Ali (then still known as 'Cassius Clay') and Liston on the cover of Referee Magazine (dated: November 21st, 1964)

The two Ali versus Liston fights were among the most anticipated, watched and controversial fights in boxing history. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (490x692, 163 KB) Licensing This image is of a magazine cover, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the magazine or the individual contributors who worked on the cover depicted. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (490x692, 163 KB) Licensing This image is of a magazine cover, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the magazine or the individual contributors who worked on the cover depicted. ... Muhammad Ali-Haj (Arabic: محمد على) born January 17, 1942 (as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. ... Charles Sonny Liston (May 8, 1932 – December 30, 1970), was a boxer who became world Heavyweight champion, and whose life and personality were always obscure. ... Boxing, nicknamed the sweet science and also called pugilism or prizefighting, is a sport where two participants of similar weight attack each other with their fists in a series of two to three-minute intervals called rounds. In both Amateur and Professional divisions, the combatants (called boxers or fighters) avoid...

Pre-first fight records and chaos

Liston was the world Heavyweight champion, having dethroned Floyd Patterson by a knockout in the first round in 1962 to win the title; with an impressive knockout win record, Liston was a fighter that not many other fighters of his division at that era were willing to fight. E.g. Henry Cooper said that if Clay won, he was interested in a title fight, but even if Liston lost, he was not going to get in the ring with him. Often described as reclusive and timid, Liston did not like to smile or talk to the press too much. Floyd Patterson (born January 4, 1935) is a former heavyweight boxing champion who made history multiple times in the sport of boxing. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Sir Henry Cooper OBE, (born May 3, 1934), is a former British heavyweight boxer. ...

Ali, then under the name of Cassius Clay, on the other hand, was a fast-talking 22 year old challenger who enjoyed the spotlight; he had won the gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics; he had hand speed and a lot of confidence. Nevertheless, he had been dropped by journeyman Sonny Banks in a previous fight. Few observers and fans believed he could beat Liston, and he was made a seven to one betting underdog. 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Roman Colosseum Rome (Italian and Latin Roma) is the capital city of Italy, and of its Lazio region. ... For months before the Olympic Games, runners relay the Olympic Flame from Olympia to the opening ceremony. ... Sonny Banks was an American boxer best known for being the first fighter to drop Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay). ... Gambling has had many different meanings depending on the cultural and historical context in which it is used. ...

During training camp, Clay took to driving a school bus across to the site where Liston was training; he started to call Liston the big, ugly bear. Liston resented this very much. Clay told everyone within ear range that he would knock Liston out in eight rounds. Boxing training is a training method that has been often called by medical doctors, boxing trainers and writers alike, one of the most spartan forms of sports training. ...

During the check-up the day before their first fight, Clay's heart beat came at 120 pulses per minute. Many thought of this as a sign; either Clay wasn't in proper shape, or he was nervous about fighting Liston. Later, after the weigh in, when it was again checked, Clay had a normal blood pressure.

The first fight

Their first fight was held on February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach, Florida, where Clay was residing (his trainer, Angelo Dundee, operated a gym nearby). Clay dominated the first two rounds. By the third round, however, Liston seemed reinvigorated, and Clay fought most of the round complaining that he was blind. It has been argued ever since that Liston's corner, seeing their fighter being beaten by Clay, may have put vaseline or another type of ointment on Liston's gloves. Dundee instructed Clay to back away from Liston until he recovered his sight. February 25 is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... Location of Miami Beach in Miami-Dade County, Florida. ... Angelo Merena (born 1923), better known in the boxing world as Angelo Dundee, is a boxing trainer who has managed 15 world boxing champions, among them, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Jose Napoles, Jimmy Ellis, Carmen Basilio and Luis Rodriguez. ... Blindness can be defined physiologically as the condition of lacking visual perception. ... Petroleum jelly or petrolatum is a byproduct of the refining of petroleum, made from the residue of petroleum distillation left in the still after all the oil has been vaporized. ...

Clay had recovered it by the fifth round, and he began to outjab the champion again. Suddenly, between rounds six and seven, Liston complained of shoulder numbness and said he was quitting. Although many claim that Liston faked this injury, a checkup after the bout proved that he had indeed dislocated his shoulder.

