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Kill The Body

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Niño Valdés vs Sonny Liston — record, stats and common opponents compared

🇨🇺CUBA

Niño Valdés

🇺🇸HEAVYWEIGHT

Sonny Liston

Niño Valdés (48-18-3) and Sonny Liston (50-4) are compared on record, finishing method, activity, and common opponents on Kill The Body. The two have met once. They share 5 common opponents.

Valdés

48

Wins36 KO · 75%

18

Losses

3

Draws70 tracked bouts

Liston

50

Wins39 KO · 78%

4

Losses

0

Draws54 tracked bouts

Head to Head

Liston leads 1–0

Niño Valdés and Sonny Liston have met 1 time; Liston leads 1–0.

Niño Valdés and Sonny Liston have met 1 time; Liston leads 1–0.
Met1959Aug 5Series
Niño ValdésFighter ALLost0–1W–L
Sonny ListonFighter BWWon1–0W–L
ResultKOR31Meeting

The Numbers

Valdés 1 · Liston 7 of 8 measurable rows
ValdésListon
Record
48-18-350-4 (edge)
Win %0–100%
71.7%
92.6% (edge)
Wins by knockoutmax 39
36
39 (edge)
KO rate0–100%
75%
78% (edge)
Stoppage rate (tracked wins)†0–100%
75%
78% (edge)
Times stopped†max 5
5
3 (edge)
Title reignsmax 3
0
3 (edge)
Bouts per year‡max 3.9
3.9 (edge)
3.2
Bouts trackedcoveragemax 70
70
54

† Counted from bouts Kill The Body has ingested, not a career total. · ‡ Across each fighter's tracked career span. · Bars are scaled per row — percentages on 0–100, counts against the larger of the two. Every figure is also printed as text.

Tale of the Tape

Height+2″
Niño Valdés: 6′3″ (edge)
Sonny Liston: 6′1″
Reach+6″
Niño Valdés: 78″
Sonny Liston: 84″ (edge)
Agenot held
Niño Valdés: Died aged 76
Sonny Liston: No date of birth
Stance
Niño Valdés: Orthodox
Sonny Liston: Orthodox

Niño Valdés left, Sonny Liston right, as everywhere on this page. Age is stated, not scored — neither age nor stance carries an edge.

How They Win

Tracked bouts only
Niño Valdés48 wins · from 70 tracked bouts

Niño Valdés: 48 tracked wins — 36 by KO/TKO (75%) and 12 on the cards (25%). Counted from 70 bouts Kill The Body has ingested.

36 by KO/TKO 75%12 on the cards 25%

Sonny Liston50 wins · from 54 tracked bouts

Sonny Liston: 50 tracked wins — 39 by KO/TKO (78%) and 11 on the cards (22%). Counted from 54 bouts Kill The Body has ingested.

39 by KO/TKO 78%11 on the cards 22%

One square per tracked win. Counted from the bouts Kill The Body has ingested for each fighter — Niño Valdés 70, Sonny Liston 54 — not from a career-complete method table.

Common Opponents

5 shared

5 shared · Valdés better on 1 · Liston better on 3 · even on 1

Valdés

Opponent

Liston

  • Niño Valdés

    0–2 against

    Loss, KO 8

    1956

    Loss, UD

    1956

    MachenListon better

    Sonny Liston

    Win, UD

    1960

  • Niño Valdés

    Loss, UD

    1956

    FolleyListon better

    Sonny Liston

    Win, KO 3

    1960

  • Niño Valdés

    2–0 against

    Win, SD

    1958

    Win, SD

    1958

    DeJohnValdés better

    Sonny Liston

    Win, TKO 6

    1959

  • Niño Valdés

    Win, SD

    1958

    BetheaEven

    Sonny Liston

    Win, TKO 1

    1958

  • Niño Valdés

    Win, KO 5

    1958

    SummerlinListon better

    Sonny Liston

    2–0 against

    Win, SD

    1954

    Win, UD

    1954

Both sides are set at the same size on purpose. Kill The Body does not score a second-round knockout above a split decision — the edge counts losses first and wins as the tiebreak, and the rest is yours to argue. Shared opponents are matched on fighter identity, not on name, so two different fighters with the same name never merge into one row.

Current Form

Oldest left · newest right

Niño Valdés has won once since losses to Alonzo Johnson and Sonny Liston. Valdés last boxed on Dec 1, 1959.LWLLW

Powell Mar 1959Hodge Apr 1959Johnson May 1959Liston Aug 1959London Dec 19593.9 tracked bouts per year

Sonny Liston has won once since losing by stoppage to Leotis Martin. Liston last boxed on Jun 29, 1970.WWWLW

Joiner Mar 1969Johnson May 1969Moore Sep 1969Martin Dec 1969Wepner Jun 19703.2 tracked bouts per year

Common Questions

With the rows behind them
Have Niño Valdés and Sonny Liston ever fought each other?
Yes. Niño Valdés and Sonny Liston met once on August 5, 1959, and Sonny Liston won by KO in round 3.
The meeting

LAug 5, 1959 · Liston · KO R3

Head to Head ↓
Who has the better record, Valdés or Liston?
Niño Valdés is 48-18-3 and Sonny Liston is 50-4. Sonny Liston has the higher win percentage.
Records · win %

Valdés48–18–371.7%

Liston50–492.6%

The Numbers ↓
Who has more knockouts, Valdés or Liston?
Niño Valdés has 36 knockout wins and Sonny Liston has 39. Sonny Liston has more.
Knockout wins · KO rate

Valdés3675%

Liston3978%

The Numbers ↓
Do Valdés and Liston have any common opponents?
Niño Valdés and Sonny Liston share 5 common opponents: Eddie Machen, Zora Folley and Mike DeJohn (and 2 others). Sonny Liston fared better against 3 of them.
5 shared opponents

Eddie MachenLW

Zora FolleyLW

Mike DeJohnWW

Wayne BetheaWW

and 1 more

Common Opponents ↓
Who is bigger, Valdés or Liston?
Niño Valdés is the taller fighter at 190 cm, 5 cm above the other. Sonny Liston also has the longer reach, by 15 cm.
Height · reach

Valdés190 cm198 cm reach

Liston185 cm213 cm reach

Tale of the Tape ↓
How much fight data does Kill The Body have on Valdés and Liston?
This comparison is drawn from 70 bouts tracked for Niño Valdés and 54 bouts tracked for Sonny Liston. Method and activity splits reflect those bouts only.
Bouts tracked · no edge

Valdés70bouts

Liston54bouts

How They Win ↓

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