Sonny Liston versus Dick the Bruiser

[DocDevil]

I heard a story just recently,in the early 1960's professional wrestler Dick the Bruiser said he could whip any boxer in a streetfight.Sonny Liston took exception to this, looked up The Bruiser, who was also a former college and pro football player, and made him appologise for the remarks.Has anyone heard this urban legend?

[Jorodz]

no! but that sounds awesome. from all i've read (i'm kind of a wrestling fan...)dick the bruiser was a legitimate tough guy and bad ass. street fighting is not boxing and while liston was probably the baddest man on the planet at the time and well versed in less civilized forms of combat, the bruiser would have made sure sonny remembered fighting him

[tommygun711]

no! but that sounds awesome. from all i've read (i'm kind of a wrestling fan...)dick the bruiser was a legitimate tough guy and bad ass. street fighting is not boxing and while liston was probably the baddest man on the planet at the time and well versed in less civilized forms of combat, the bruiser would have made sure sonny remembered fighting him

Sonny was a bad ass too. i don't really know who wouldve won but never count sonny out the guy beat up a police officer and often fought in jail so he could probably street fight very well himself, even though he was a boxer. he would certainly bring jail rules to the fight if he were ever to brawl with this guy.

[amhlilhaus]

some 'fake' pro wrestlers were real badasses on the streets.

[Muchmoore]

From what I've heard they met outside a nightclub and Liston slapped him silly. I don't think Liston actively sought him out or anything.

[Joe E]

From what I've heard they met outside a nightclub and Liston slapped him silly. I don't think Liston actively sought him out or anything.
This from WIKI: Afflis was also beaten up by World Heavyweight Boxing champion Sonny Liston in Las Vegas, after Afflis claimed he could beat any boxer in a streetfight, Liston sought out Afflis, beat him in the street, and then forced him to apologise for his insults.

[Pachilles]

thats what you get, waxed spandex wearing mother fucker

[Jorodz]

thats what you get, waxed spandex wearing mother fucker

:lol:

[Dempsey1238]

some 'fake' pro wrestlers were real badasses on the streets.

Perhaps, Brock is the only one I know that made a great REAL fighter, so to speak.


Dempsey took out cowboy Lurtell,

Hogan mentions in his bio that he spared with Foreman, and that Foreman's body shot took out his legs, and said if George landed other shot it would have killed him.

Also said Ali sick or not would have killed Rick Flair had it been a real fight in one of thsos mainias.


Most wrestlers were pretty scared to get into the ring for REAL against Rocky Marciano.

[Jorodz]

Perhaps, Brock is the only one I know that made a great REAL fighter, so to speak.


Dempsey took out cowboy Lurtell,

Hogan mentions in his bio that he spared with Foreman, and that Foreman's body shot took out his legs, and said if George landed other shot it would have killed him.

Also said Ali sick or not would have killed Rick Flair had it been a real fight in one of thsos mainias.


Most wrestlers were pretty scared to get into the ring for REAL against Rocky Marciano.

nice anecdotes but there were a couple. dynamite kid was a legitimate tremendous shoot fighter, sakurba (who beat 3 gracies in MMA) started out as a pro wrestler and trained in a pro-wrestling dojo that taught legit fighting. fella by the name of haku who was in wwf in the 80s was a brutal street fighter who was documented to have taken out someone's eye at a airport who questioned his real toughness

[he grant]

Cut to the 2:00 minute mark ... this looks pretty real to me ...

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Ali was shocked and embarrassed ...

[DocDevil]

seen pictures of the Bruiser as a fooball player and as a young wrestler,he had physical similarities to Brock Lesnar.I know pro wrestling is a scripted event,but a tussle between Sonny Liston and Dick the Bruiser in the early 1960's would be priceless on youtube.

[tommygun711]

Cut to the 2:00 minute mark ... this looks pretty real to me ...

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Ali was shocked and embarrassed ...
bullshit. he wouldnt spin him around like that, nor would they just circle eachother exchanging insults. this isn't the first time Ali has been involved in wrestling. If it was an actual fight then they could at least make it realistic. Ali probably wanted a payday.
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looks as fake as the video you posted.

[GPater11093]

Peter Keenan is tougher than Liston.

[tommygun711]

Peter Keenan is tougher than Liston.
mentally or psychically? because Tyson and Liston were very durable psychically and could take a decent shot, but mentally they can be cracked as easy as an egg shell.

[amhlilhaus]

Perhaps, Brock is the only one I know that made a great REAL fighter, so to speak.


Dempsey took out cowboy Lurtell,

Hogan mentions in his bio that he spared with Foreman, and that Foreman's body shot took out his legs, and said if George landed other shot it would have killed him.

