounds, and the rematch in 2 rounds... I wouldn't say Williams compared to Ron Lyle, but he was a big puncher at his best who couldn't put a good big shot on Liston -- such as the way Lyle walloped Foreman.. The 1957-59 version of Liston probably beats the Foreman who destroyed Frazier.. But it would be an incredibly tough fight if Foreman weighed 217 and trained as hard as he did for Frazier 1..

George looked ready to go a hard 12 that night... He was ripped to the gills -- and Frazier looked scared to death at the weigh-in and before the fight.. Reminiscent of the awed countenance of Floyd Patterson when he faced Sonny Liston.

This was discussed some in the sparring partners of Sonny Liston a few years ago.
Foreman had sparred with Liston even before going to the Olympic trials
and continued to do so after Foreman turned pro in 1969
when Dick Sadler became his trainer.
Liston and Sadler parted ways after Liston's loss to Leotis Martin
back in December 1969.
In Foreman autobiography ,Foreman writes
about saying goodbye to Liston at his house in Las Vegas.
Liston was on a full length lawn chair in his back yard next to the swimming pool ,he looked sad and had his ole hound dog on his lap
and said something to Foreman like 'its all about the Doe-Ray-Me" or something like that.
I don't think Foreman ever saw Liston after that.

Liston and Foreman had some kind of kinship going for certain... They were both viewed as destroyers in their eras and they liked each other.

Sullivan liked Jeffries... Jeffries liked Dempsey... Dempsey liked Baer up til the Louis fight -- he didn't like Baer deliberately taking the count on one knee

Liston was a skillful boxer, but still he wasn't that kind of fighter, who was looking to outpoint someone. So I won't say, he could outbox George. It would have been a clash of punchers and such situation had always been exactly what Foreman needed. I guess, Foreman would have knocked Liston out pretty early.

The stare down would be epic. I'll lean toward Foreman simply because he would be staring down.

The '50's Liston had a better jab... It was almost as quick as Jimmy Young's... I'll go with Liston peak to peak.