Ali-Liston 2

The punch he hit Liston with earlier in that round actually looked harder than the final punch. To answer your question, no, Ali was not known as a one punch knockout fighter.

 

In order to call it a dive or a fixed fight, I would need irrefutable evidence. An extraordinary claim needs extraordinary evidence. I put that one in the same class as Marciano-Walcott 2.

 

My honest opinion? Not even the KD was real. I saw Williams hit Liston with “shots that would’ve taken down the walls of a city” to quote the late great Joe Frazier.

One of which was described as “a left hook that would’ve finished any other man” and “Liston blinked and came right back”

Cops also used to hit him with nightsticks on his heard with such force the nightsticks would break and Sonny wouldn’t even be phased.

You’re telling me a guy that durable is going to be felled by a punch like that?

Also, the way he goes down it’s like he’s looking for a comfy spot to lie down on.

 

Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston were originally supposed to have their rematch on Nov 16 1964, in Boston. But as you know Ali was stricken by Inguinal Hernia on Nov 13 1964, requiring Emergency Surgery. Ali had to to have time to heal before facing Liston again. The fight was rescheduled for May 25 1965 in Lewiston, Maine. Not that Sonny would have won the rematch, but I have always thought that Liston trained so hard, he left his fight in the gym. He was ready when the fight was postponed. Another thing I think may have affected Sonny was that the fight was not for the undisputed title. Ernie Terrell had defeated Eddie Machen for the WBA title (on March 5 1965) that was stripped from Ali for going thru with the rematch with Liston. As far as the fight went, it was a jarring right hand to Sonny's jaw, catching all of Ali's weight behind it. But there have been some speculation of underworld involvement, cashing in on the rematch, who knows?

 

True, Liston being as old as he was could never get in tip top shape, the postponement ruined his chances.
As for the second part of your post, no, the punch did not have Ali's entire weight behind it, it couldn't have, since Ali was going backwards.
It was a weak punch, Liston simply went down cause he was off balance.

 

No. Fleischer loathed Liston, he hated Ali more than any other subsequent Ali opponent, and as respected as a fighter Jersey Joe was, no other referee for an Ali fight was so easily manipulated...

 

My opinion of the fight is that it was a legit knockdown. But I think Liston thought he was up in time as Walcott’s should have ignored ringside and allowed the fight to continue. Hell Liston got up and they both started fighting again lol. So no Liston wasn’t legitimately knocked out it was botched terribly by Walcott and ringside. Doesn’t mean the possibility of a dive wasn’t there but technically speaking Liston did get up and continue fighting.

 

Impossible to say for sure. There was so much going on then. The NOI was suddenly in the picture with Ali. They had Murdered Malcolm X and some speculated that Malcolm's people were coming to exact revenge. Sonny didn't read but he was asked about it in the pre fight press conference.
After the postponement and all the BS he had been through just trying to get a title shot maybe, just maybe Liston felt it wasnt worth it. If there was a hit squad coming let me get my $ and get out of this ring. Its just one scenario.

 

The way he goes down is strange, but thats probably because he didnt see the punch coming and was hit right on the temple.

 

The flash knockdown is legit.

People commonly overlook the fact that Ali was running towards Liston as he was getting up. I believe Liston saw Ali running towards him and went back down to protect himself. I’ve read this explanation somewhere.

Liston did in fact get up. He didn’t quit.

 

I think it might have been a flash knockdown, perhaps Sonny didn't see it or he was off balance.

What does seem apparent to me is that this fight was botched. The fighters should have been able to continue after the count, Liston looked fine to me and I notice it doesn't come up much that he looked ready to start back fighting.

I think this was quite possibly a glitch of monumental proportions. Ali would have beat him anyway, but I think we would have had an even more competitive fight.

 

I've never seen any evidence that unusually huge sums of money were bet on Ali to win, or to stop Sonny in the 1st round. If the mob was involved there should be some evidence out there. If there is I'd love to see it. Opening betting had it 9-5 for Sonny. It quickly went to 8-5 Sonny. I know the odds dropped slightly again before the fight stared to 6.5-5 Sonny. That doesn't seem all that unusual to me, considering what happened in the first fight and the fact that Ali was the Champion. The over/under was Round 9 for a Sonny KO of Ali. A poll of Sportswriters picked Ali to win. George Chuvalo, when interviewed before the fight, picked Ali to win, saying that Sonny looked terrible in sparring and was stumbling at times. Drugs? I know one thing 9-5 Sonny were darn good odds to lay a bet on Ali. I was somewhat surprised that the odds didn't drop to even by fight time. Ali was nearly blind in one round of the first fight and Sonny couldn't knock him down, but he was supposed to knock him out the second time? Not only that, but Ali's style was poison for Liston.