Ali vs Liston 2 something irks me.

I think Sonny expected to be counted out when that didn’t work he had to make believe he was going to continue but he didn’t want to continue so he let Ali punch away so they would stop it.

 

No dive, a perfect lighting fast counter from Ali, Sonny didn’t want any more of that

 

It was a pretty nasty right hand, and Ali had landed another at the start of the fight. I think it was definitely enough to put Liston down, given that he was leaning forward and didn't see the shot coming.

 

I think Liston's explanation of the events says it all:

'Clay caught me cold and the count was messed up, and that's all there was to it. Clay knocked me down with a good punch. Anybody can get caught cold in the first round, before you even work up a sweat. And when I was down, Clay stood right over me. No, I never blacked out, not for a second. But I wasn't gonna get up, either, not with him standin' over me. See, you can't get up without puttin' one hand on the floor, and so I couldn't protect myself, and he can hit me on the way up.

So there was Walcott and Clay wrasslin' over me and Walcott finally got him to a corner or somethin', and then I got up and Clay come back and we started back to fightin' again. And Nat Fleischer began wavin' his arms at ringside and Walcott stopped the fight. Nowadays Nat Fleischer says he was just callin' Walcott over to tell him that the timekeeper wanted to see him or somethin', but other people says it was Nat Fleischer stopped the fight.

I was never counted out. I coulda got up even right after I was hit. And I still felt pretty good when I did get up. I mean I could still go on. What Walcott shoulda done, he shoulda sent Cassius to a neutral corner. When the referees call you out in the center of the ring before a fight, they tells you that: go to a neutral corner. And that's when they count you out, not with no fighter standin' right over you. They shouldn't have fighters refereein' no fights no way. They should have people that don't get excited.'

 

Open your eyes up. Liston blocked or slipped almost every one of those punches.

 

Ali did catch him with a good, quick right--but IMHO Sonny knew he had no chance and would probably take a bigger beating than he did in their first fight. Ultimately he just wanted to collect his cash and get the hell out of there as fast as he could.

 

Yep Walcott didn't know the rules and bungled it. The count shouldn't have started until Ali was in a neutral corner. Ali standing over Liston made it impossible for Liston to get up safely. Was Jersey Joe there as a celebrity ref?

 

It was a tradition that old champions sometimes referee, but Walcott definitely wet the bed in this one.

 

We're moving forward, he's gone from "getting hit over and over again running away" to the above. He did an awfully good job of avoiding hard flush shots while hurt wouldn't you say?

Personally i have always thought the fix was in. That lolling about on the floor was incredibly bad, and fake looking. He's also well aware of the commotion to the side after the KD. He does a great job of making sure he wasn't caught hard or flush in Ali's blistering attempt at a finishing salvo. Pinnacle level recovery from someone lolling around on the floor just prior trying to look KO'd at one point.

I don't know. I don't for one second buy that Liston suddenly decided to end his night after one right hand. If the ref stays out and the fight goes on i feel like Sonny was going find a soft spot as soon as Ali landed something good to complete the one round payout.

It's one of those things where we will never know for sure.

 

He reffed close to 20 fights including a previous heavyweight world title fight so he was sure wasn't there as a celeb ref.