Styles make fights.
Lets find similarities in opponents;
Larry Holmes;
Holmes fought many hard punchers, for example Cooney. Cooney was bigger than Liston and his hooks were as deadly but he did not have Listons powerful jab so i think it's a bad comparison. Young Foreman sparred with Liston & stated Listons power made him walk backwards, while an old Foreman destroyed the same Cooney who gave Holmes a good fight.
Sonny Liston;
Liston fought Ali who had a very similar style to Holmes. Holmes, like Ali, had a good jab, had good foot movement [though prime Ali had more] and arguably had more power. We all saw how Liston was frustrated by Ali.
The match;
In the first few rounds Liston lands powerful jabs with some straight rights. Some of the jabs seem to dazzle Holmes. Before Liston lets off the hook Holmes holds. Liston will land more straight jabs that he did with Ali due to Holmes slower feet [compared to Ali].
But Holmes could take a punch. In the latter rounds Holmes stinging jab frustrated Liston, who quits in the ninth.
Ali did not knock Liston out in the first fight, he frustrated him, i believe Holmes could have done the same but it would have taken more time due to Holmes not possessing Ali's faster footwork, which made Liston miss allot.
Holmes tko
I've got to pick Holmes by a TKO in round number 9. Holmes had a great jab and we know what effect Ali's jab had on Liston.
Holmes hand speed would be to quick for Liston. He would jab Liston at will and hit him with a right hand all night long. Liston would quit in his corner in round 9 with some type of excuse.
One thing for sure is that it would either end with a Liston KO victory or a Holmes decision victory. Since Sonny had a longer reach and better jab than George Foreman, and I always though Foreman could have taken Holmes, I have to make Sonny Liston the favorite and Holmes a very live underdog.
Holmes in his prime never had too much problems against smaller foes at heavyweights no matter how tough and strong hitting they were. Holmes was one smart heavyweight who used his size and reach advantage to the hilt. Known for possessing the division's best jab, Holmes also could throw wicked hooks and uppercuts.
Liston was also known for his jab as well as his murderous punches that finished most of his opponents. He was too much for the likes of mobile but light hitting Floyd Patterson and equally big but plodding bangers like Cleveland Williams Chuck Wepner. But his jabs and punches proved inadequate against a mobile bigger man like Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali who proceded to beat him twice by TKO, albeit the controversy especially in their second fight. Be that as it, what was unquestionable was Liston's ineffectivieness against the like of Clay/Ali
Holmes was cut from the same mold as Clay/Ali, so it stands to reason that Holmes could also effectively handle Liston and beat him either by TKO or easy decision.
two of the divisions greatest jabbers. but i holmes is the better all rounder. close ud for larry.
Gentleman Toughguy,
Blogbaba said (wrote) it best.
whoa-this is a hard call, it would have to been left to the judges, I think it would be one of the closest fights ever.
Hi toughguy2 buddy! That's a great question, because I rate both of those fighters under my top 5 greatest boxers ever and it's also very interesting, because Larry Holmes fighting style is very similar to the one of Muhammad Ali, who beat Liston.
Let's go first down the direct comparsion:
- Hand speed: tie (Larry had very fast hands, but a prime Liston had also very fast hands, many people forget that, because they only think of the Ali fights, where Liston was very old, bad trained and beside Ali, every heavyweight looks slow! When you don't believe me, just watch the Patterson fights and how Liston hits the speed ball in his earlier footage)
- Footwork and foot speed: Larry (Larry had, beside Ali and Jersey Joe Walcott, the greatest and fastest footwork in heavyweight history ever)
- chin: tie (Larry could take the shots of Earnie Shavers. Liston had also a very hard chin, who could take the best shots from Cleveland Williams(60's George Foreman) without blinking. He was only KO'ed twice in his career. The Phantom Punch was fixed or Liston took a dive and in the Leotis Martin fight, Leotis fought against a very old Liston who suffered a cold short before the fight.)
- power: Liston (Chuck Wepner, who fought Foreman and Liston said that even an old Liston hit harder than a young Foreman!)
- intimidating factor: Liston (he is the most feared heavyweight boxer ever, Ali was almost scared to death before their fight)
- stamina: tie (Prime for prime both lacked stamina. In the early round Larry run around his enemys, but in the last rounds he just stood in front of them. Prime Liston had more stamina than in the fights with Ali and could guys still knock out in the later rounds)
- heart: Larry (He stood up after Earnie Shavers(hardest hitting heavyweight ever) knocked him down!)
- defense: Liston (he copied the defense of Joe Louis, who had the greatest defense ever/beside Johnson)
- reach: Liston (84 inches!)
- skills overall: Liston (Even Ali said that Liston is the most skilled fighter he ever fought. He had a much better accuracy than Holmes, for example. Holmes sometimes had problems to land a proper punch on his target.)
Here is how I see the fight:
The bell rings. Liston walks fastly after Holmes. Holmes is faster and still full of stamina, he runs around Liston, trying to avoid his shots. Liston's reach is so long and he punches fast, that he can score some punches on Holmes body(in their second fight, Liston could even land some shots on Ali, just because of his reach. But this time Liston is also faster). Holmes fires back with his hammer hard jab. He can hurt Liston, because of Liston's great defense and his hard chin. After a bloody fight, they start to slow down in the 8th round. Both caused damage, but Holmes is more hurt. Liston punches harder and because of his hand speed, hard chin, great defense and his abnormal long reach(which keeps Holmes away), Holmes could hardly land any A-rated punch. After Holmes slowed down, he stands before Liston and throws punch on punch. Because he throws so many punches, he starts to make holes in his defense and because he slowly starts running out of gas, he starts to slow down in his movements. In the tenth round, Liston has hurt him badly, but Liston doesn't look as bad as Holmes, because of the said reasons. Holmes has one of the hardest chins in heavyweight history, but at the beginning of the 14th round Holmes is so tired and hurt, that Liston shoots him down with a right jab. Liston is also very tired, but he has still enough power to bring Holmes down. With his reach he could still hold him at bay.
I repeat the reasons, why Liston would win. Here they are:
1. Larry used to run out of gas in the later rounds, but Liston could still knock guys out in the later rounds, because he just needed a little of his power, who would still be enough
2. Liston has a hard chin, a great defense, fast hands and a crazy long reach, with whom it would be easy to keep Holmes at bay, even though Holmes is pretty fast in punching
3. With his long reach, Liston would easily land shots at Holmes, because Larry lacked in defense and slowed down as the fight goes on
4. Larry has a very hard chin, but Liston has the hardest jab in heavyweight history and not even Larry would last 15 rounds with attacks from that jab. He could take Shavers punches, because Shavers was much slower than Sonny and has a much shorter reach, so he could only land about 1/10 of all the shots of Sonny would land at Larry(with his long jab and his hand speed)
5. In the second Ali-Liston fight, an old Liston fought a prime Ali(much faster than Holmes!) and still was able to land some shots at his body, just because he had a so long reach, that even Ali had problems avoiding his arms. How could than Larry avoid those long arms? Especially when Larry lacks defense and Sonny had great punching speed for his size!
Liston by TKO in the 14th round
Prime versions and 15 rounds