Also said Ali sick or not would have killed Rick Flair had it been a real fight in one of thsos mainias.


Most wrestlers were pretty scared to get into the ring for REAL against Rocky Marciano.

your points are meaningless. we were talking about REAL streetfights. sparring and boxing in the ring isn't a street fight. not defending pro wrestlers here or anything, but some of them would have been no one you'd want to mess with in a bar, whether you were a 'REAL' boxer, wrestler, judoka, karateka or mixed martial artist.

[GPater11093]

Keenan is definitly tougher physically, he imposed his strength on Liston before Liston tried to throw him out a window. Apparently he towered over Liston.

[Dempsey1238]

your points are meaningless. we were talking about REAL streetfights. sparring and boxing in the ring isn't a street fight. not defending pro wrestlers here or anything, but some of them would have been no one you'd want to mess with in a bar, whether you were a 'REAL' boxer, wrestler, judoka, karateka or mixed martial artist.


Dempsey's era of boxing mostly was a street fight for the most part.

Rocky Marciano was a good street fighter also.

[SuzieQ49]

Sonny Liston rates in my top 3 heavyweights of all time.

[he grant]

bullshit. he wouldnt spin him around like that, nor would they just circle eachother exchanging insults. this isn't the first time Ali has been involved in wrestling. If it was an actual fight then they could at least make it realistic. Ali probably wanted a payday.
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looks as fake as the video you posted.

Sure it does ... Ali had him exactly where he wanted him ...

AS far as street fights go, who knows ? Guys like Sullivan, Dempsey and Liston were legendary street fighters ... I'm sure plenty of wrestlers were killers as well ... Ali, I doubt it ..

[janitor]

Sure it does ... Ali had him exactly where he wanted him ...

AS far as street fights go, who knows ? Guys like Sullivan, Dempsey and Liston were legendary street fighters ... I'm sure plenty of wrestlers were killers as well ... Ali, I doubt it ..

Jack Dempsey said that Chuck Wiggins was the greatest streetfighter who ever lived.

[tommygun711]

Keenan is definitly tougher physically, he imposed his strength on Liston before Liston tried to throw him out a window. Apparently he towered over Liston.

interesting
I never heard about that, but Liston was pretty badass himself. do you have an article about it? i'd love to read about it.

[Longhhorn71]

interesting
I never heard about that, but Liston was pretty badass himself. do you have an article about it? i'd love to read about it.

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[GPater11093]

interesting
I never heard about that, but Liston was pretty badass himself. do you have an article about it? i'd love to read about it.

AlFrancis (a poster on here) told me about it.

You do know who Peter Keenan is yeh?

Big guy from Scotland, absoloutly massive.

[tommygun711]

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i was talking about this so called confrontation between Liston and Keenan
that video didn't really relate to my post lol

[BUDW]

Captain kangaroo beat up Sonny in 1952

[DocDevil]

Heard that as an ex wrestler in his fifties,Bruno Sammartino got into it with a few football players who were giving him a bad time,they jumped him,another wrestler came into the fray,and the wrestlers did a number on the football players.

[young griffo]

AlFrancis (a poster on here) told me about it.

You do know who Peter Keenan is yeh?

Big guy from Scotland, absoloutly massive.
I read about this once.

Didn't Sonny object to Keenan smoking at a party,telling him to butt out and Keenan said something along the lines of "make me" and telling Sonny he'd never lost a street fight whereupon Sonny backed off.

It's a good story but if it had came down to a serious fight I'd back Liston to shove Keenans pack of smokes up his skinny arse.

[Cachibatches]

nice anecdotes but there were a couple. dynamite kid was a legitimate tremendous shoot fighter, sakurba (who beat 3 gracies in MMA) started out as a pro wrestler and trained in a pro-wrestling dojo that taught legit fighting. fella by the name of haku who was in wwf in the 80s was a brutal street fighter who was documented to have taken out someone's eye at a airport who questioned his real toughness
He bit off the nose of the guy at the airport. He took out fellow wrestler Jesse Barr's eye. As the story goes, Barr was being a dick and kicked some dirt into a pit that t construction worker was digging. Haku told him it wasn't cool. Barr asked him what he was going to do about it, and Haku took out his eye.

When talking about how tough these guys are, you have to understand that some of them are former weight lifters and footballers, and some of them are shooters, or even hookers, who are trained in a form of wrestling to injure their opponents. It used to be that even in fake wrestling, to be a long term champ, you were required to be a hooker, because some smart ass might try to take something on you in a match.

Someone mentioned Ali- remember that they changed the rules in Ali's match with Inoki because they were afraid of him getting injured.