I like this take on it. Makes a lot of sense. And there’s no hiding the no-hopers used to pad out a record, that’s on full public display.
Ali didn’t throw the first match. He took the fight too lightly and was too degraded by that point to be able to pull off a win in that condition. His team picked Leon because they assumed he’d be an easy fight for Ali, and it backfired. Not like this hasn’t happened before in boxing history. Buster Douglas anyone? A cherry pick gone wrong.
Take a look at the final round of Ali-Spinks I. Muhammad was trying his utmost to take Leon out. But he was just too exhausted at that point. Not exactly the stuff that fixes are made of.
Well, you can choose not to believe anything you wish. I don’t choose to believe the opposite, though. I simply look at the most likely scenario. Did Ali legitimately lose to a 7-fight Spinks who went on to prove he was total **** even after gaining experience & physically maturing? Or did his ego & power in the sport take precedence & secure his becoming the first triple Champion at Heavyweight? One seems a lot more likely than the other to me.
Take a look at how beatable Spinks was even as an experienced professional, let alone as the virtual amateur he was in that fight. Hardly convincing if you ask me.
The thing that perturbed a lot of people recently was Ryan Garcia admitting he placed a very large financial bet on himself to win against Haney, which while not illegal makes you wonder how many fighters have used a proxy to place bets on themselves to lose?
Sadly, Liston and Ali 2 was TOTALLY staged. It sucks because this fight had a massive impact on boxing history and public perception but it is DEFINITELY fake.
I actually wanna go against the grain on this one. There are about a half dozen ways to fix a fight and none of them are as haphazard and chaotic as Ali-Liston 2. Anybody can get caught cold and Liston admits to being unmotivated and having a bad camp for that fight, he still fought ostensibly like himself which is one of the big indicators of fixes where fighters don't really fight like themselves but Liston was still vaguely Liston. Liston was also getting quite old and didn't have much fire left. If you're fixing a fight, you get the ref in your pocket, tell the fighter to throw the fight and perform worse than usual, and you tell the fighter you want to win what's going on usually. Walcott had no clue what was happening and only stopped the fight because a bleary eyed stickler for the rules Nat Fleischer couldn't keep his trap shut. If Liston took a dive then why stand up? It just doesn't make sense for it to be a fix imo.