Nonetheless, after his win, Clay proclaimed his now famous words: "I shook up the world!"

The second bout

Because of the strange ending of the first bout, boxing authorities ordered a second bout, this time with Clay (now Ali) as the defending world champion and Liston as challenger. The bout would have been held in November, 1964, but Ali became ill and needed emergency surgery for a strangulated hernia. The fight was then postponed, and re-scheduled to be fought at Boston, Massachusetts. But the fight's promoters did not have a license to promote fights in Massachusetts, so the fight ended up being held at a small auditorium in Lewiston, Maine, the state's second largest city, on May 25, 1965. As a direct result of the fight's remote location (approx. 140 miles north of Boston), only 2,434 fans attended it live, setting an all-time record for the lowest attendance in a world championship boxing fight. Look up November in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Nickname: City on a Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Solar System), Athens of America Motto: Official website: www. ... Official language(s) English Capital Boston Largest city Boston Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 44th 10,555 mi²; 27,360 km² 183 mi; 295 km 113 mi; 182 km 13. ... Nickname: Motto: Official website: ci. ... May 25 is the 145th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (146th in leap years). ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link goes to calendar). ...

This proved to be one of the most controversial fights in history. Midway through the first round, Liston fell to the canvas, in what many have argued that was not an original knockdown. Referee Jersey Joe Walcott, a former world Heavyweight champion himself, seemed to be confused after he sent Ali to a neutral corner and the champion refused, instead posing over his fallen rival, yelling at him to get up, then with his fists up in the air, celebrating the fall. Walcott took twenty seconds to figure out what to do. Nat Fleischer, publisher of Ring Magazine, finally told Walcott that Liston had spent about twenty seconds on the canvas, and Walcott then stopped the fight, awarding Ali with a first-round knockout. Arnold Raymond Cream (January 31, 1914 – February 25, 1994), better known as Jersey Joe Walcott was a world heavyweight boxing champion. ... Nat Fleischer (1887-1972) was a noted Jewish-American boxing writer. ... Front cover of the first issue of Ring Magazine Ring Magazine is a boxing magazine that was first published in 1922. ...

Ali taunts a canvas ridden Liston

The Ali-Liston rematch became known as "the phantom punch fight". Most people at ringside did not see the punch with which Ali knocked Liston out. Many actually continue to claim that Liston had bet against himself because he owed money to the mafia; therefore, according to the ones who believe that theory, he went to the floor on purpose. Slow motion replays of the knockout moment, however, show Ali connecting with a quick right to Liston's head the second before Liston fell, all the more powerful because he caught Liston coming in. The replays also show that Liston was wobbly and listless as he rose to his feet - Ali appeared to connect on about four unanswered punches before Walcott belatedly declared the knockout. Image File history File links Ali-Liston. ... Image File history File links Ali-Liston. ... The Mafia, also referred to in Italian as Cosa Nostra (lit. ...

Nonetheless, although Ali is recognized by many boxing experts and fans as one of the greatest boxers of all time, many still continue to question the results of his rematch with Liston. Author Mark Kram, in his book Ghosts of Manila, included an interview he held with Liston years after the fight in which Liston claimed to have taken a dive because of his fear of retaliation from the Nation of Islam, the radical Muslim sect that was coming to sponsor Ali's career. This is questionable in its credibility on multiple levels. First, Kram is an avowed detractor of Ali, and by his own account wrote the book in part to undermine the popular esteem in which Ali was held and which Kram viewed with contempt. Kram can be considered a receptive source of attention to anyone willing to give him testimony that supported Kram's own negative view of Ali. Secondly, Liston claimed not to have been hit at all, and Kram knew or should have known this to be false; whatever else may be said about the event, Ali did land a punch to Liston's head. In view of the uncertainty regarding the extent of Liston's claimed shoulder injury in Miami, it seems a reasonable possible interpretation that Liston was simply salving his ego, by fabricating a story to fit rumors of the punch that he had already heard. The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and socio-political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930 with a declared aim of resurrecting the spiritual, mental, social and economic condition of the black man and woman of America and the world. ...

Sonny Liston is a shadowy figure in some ways about whom conflicting stories and contradictory information have perpetually sprung up. Liston's alternately secretive and boastful ways contributed to this effect, as did his peripatetic career and lifestyle.