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

jaffay,

There is a bunch of information out there on numbers and money, etc.
Attendance numbers ranged from 5800 to just under 9000.
I do have the floor plan of the 1964 Convention Hall lay-out somewhere.

Yes the seating capacity was over 16,000.
And yes, nobody thought Cassius Clay would survive, let alone win.

There is a great photo of Ashe Resnick (Thunderbird Hotel), sitting behind Sonny's corner in the Golden Circle seating section, with a sick look on his face.
It was during the commotion in Sonny's corner, between the 6th and 7th round.
You could just tell, he lost a ton of money,,,,,,,, or was he bluffing???

 

Unforgiven,

The 'live gate' as you stated, was just a small piece to the 'money puzzle'.
The undercard was just a bunch of 6-round preliminaries.
Otha Brown was the only local kid on the card.
Cassius Clay was doing his best to 'start up excitement'.
Bill Faversham was panicking that Cassius Clay would announce his new faith, and new name, which would have killed the live gate, and eliminate any positive
return and revenue for the local area businessman.

A heavy rainstorm developed the day before, hurting ticket sales as well.

 

If you check court records,
Bill MacDonald only gave Inter-Continental Promotions $225,000 of the live gate.
He owed them $400,000 more.
When he did not pay them the complete amount, they called in the
Guarantee Bond ($300,000).
The Bond company (New Amsterdam Casualty), did not pay, claiming that there
were illegal contracts signed, as to who was the licensed sponsor of the fight.

ICP eventually sued local promoeter Bill MacDonald for the remainder of the money.

 

Ping-Ping,

Bill MacDonald bid $625,000 for the 'live gate' of the Liston-Clay fight in
February 1962.
He did not put up any 'up-front' cash.
He was supposed to turn that portion of the money over to ICP, after the
gate receipts were counted and reconciled.
What he did do, was put up a $300,000 bond (from New Amsterdam Casualty)
as part of an 'up-front gurantee', just in case he was short.
So ICP (Sonny Liston, Nilon brothers and lawyer Garland Cherry) only had a
piece of paper (Bond from New Amsterdam Casualty), and no cash.

Following the fight, cash receipts for the 'live gate' totalled $402,000.
Bill MacDonald was supposed to turn that over to ICP, plus an additional $223,000, to
cover his agreed upon contract obligations of $625,000.

But, MacDonald had layed out approximately $180,000 of his own money for 'cost of operation' to promote the
fight at The Convention Hall.
What MacDonald did, was take $177,000 off the top of the 'live gate' money, to reimburse himself for cost outlay.
Then, in turn gave ICP (Listons management team) the rest of the money, totalling $225,000.

Since ICP did not receive their full amount, they exercised their option and called in for the 'Bond Money'
from New Amsterdam Casualty, ($300,000).
New Amsterdam Casualty, disputed the claim, based on illegal signed contracts and falsifying records on the
fights licensed sponsor (The VFW was listed as the fights sponsor in name only).
ICP had to take Bill MacDonald to court, to try to get their additional funds $400,000.

In the meantime, the Miami Beach Boxing Commision held up Sonny Liston's purse from the 'live gate receipts',
which was supposed to be $367,000.
So in reality, Sonny Liston got no immediate payment for his 'performance' in Miami Beach.
Unless, he reeled in a percentage of the 'late rush Cassius Clay bets' from his 'mob entourage'.

 

Bill MacDonald was loaded (cash rich) so that loss to him was really not a big deal.
He re-couped his 'cost of operation' money, and the $225,000 (net after taking his costs out of the gross) from the 'live gate' wasn't his money anyway.
In the overall, Bill MacDonald wasn't out any of his own money.
He got his expenses back, and was hoping New Amsterdam Casualty
would cover for the 'short money off the live gate', the $300,000 Bond.

ICP would still be owed $100,000, which MacDonald felt he could negotiate on.
But, New Amsterdam challenged the validity of the fights sponsor, and
didn't fulfill the Bond obligation.
ICP sued everyone involved, and off to District Court they went.

Cassius Clay's portion of the 'live gate' had to be paid out of ICP's
profits, further deducting Sonny Liston's and the Nilon Brothers legal
take on the fight.

 

Jack Nilon's manager wanted out as Sonny Liston's manager.
He said, before the Liston-Clay fight 'He had enough'.

He still owed Sonny a bunch of money from the Liston-Patterson II fight.
Training camp costs were getting out of hand.
Sonny was demanding money all the time, as felt he was getting shafted.
Legal fee's were growing.
Sonny wasn't training properly, and he wasn't the most personable guy, when it came to the media.

 

The Miami Beach Boxing Commision froze Sonny Liston's portion of the
'live gate' money ($367,000) pending a board investigation.

The 'live gate' contract guarantee was $625,000 (as per agreement with
Bill MacDonald).
Originally, Sonny Liston was supposed to get $400,000 of that and Cassius Clay was to receive $225,000.
The 'live gate' ticket sales were dreadfull from the start, and Bill MacDonald
needed help to get things going, to prevent a 'flop'.
Pre-fight ticket sales were only around 1500 at this time.
But, since Liston was not doing anything to help with the local promotion,
Bill MacDonald turned to Bill Faversham, Cassius Clay and the LSG Group for help.

