Dempsey and Marciano on the phantom punch.

In what way did he throw in the towel?
Liston got up as soon as Ali went to a neutral corner.
That is what he was supposed to do. The count did not start until Ali was in the neutral corner. In Liston's case, there was never a count. He was not knocked out. The fight should have continued.

 

In what way did he throw the towel in? I've just watched it again and I'm guessing he threw the towel in when he decided to play act when rolling on his back whilst attempting to get up, hoping that by the time he got to his feet the count was over. Kind of like when a fighter purposely gets up dead on the 10 count thus saving himself from embarrassment and further punishment, my opinion.

 

The timekeeper counted and Fleischer, who was sitting next to him drew Walcott's attention to the fact that he had counted Liston out.

 

***

 

A fighter cannot be expected to get up until his opponent is in a neutral corner.
The time keepers count was invalid. The count should not have started until Ali had complied with the referee's instructions.
There was never even a one-count on Liston. Liston was up when Ali finally retired to a neutral corner.

 

Truth of the matter nobody knows what exactly went off or the reasons for it.

 

I suspect there is someone still alive that knows what happened and the reasons for it.
They may decide to talk on their deathbed. I hope so. I'd like to know.

 

It does look as though he took a dive that's for sure, now did he do it for money or for some other reasons?? By the way Ali would have won anyway IMO.

 

You may be right. The problem is we don't have anything to gauge a real Liston vs Ali fight from. We never saw one.

 

I don't agree at all, the first was a legitimate fight. Liston simply couldn't handle the beating and frustration.

 

It was legit in the sense it wasn't fixed. (I think).
It wasn't a real fight, because Liston was far from 100%.
Liston did have a bad shoulder in that fight.
He had tried and failed to get the fight postponed because of a severe case of bursitis.
He underestimated Clay and thought he could dispose of him in a couple of rounds, despite the shoulder.
After the fight, eight doctors testified that his left arm was unusable at the time he quit. He had torn legitimates in the shoulder in addition to the bursitis.