60 years ago today: Charles L. "Sonny" Liston♱ vs. Cassius Marcellus "The Louisville Lip" Clay, Jr.*

Great write up.

Only point in disagreement for me was that I scored round 3 for Clay based on the fact that he had him wavering early in the third and was still competitive in the second half of the round. But yeah, great performance to diffuse a very dangerous and technically adept champion.

 

Steve Ellis was a horrible broadcaster and an absolute clod. Yes, he was rude to Joe, practically telling him to do the freaking job he was paid to do. However, let's face it: Joe didn't belong in that role. But he did make one salient comment after the first round that Clay was "surprising the whole world". Indeed. I was 15 and glued to my transistor radio. Shocked at Clay's victory like most everyone else.

 

I liked George very much as an analyst and as part of the team with Lampley and Merchant. He was engaging and fun and was an asset to the show -- until one night after a De La Hoya fight vs Mosley, I think, he came unglued, the mask came off and a less personable 1970s George reappeared. And that was the end of George as an HBO analyst, as I recall it. I hope I have this right. I'm working from memory. If I'm wrong I hope someone corrects me.

 

good post

Liston did some good work but how much of it was because Ali’s vision not working?

this fight really showed how well Ali could take a body shot but no one noticed it. In many ways, it was a preview to Ali-Foreman ten years later when Ali absorbed even more brutal body shots to win.

 

Larry Holmes seemed to really hate Foreman, and I believe was understandably jealous of him for making a huge fortune the easiest way possible, as a pitchman for a hamburger grill. I love the bitter wisecrack Holmes made when asked if he used the George Foreman Grill. He said no he liked his burgers juicy. Just think: If George hadn't retired in 1977 for basically a decade, the inevitable meeting of Foreman and Holmes would have been the greatest heavyweight match of the early to mid-1980s. A pity it never happened.

 

Guess who's butthurt about what I said?

 

I think 58-56 for Ali is a fair scoring after 6 rounds. BUT--Liston was running out of gas at that point and on his way out. Had the fight continued I think Ali eventually TKO's Sonny by the 8th or 9th round. Look at the footage of Liston's face when he's on his stool after round 6--Ali was carving up Sonny pretty decisively!