At this point, 2-weeks before the fight, Cassius Clay was still somewhat reserved, and quiet.
Bill MacDonald, with help from Bill Faversham, negotiated a deal to give Clay more money, if he would
partake in a 'self promotion whirl-wind' for the 2-weeks leading up to the fight.

The LSG Group (Casius Clay's management firm) agreed to stimulate interest and excitement, in return for a
larger portion of the 'live gate', or additional money.

 

For Cassius Clay's effort in helping stimulate interest in the 'live gate', which had been
dreadfull, Bill MacDonald and ICP agreed to give Cassius Clay $33,000 more of the
'live gate' take.
Sonny Liston's 'live gate' purse went from $400,000 to $367,000, and
Cassius Clay's went from $225,000 to $258,000.

Once, the money increase on Cassius Clay's take was settled on, all hell broke loose.
For $33,000, it was the best investment Bill MacDonald ever made for the 'live gate'
promotion. The LSG Group permitted and encouraged Clay to let it all out on
the streets and media outlets.

Though ticket sales still dragged, media interest increased and theatre operator owners
for the 'closed circuit' broadcast felt the buzz.

 

D,
In the original agreement of the $625,000 'live gate'
Sonny Liston was to get 64% = $400,000
Cassius Clay was to get 34% = $225,000

Jack Nilon (Liston's manager) had pressured Sonny into doing more interviews and press conferences, and to be
cordial with the press, but Sonny, not the outgoing type, didn't want any part of it.
As part of the live gate, Sonny had a 'good faith' obligation to at least, in part, help promote the fight.
But when Sonny refused media conferences and talk shows, Bill MacDonald was up in arms.
He pleaded with Jack Nilon for help. Nilon tried, but to no avail with Sonny.
Bill MacDonald told the Nilon camp, that he would have to lay out more money for advertising and possibly
add another good heavyweight undercard fight just to break even, if Sonny wouldn't help. Pre-fight ticket sales were horrible, to say the least.
Jack Nilon came back to MacDonald and asked him how much would it take, to get the ball rolling, as long as
Sonny did not have to get involved with any part of the on-site promotions.
MacDonald asked for $50,000 (12 1/2%) off Sonny's take of the 'live gate'.
Jack Nilon countered with $20,000 (5%).
They finally agreed on $33,000, as long as Sonny did not have to do a thing.

Bill MacDonald now had an additional $33,000 to use for on-site promotions, with no strings attached on how to use it.
He smartly offered it up to the Clay Camp, as stating it as, the Liston Camp is paying you $33,000 for
handling the local media and any press conferences, as well as TV interviews and radio interviews, that were supposed to have both of you present.
Bill MacDonald told the Clay Camp, Sonny doesn't want any part of it, and its your 'show' now.
So take advatnage of it, because after February 25th you wont be able to talk.

What it boiled down to, was Cassius Clay was to get an additional 5% (approximately)
$33,000 more for his on-site promotions (theatrics to stir up more local interest).
The problem at that time, was that the local residents weren't buying this as a legitimate fight,
and the Miami Beach tourism board could not convince the vacation crowd either.

The closed circuit buys were going to be just fine, in fact excellent without
Clay's antics (whether real or not).

 

Though Bill MacDonald, on paper owed the Clay Camp another $33,000, none of it was due until after the fight.

In another quick attempt by MacDonald to stir up excitement, conflicting reports about each fighters sparring sessions were leaked to the media and sports writers.

First Sonny Liston was sending sparring partners by the car-load to St. Francis
Hospital, and an Ambulance was parked outside Sonny's Surfside Community Center
training camp.
Other reports flying around were that, (2) of the quick-fisted Light Heavyweights
(Leotis Martin and Otha Brown) were asked to leave Liston's camp, because they were too fast.
And Sonny didn't want to get in the sparring ring with Bob Foster anymore, after eating a
long Foster right hand.

Clay's sparring sessions were up and down, one day great, the next day so-so.
Cody 'The Porcupine' Jones nearly knocked Clay down twice with left hooks in one session, 9-days before the fight.
Sports writers reported the next day that Sonny may be arrested for 'murder if this fight takes place.
But the next days sparring session Cassius Clay was brilliant in dominating Sammy Poe and Dave Bailey.

The newspaper and media reports did stir some ticket activity, but pre-fight sales were still fair-to-poor.

 

With a week to go before the fight, the MacDonald promotional team got the bright idea
of bringing in the (2) toughest fighters Sonny ever faced, as promotional tools.
And possibly, matching the (2) on the main-event undercard, as an eliminator to meet
Sonny, the presumed winner.

It sounded good. But,
Eddie Machen was in San Francisco, California fighting Duke Sabedong on 2/17/64,
8-days before the Liston-Clay fight.
Eddie Machen and his new manager Walter Minskoff were not about to pack-up
and leave, as Eddie was the co-promoter of the fight with Sabedong at Kezar Pavillion.

But after knocking-out Sabedong in the 1st Round, and not wearing himself out,
Machen agreed to come to Miami Beach for a fight on a weeks notice, providing he
was not matched with a tough opponent, and he got a letter of agreement to fight
Sonny Liston next, after he disposed of Cassius Clay.