Did anybody ever see anything peculiar in the Liston-Clay I fight

Many strange and odd things went on before, during and after that title fight in Miami.

Can you name a few (or a hundred).

1) Sonny Listons cornerman never came close to rubbing his left shoulder in between rounds during the fight.

 

Liston's lack of sharpness

 

McGrain,,,,,,who is under-mining Ali.

The guy was 'The Greatest' for God's Sake.

These a good threads,,,and they draw more activity than anything else on the
Classic Forum.
It's good to see a wide variety of observations.
Maybe someone noticed something that nobody else saw, or may interpret it better
than us.

For instance, at the Miami Convention Hall for that fight in 1964, only 8000 attended the fight. The place was half-full. (Capacity 15,000)
Did you know that?

 

Cassius Clay apparently retired not long after this fight, well I have lost trace of him. Apparently some young punk Muhammed Ali replaces him as champion.

Now that would have been a good fight.

Ali vs Clay

 

Ali going blind for a round was quite strange.

 

Considering that this was the biggest prize in sports, Liston folded rather easily, as the challenger also tried to between rounds after getting blinded. In Kinshasa, Foreman left Ali pissing blood for three days.

What happened at Miami Beach was in many ways as unsatisfying as what took place in Lewiston. Yes, Patterson was blown out twice by Sonny, but he also made an honest effort to fight, and always got to his feet on his own in a sincere attempt to beat the count and keep going. Take a look at all the HW title changes going back to the middle 1800s. A real argument can be made that this was the most heartless concession of the crown by a defending champion until Buster Douglas ceded it to Holyfield.

 

McGrain,

See you say the fight at Miami Conventiona Hall was a bad turn-out.
I say it was half-full.
My statement is more positive.
Yours to negative.

Is that false information.

One of Cassius Clays poems before the fight mentions 'if he falls in six it's a fix'.

 

Yes.

A young master showed up to outclass a seemingly invincible heavyweight champion of the world.

 

Prime,

That was a very good observation:good
But was it peculiar,,,,,,,,or more of an astonishment.

 

I think the second fight was somewhat peculiar, and has baffled boxing personalities for decades, but the first fight seemed pretty much on the level.

 

Between rounds 3 and 4, you can clearly see a midget hanging from a tree in the back left corner.

 

Astonishing, shocking, astounding, a peculiar championship match, as all big upsets are.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We can now see beyond merely what met the eye then:

a) one of the very greatest heavyweights ever approached his peak overnight.

b) one of the scariest heavyweight champions ever had begun his decline by simply showing up subpar for this defense.

c) Liston had less than stellar mental toughness. Say what you will, the fact is the Big Bad Sonny ceded his crown with a whimper.