50 years ago today:

Liston is a good shout.

If boogeymam = perceived as so strong and powerful that fights against other top HW contenders were seen as physical mismatches, perhaps the 1st of the gloved era, was Jeffries.

 

And he was a big favourite at the bookies too

 

Liston/Patterson was quite similar.

 

this video is banned in my banana republic... But i have a guess^^

 

I loved it. I saw a video showing a completely different angle

George proved he was the secretariat of his time, by far, the best heavyweight ever witnessed by the public

 

I remember January 22, 1973 vividly

Earlier that same day, the news was abuzz about peace terms in the Vietnam War being close to agreement. Before going to a local theatre to watch the fight on closed circuit TV, the evening news reported that former U.S. President Lyndon Johnson had died suddenly that day at his ranch in Texas.

These were the days before pay-per-view. The fight was shown in the theatre on the large screen, in black and white. I don't remember who was doing the narration on the broadcast, but it was not Howard Cosell. It was probably Don Dunphy. Cosell did his coverage for ABC-TV which was shown the following Saturday on Wide World of Sports. The broadcasters were surprised to hear Joe Louis pick Foreman, saying that Foreman was a much better puncher than Frazier. During the referee's instructions, the camera focused on Frazier looking up at Foreman and the audience let out with a roar. But it let out with an even bigger roar when the camera shifted to Foreman who was looking down at Joe with a mean look that defies description!

When Joe went down the first time, the audience reacted with surprise and Joe quickly got up and it seemed that it may have just been a flash knockdown. But that second knockdown in the corner near the end of the round, Joe went down in a way that looked like he would not get up. He did make it to his feet only to go down again as the bell rang. Definitely a bad round for Joe. Could he recover with the minute's rest?

The second round hadn't been underway when the slaughter resumed. It was now just a matter of time and it was hard to believe what we were all seeing. The fight was stopped. The crowd picked up the new champion and carried him away from the ring on their shoulders. The camera for a moment focused on Howard Cosell in the ring and the crowd responded with catcalls.

January 22, 1973 was a most newsworthy day - Vietnam peace terms at hand, the death of the former President who had been so connected to the war, and the brutal coronation of a new heavyweight champion over the previously undefeated, undisputed titleholder who was known for his tank-like offence, walking through anything his opponent could throw. I was a graduate student in mathematics at the time and the following day when I went to school, what was everybody talking about ? Yep, mathematics and nothing else!

 

I loved it as a child when George Foreman beat Joe Frazier. I first learned about boxing in the 1968 Olympic Games when Foreman won gold so I was following him when he went pro. I thought he was going to demolish Ali when they fought. I used to have The Ring Magazine issue with him on the cover in his comeback, flexing his arm. What a career he had! One of my favorite boxers ever.

 

To me, Dunphy was boring as hell lol but i guess some people enjoyed his style. Not that Cosell was much better. But Cosell did have a good voice IMO.

 

HBO Boxing!!!!

 

No, Jim Jeffries was the first bogeyman HW. He was considered to be unbeatable in his day.
Certainly Liston was also in that conversation as a very scary man.

 

Fantastic real time description and context.

Thank you.

Too young to remember this fight but if anything came closest in terms of the shock factor and nature of the comprehensive defeat - perhaps maybe Hearns vs Duran?

 

Yes, Hearns vs Duran was a shocker as that promised to be an interesting, competitive fight. But like Frazier-Foreman 1, it was a one-sided slaughter that also ended in Round 2. Also, I watched Hagler-Hearns on closed circuit TV and that was a shocker with its sudden ending. A wildly exciting, competitive bout between two ATGs while it lasted and seeing Hearns collapse to the canvas took the crowd by surprise!

While I did not see Tyson-Douglas (in fact, I didn't even put in a videotape to record the fight, thinking it would be over very quickly), I was shocked the following morning to read the headline on the Sunday newspaper!

 

Actually the 1st Boogey man was Jack Johnson, The next
was Charles "Sonny" Liston.