[lbo-talk] Re: ali vs liston

[Dennis Perrin]

> 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