Ali's Controversial "Phantom Punch" Explained - Brilliant Exchanges

I prefer the simple answer, here: Liston got caught cold with a punch he didn’t see coming. Ali didn’t go to the neutral corner, Walcott struggled to control the situation, started counting late and declared it a KO before finishing the count at the behest of Nat Fleischer.

The call was obviously illegitimate imo. Ali didn't land a knockout blow because there was no knockout. The fight will always be a NC in my mind.

 

I totally agree with this. However, I do question why Liston and his people didn't raise a royal stink about it. Also, was there anyone in the boxing press AT THE TIME who raised the concerns Truthmachine raises? Obviously not Sir Nat Fleischer.

 

British soccer players would have been proud to have been able to dive like Liston did.

 

I think the punch hurt Liston for the knockdown, but not for the full count of ten. Not sure what would of happen with Ali running around the ring, Walcott losing control, and Nat Fleischer calling Walcott over saying the fight is over claiming that Liston was down way past the ten count.

 

The punch landed but it wasn't a "knockout blow." Liston went down but could've gotten up at any point he wanted. The whole event became a mess with Ali not wanting to go to the corner and the whole counting mishap and it led to a confusing conclusion.

 

It's only one of two things for me:

Bad acting doing a planned dive
bad acting doing a non planned dive, and just stayed down

I will never believe in some Phantom Punch KO, the whole think stunk

 

People just don’t want to accept the fact that they’ve been fooled, there’s been way too many threads on this fight. It was a clear fix, end of story

 

This is true. Liston was also intimidated due to death threats & Ali acting crazy.
This is one of numerous examples when the conspiracy-in this case a dixed fight-is less plausible than it being a mess where a few factors, some unpredictable like Nat Fleisher's interference & Wolcott acceding to it, made things go south.

 

He took a dive.
It's obvious.

Ali was pissed off and shouted at him to get up.
Liston rolled around over-acting.

 

lol

 

I don't even think the KD was real like come on, look at the way Liston breaks his fall as if he's looking for a comfy spot in the ring. FBI even confirmed it was a dive.

 

How is there discussion about this it was a dive. Naymar had more convinceing dives than that

 

It definitely hit him, but the punch had no weight whatsoever on it. If you look at Liston, his arms hit the canvas to break the fall, before his actual knee touches. Does that look like a legitimate Kd?