H&G All-Time Index public fighter card
Sonny Liston
Heavyweight · United States
Sonny Liston ranks #89 in the H&G All-Time Index at Heavyweight, with a 84.36 All-Time Index score and a 50-4-0 professional record. His career span on this page is 1953-1970.
- All-time rank
- #89Notables
- H&G All-Time Index
- 84.360-100 ranking index. This is the number that orders the list.
- Career record
- 50-4-0Professional wins, losses and draws.
- Active years
- 1953-1970
- Data Confidence
- HighDeep career evidence and a tighter peak-rating band in this release. Close ranks still need boxing judgement.
Career story
How Sonny Liston's rating rose and fell year by year, with his peak marked.
Yearly peak-form Elo rating points. This curve is separate from the 0-100 ranking index.
Show the year-by-year numbers
| Year | Peak-form Elo rating |
|---|---|
| 1953 | 1,724 |
| 1954 | 1,759 |
| 1955 | 1,816 |
| 1956 | 1,826 |
| 1958 | 1,930 |
| 1959 | 1,951 |
| 1960 | 1,955 |
| 1961 | 1,949 |
| 1962 | 1,936 |
| 1963 | 1,923 |
| 1964 | 1,909 |
| 1965 | 1,897 |
| 1966 | 1,899 |
| 1967 | 1,899 |
| 1968 | 1,900 |
| 1969 | 1,890 |
| 1970 | 1,876 |
Why this ranking
Sonny Liston ranks #89 with a 84.36 score on the 60-100 H&G All-Time Index. His standout win in our data is over Floyd Patterson in 1963, who reached a 1,880 Peak-form Elo, one of the stronger opponents on his record. He also fought Marty Marshall 3 times, going 2-1-0 across that series. The strongest model lifts are sustained top-level career signal (well above the typical top-1000 fighter) and sustained head-to-head rating level (around the typical top-1000 fighter). Peak-form Elo is 1,955 (±203), separate from the 60-100 career Index.
What lifts or lowers this ranking
Bars show each weighted signal's relative size. Gold lifts the placement; grey holds it back.
How much repeat elite-year presence supports the all-time case.
Collapsed signal from peak rating, sustained rating and same-era separation.
A narrow signal for lineal, explicit undisputed or major multi-belt class control in this release data; it is not a full title history.
Same-era separation left after the shared peak and sustained rating signal is removed.
How much the record is helped by wins over contemporaneous title-level opponents.
How much major title evidence supports the rating.
Compare and explore
Put Sonny Liston next to any other ranked fighter, or open the tools built on the same rating data.
Top fights
The highest-ranked fighters Sonny Liston actually faced, biggest names first. Each one opens the head-to-head tool with the pair filled in.
- Muhammad Ali#9 · Index 96 · 1964, 1965
- Floyd Patterson#64 · Index 86 · 1962, 1963
- Eddie Machen#428 · Index 76 · 1960
- Zora Folley#793 · Index 72 · 1960
Ranked-vs-ranked bouts from the pinned fight archive, ordered by opponent ranking. An objective record of who they shared a ring with.
Great rivals he never fought
Ranked fighters who shared a recognised division and whose competitive careers overlapped, with no bout between them on record. Each name opens the head-to-head tool with the pair filled in.
- Archie Moore#16 · Heavyweight · 11 overlapping years (1953-1963)
- Ezzard Charles#38 · Heavyweight · 7 overlapping years (1953-1959)
- Joe Frazier#49 · Heavyweight · 6 overlapping years (1965-1970)
- Bob Foster#109 · Heavyweight · 10 overlapping years (1961-1970)
- Ingemar Johansson#427 · Heavyweight · 11 overlapping years (1953-1963)
- Oscar Bonavena#623 · Heavyweight · 7 overlapping years (1964-1970)
Show 2 more
- Jerry Quarry#631 · Heavyweight · 6 overlapping years (1965-1970)
- Joey Maxim#896 · Heavyweight · 6 overlapping years (1953-1958)
Shared recognised division, overlapping competitive years, no recorded bout between them. A measured pattern only.
Linked style profile
8-axis style breakdown
Sonny Liston also has a reviewed style profile with radar scores, study notes and diagnostic comparisons.
About this rating
Rankings: H&G All-Time Index v2.0.0. Reflects fights up to , the most recent on record. The ratings are fixed to that point, so fights after it are not yet included.
The rating itself is built from the 50 bouts we hold full data for from 1953 to 1970, which is why this count differs from the professional record above.
For the data-minded
Peak-form Elo rating: 1,955 (peak dated 1960-07-01). This best-point rating sits on its own scale and is not directly comparable with the 0-100 index.
The peak estimate carries an uncertainty band of about ±203 Elo, so read close comparisons with care.