I say this because the obvious thing I point out - Liston got up and continued fighting for a few seconds, then Walcott bursts in and stops the fight.
Well it's well known that Liston was controlled by the Mafia and it's also well known that Ali wasn't a huge puncher. Name me another fight in which Ali dropped a guy with his famous phantom/anchor punch This is what is says in wikipedia "In the final analysis, it remains inconclusive whether the blow was a genuine knockout punch.[39] Paul Gallenger, in his book on Liston, said it strains credibility that Ali, a relatively light puncher who had scored only one other first round KO in his career, could with one short punch knock out a fighter who had survived multiple direct shots from far more powerful hitters like Cleveland Williams and Eddie Machen. George Chuvalo, seated at ringside, said "[Liston's] eyes were the eyes of a man faking. When a guy is really stunned his eyes roll. [Liston's] were going side to side."[
Yes but Liston GOT UP and was ready to continue. That's the part which people completely miss. Liston was also KTFO by Leotis Martin.
They don't completely miss it at all. Just google the rest of the article I partially posted, it's a fairly decent analysis.
it was just walcotts inexperience as a ref how the hell was he a ref **** sake the time keeper essentially stopped the fight walcott shouldve made his own decision, the right one
Interesting but did you consider that Liston was on the floor waiting for the count to commence? Jersey Joe Walcott who reffed the fight said it was one of most brutal punches he'd ever seen.
Ali had tagged Liston a couple of times with clean right hands during the first minute, and had managed to avoid pretty much everything that Liston had thrown up until that point. Then he clowns Liston by making him reach and then countering with a right hand that clearly connects near the temple. That throws off Liston's balance and forces him to stumble forward to the mat. Seems like a pretty legit kd. The question is, does Liston toss the fight at that point? The way he flopped around following the kd seems to indicate that Liston says "screw it" after experiencing the worst minute of his professional boxing career. But even if that's the case, it's still impressive that Ali produced that reaction in someone as legit as The Bear.
How he could possibly have said that if it was a punch even Ali didn't know he hit Liston with, and if the in fact did hit him with it, it was an extremely short punch, that to the best of my knowledge nobody saw at the time. You need slow motion video to actually see it and Ali himself had to ask "did I hit him?" From what I understand Walcott didn't actually count Liston out, what happened was Ali refused to go to a neutral corner, Liston got up well after a 10 count would have countered him out, and Fleischer, who was a spectator and founder of the Ring magazine, called Walcott over and said the fight should be stopped because Liston never rose in time, which Walcott them proceeded to do. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_vs._Sonny_Liston
I wouldn't know whether it was a fix but I'm fairly certain Liston lay down. The biggest clue to the legitimacy of the punch is in Ali's reaction when Liston goes down. He stands over him gestures for him to get up and yells "get up ya bum" it's there for everyone to see. By the after fight interviews ever the opportunist and self publicist Ali was talking about his new "phantom punch" Whatever the angle here Ali certainly wasn't part of it. As for Liston, take your pick. The Mob, Black Muslims or plain and simply didn't want to go through another night of pain and humiliation.
So many controversies, interviews, criticisms, fixed dive, and novels written over the past 50 years about Ali's Phantom punch. I believe Ali knew something about pressure points. I grew up watching all Ali's bouts, and most of his knockouts are mostly to the chin. Sonny Listen was clearly put out by a punch to the chin the Kyusho way. He was my idol and in boxing will always be the greatest. He did learn Kyusho. Ali was student and very good friend of George Dillman, one of the first western Karate Masters to learn Kyusho back in those days. That was the big secret back in those days, know where and how in the correct time. I know most of you don't know what Kyusho is. Go to youtube and do a search on it. I've been learning this for over 6 months now and believe me, it doesn't take much of a power to knock someone out. My son, 10 years old, after I taught him just one point in the correct spot on the chin, he put me out cold. Unconscious. I'm 49 years old now. I've learned Hwa Rang Do since 15 in high school and 2 years later started Tae Kwon Do for 15 years. I've never seen anything like it. Believe it or not. docjames.net/mali.jpg Dr. James M. Shih
The version of Ali between 1964-1967 is for me the Greatest Heavyweight we've ever seen, he had everything a boxer needed in Size, Speed, Skill, Chin, Power and amazing reflexes. Those 3 and a half years he lost were pretty much the last of his Peak years and by the time he came back he was only 50% of the fighter he once was.
Well, the whole point of a fixed fight is that nobody knows about it. Otherwise you get that Paul Briggs fight from a couple years back. Oh wait, the Briggs fight and Ali/Liston II were the exact same thing...
The thing stunk to high hell before it even started. No reputable site wanted anything to do with it because of concerns about the mafia. In boxing, that's saying something when boxing cities will stop a heavyweight championship fight from taking place in it. Ask yourself how a fight of that magnitude winds up in Lewiston, Maine. Then watch it, and it's pretty clear that something's rotten. It's a special level of naive to see it, know the circumstances, and still buy that everything's on the level.