[lbo-talk] Re: ali vs liston

Dennis Perrin dperrin at comcast.net
Thu Jul 21 19:16:34 PDT 2005



> much of the ballyhoo about [Liston's] unbeatable animal nature was
> sportswriter garbage, with quite a bit of racist crap thrown in...in
> fact, he was no bigger than ali, whose speed and quickness was too much
> for him...
>
> and every other fighter [Ali] met, in his prime, before the bastards took
> his title away ...
>
> fs

And then he was whupped by Joe Frazier in Mad Sq. Garden. Put on his ass, in fact.

Look, I admire Ali a lot -- esp his antiwar stance with so much at stake (tho I'm not crazy about how he snubbed Malcolm X in favor of Elijah Muhammad, right before X was iced). But Liston was a better fighter than you suggest, and one not need go into "animal" natures to appreciate that. Fact is, as fast as Ali was, he lacked a devastating blow. His fights with Frazier proved that. He could move, dodge and pepper his opponent with jabs and some decent hooks, but he was not a power fighter. He outwitted Foreman in Zaire, and barely outlasted Frazier in Manila. Ali was a smart and deft, but no powerhouse.

Dennis



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