Did anybody ever see anything peculiar in the Liston-Clay I fight

Not sure that Sonny Liston was as 'unpopular' as everybody thinks.
He was 'unruly', but not unpopular.

Cassius Clay was not 'popular' at that time.
His brashness rubbed many of the 'old-timers' and boxing fans the wrong way.

The fight was held in Miami, kind of a 'home base' for Clay.
So it was suprising when the fight fell short of expectations when only 8000 or
so turned up in the 15,000 seat capacity Convention Hall.

As for Liston. His previous fight with Floyd Patterson at the Convention Center in
Las Vegas on 7/22/63 was a sell-out. 7000 overflowed the 6300 seat capacity
Convention Center.

 

On February 16, 1964, 9 days before the fight,
Sonny Liston appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show (from Miami), with
The Beatles.

 

willmc83,

One reason there was a relatively low attendance for the title fight, is because
the ticket prices were high (exorbitant to put it mildy).

Not so sure Ed Sullivan would have Sonny Liston appear on the nations most popular TV Show with The Beatles, on clearly one of most watched TV shows ever, if he was deemed deeply, deeply, deeply unpopular.
Ed Sullivan was no TV Fool.

McGrain's point is well-taken though.

 

McGrain,,,,,,,,,,All true,,,,,and written by newspaperman.

Also, Sonny didn't really have a home-base.
And your right, when he returned home after defeating Floyd Patterson,
there was 'zero' reception, which crushed him mentally.

 

Nice stuff Unforgiven,

Just did a replay of the Liston-Clay introduction.
Clay introduced first.
Received a mixture of boo's and mild cheers. There appears to be a
few more boo's than cheers.

Liston introduced.
Same mixture of the fans reaction, but cheers are slightly more dominant.

Rocky Marciano got an unbelievable fan reaction.

Guess who is the only other Heavyweight introduced.
The popular California Heavyweight,,,,,,Eddie Machen riding (5) straight
Knock-outs in his return. (as per the announcer)

Anybody want to take a guess who paid for his plane ticket to the fight, as well as
covering his expenses for the week........

 

Unforgiven,

the more you read and disect the back room dealings, you can come to the
'absolute conclusion', that the guys in control of Liston could make more money
if Liston lost, with their promotional rights to Cassius Clay's future fights.

$650,000 for the right to the live gate proceeds only. Red Smith, the sports writer is correct in his assumption.
Why would anyone buy the rights to something, with a guarantee of losing a boat-load
of money, unless they got a piece of future fights.

 

Unforgiven,

Just had to review that Liston-Clay fight one more time.
Eddie Machen sure looked good when introduced.
Sharp dressed, and in great shape.
The only Heavyweight mentioned in the general greetings and ring introductions.
The popular California Heavyweight.
Also mentioned, his 5 straight Knock-out wins.
He sure didn't look like a mental case to anyone their.

One must wonder, why would Eddie Machen come to Miami, Florida to watch the
Liston-Clay fight in person, when he could have watched the fight on the television
closed circuit in San Francisco.
Just a week earlier, at Kezar Pavillion in San Francisco, California, Eddie had
knocked-out Duke Sabedong in the 1st Round.
Now why does a guy, who's having financial difficulties, want to fly to
Miami, stay in the Fountainbleau Hotel for 5-days and watch the fight, when
he could have stayed home and watched it for a few bucks or free.
What was the benefit, or angle.
Was he in-line for something, or was he brought their for show???
Somebody took care of the all the expenses, and they wanted him their for a reason.

 

McGrain,

But why, would Eddie Machen have to fly in to Miami.
For what reason, to watch a fight?
A fight that everyone in the planet thought Liston was going to win.

Are you saying if he wasn't there, and Sonny Liston won, he wouldn't have gotten a
Title Fight.