Was Liston-Clay a fix? I don't think so

One of boxing legends is that Liston threw a fight against young Cassius Clay. I don't belive that.

I watched this fight couple of times. Liston was there to hurt Clay. He landed very hard blows on him. In the 1st he landed with big right under the heart. In second he connected powerful left to Clay's jaw. He was serious.

Joe Pollino admitted that he laid burning mixture on Liston's gloves and liston ordered him to do it. Why he would go on to such things if he didn't want to win?

When Clay was blinded Liston started raging attack and looked like he wanted to kill him. Clay survived the assault, God knows how. His durability, chin and movement were remarkable.

I think that Liston's metal jacket was empty in 5th and when Clay regained his vision, he was tired and easy to hit.

I was looking for signs of left shoulder injury in that round. His left jab wasn't very sharp at that time. But it isn't easy to say if he was badly hurt because of Liston's fatigue in that round.

What bothers me. Liston blinded Clay yes. But he also landed some shots after Clay regained his vision and his gloves weren't causing another burning in Clay's eyes. Strange. Maybe this formula run down from the leather later? I don't know.

Liston's purse was frozed when it came to light that his quiet menagers from East Coast put there money on Clay and bought out his contract for $50,000 and rights to his next fight (or more fights?). He was payed after the doctor admitted that his left arm was injured.

Any views on that fight are welcomed. I also would appreciated the backstage info on their rematch in Lewiston. I think that this one was indeed a fix. But I don't know was it about money or about threats to Liston's life from The Black Muslims - or both.

 

From SI "Burning Question":

Q In Muhammad Ali's first bout with Sonny Liston, in 1964, did Liston doctor his gloves in order to blind Ali, as depicted in the movie Ali?

A That Ali temporarily lost his vision in the fourth round is well documented; Ali returned to his corner after the round and told trainer Angelo Dundee that "dirty work [was] afoot." But Liston, who died in 1970, never admitted cheating. Dundee believes the blinding was accidental and that either medication applied to a cut on Liston's cheek or liniment rubbed on Liston's shoulder got into Ali's eyes.

Conspiracy theorists are plentiful, however. "There's a general belief that doctoring did happen," says boxing historian Bert Sugar. In David Remnick's 1998 Ali biography, King of the World, Philadelphia Daily News reporter Jack McKinney says Liston's cornerman Joe Pollino admitted applying something—Pollino never said what—to his boxer's gloves. "Immediately after the fight Joe, who was very close to me, unburdened himself to me," McKinney says in the book. "He told me Sonny had told him to juice the gloves, and he went ahead and did it." What is evident, at least, is that Ali's eyes cleared in the fifth round, and two rounds later he was heavyweight champion of the world.


Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1024653/index.htm#ixzz15RN8tP1h

 

Well, McKinney was close to Liston (if we can say that about any journalist when we talk about Liston) or at least very insightful. As I recall. He was on that plane to Philla with Sonny after he took the title from Patterson and told about new champions reaction when there was no one to greet him at the airport.