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

UNFORGIVEN and McGRAIN,

Absolutely brilliant posts.

 

Hard to imagine, Jack Nilon (Liston's manager) saying he heard something snap
in Sonny's shoulder while fighting Clay in the ring.
The guy was on the lower rung of the corner area, and no one else in Listons' corner
said they heard anything.
Also, the general noise of the Convention Hall would have drowned out a
shoulder pop.
The referee Barney Felix, when interviewed said he never heard anything, and Sonny showed no indication that he was in pain.

 

Unforgiven,

Theatre Ticket prices were $6.00 on average for the closed circuit broadcast.

Attendance at the Convention Hall was a shade over 8000 (capacity 15,000).
Ticket prices; $250, $200, $150, $100, $50

All walk-up tickets at the day of the fight were offered up at $50, except the handful of
high-priced tickets that were left in the Gold section.
At 6:00 PM, approximately 3 hours before fight time, the tickets were again discounted.

A complete sell-out at The Convention Hall would have netted $1,200,000.

 

Some conflicting figures on the Liston-Clay bout in Miami, Florida 1964.
The attendance mentioned over the live broadcast was 9000.
The promoters stated that is was an approximate 8000.
Actual figures look like 5000.
Of that, the 'paid' live gate was only 4000 or so.

Total revenues; $225,000.

Cost for Bill MacDonald to put the 'carnival show' together $800,000 plus the
cost of leasing The Convention Hall for the Tuesday Night Fight.

Bill MacDonald posted a bond for $300,000 to Inter-Continental Promotions for the rights to the live gate.
The $625,000 was to be paid after the fight.
After the fight, MacDonald gave Inter-Continental the live gate proceeds $225,000, but did not have the additional $400,000.
Inter-Continental put a claim into the Bond Company, New Amsterdam Casualty for the $300,000 posted bond.
New Amsterdam would not pay, as they claimed it was not a properly promoted fight, and the paperwork had illegal or
improper contracts with the so-called fight sponsors.

Basically, Inter-Continental got stiffed for $400,000. But the Liston (partially owned company) had the
promotional rights to Cassius Clay's future fights.

 

It's obvious the 'underworld business figures' stood more to gain if Sonny was out the way, as long as they had their hands in control of the theatre broadcast rights, and
future promotions with Cassius Clay.
There was not much more they could do with Sonny as champion.

As for Bert Sugar, I've riden with him on the train many times, on his way to Chappaqua.
Talked to him too. Do you think if he had any information on 'mob ties' in boxing he would print it or say it on TV.
Don't let that cigar and hat fool you, he's weird, but not stupid.
If he printed anything, he'd sign a death warrant.

There's so much information out there, most boxing fans can read it and disect it,
to make an educated guess.

Always, follow the money.

The original date and place for the Ali-Liston re-match (after Ali's hernia) was set for Boston Garden, on May 5, 1965.
Prosecutor Garrett Byrne through an injunction on that fight, and stopped it.
Why 'He was asked'.
Byrne responded, 'Its a set-up'.
'Are you sure' He was asked
Byrne responded 'All I know, is that you won't need a scorecard for Round 2'.