No such thing as the Phantom Punch, the shot landed alright. The real question is why did Liston quit? In my view he knew he was in for a long, painful night and found a way out of there.
What stands out for me, is that the fight was shrouded in suspicion long before the punch landed. Dempsey virtually said, that he did not attend because he did not expect it to be on the level.
If you believe the knockdown was legitimate, I don't see how you can think Liston quit. Liston did exactly what he was supposed to do. He stayed down until Ali went to a neutral corner (17 seconds), then he immediately got up. It was not a KO. Walcott made a bad call. I believe Liston broke script. He was supposed to have taken his dive in a later round. You can tell that both Ali and Walcott were totally taken by surprise. Ali didn't even know which hand he hit Liston with, in the post fight interview.
If Liston was going to take a dive, it would have made sense to do it in the first round. That is basically the most failsafe model for taking a dive.
Not necessarily. They didn't want it to look like a dive. Liston had already been made to testify before a congressional committee over the first fight looking like a fix. He didn't want any more of that. I believe they had something mapped out to make his loss look more realistic this time around. I don't know what, but it was supposed to happen in a later round. When Liston went down in the first round (either fake or real), it caught both Ali and Walcott off balance and they both acted like they were nuts. They weren't prepared for it. It's also possible that Liston was scheduled to win this one to set it up for another rematch that Ali would win. Whatever it was, Liston broke script and sent those two clowns, Ali and Walcott, running in circles. That much is obvious by watching the fight.
If Liston was that afraid of getting shot, he wouldn't have shown up. He could easily have feigned a back injury or something similar.
So, dubblechin, are you saying: 1. Liston is connected to the mob, but scared of the one half of the Nation of Islam because unlike the mob, the nation didnt muck around. 2. Ali was connected with one half of the Nation of Islam but wanted to be killed by the other. He was so scared of the mob, that he agreed to take a 95 percent pay cut. 3. (and most importantly). Don King wasnt necessarilly connected with anyone but he still ripped had no problems ripping off the greatest heavyweight fighter ever (Ali) and the worst terrorist/organised crime organisation of the time. When you consider Prime Tyson, Holmes etc Is there any doubt that Don King has absolutely zero fear and will rip off any man who has ever lived if given the chance?
I think Liston's own explanation still is the most reasonable. That he he was caught by surprise and off balance and went down without being hurt (compare the KD's in Marciano vs Moore and Tyson vs Holy for example). And then he didn't want to get up because Ali was hovering over him like a mad man. Can't say with any 100% certainty that this is what happened, but think it's the most likely explanation.
The punch landed and that's a fact, did it legitimately knock him down? Most likely. Now I don't believe he was seriously hurt by the shot, I just feel he knew in his heart that he was in for another beating and just threw in the towel.