FBI Suspected 1964 Clay-Liston Fight Rigged By Mob

Kinda a moot point now, jeez half a century later, with the exception of Ali most of the people involved in this fight are dead and gone.
The 2nd fight reeked of fix too, Ali barely hit Sonny, and he "fell down" for the count..

 

Woop dee doo. Lots of people suspected both fights to be fixed because they couldn't believe Liston lost to a guy they (and Liston) underestimated. So the FBI suspected a fix. But they were never able to prove anything. Police suspect lots of things, but how is that news without proof?

 

Biggest proof to me was an excellent HBO doc on Sonny.
With the aid of professional lip reader you can clearly ascertain Clay
saying,
"He Laid Down" as soon as he returned to his corner.

 

I would be suprised if the first fight was a fix. I would be surprised if the second fight wasn't.

 

Liston was old much older than his listed age and underestimated Clay in first fight. He quit on stool in fight that was still in the balance but he was gassed. Second fight he laid down again whether fixed or not he quit that phantom punch stunned him and he decided to go home early

 

Even Listons death is a dream for conspiracy theorists, same goes for the 2 bouts with Clay/Ali.

Liston lost be that because: Clay got to him psychologically, beat him on pure boxing skill, Liston was genuinely injured in first fight and ko'd in second, the mob, the BoI or their ilk 'suggested' he lose, Liston had a Tyson or Duran event - 'No Mas' or that Liston was disillusioned with the title, as it did not bring him the acceptance etc that he felt it would, whatever the reason a damned great fighter who was ducked for long while despite being the no.1 contender, is 50 years later remembered for the 2 losses to Clay/Ali rather than his other 52 bouts.

 

that article has so many holes in it.

 

I´ve read a lot of articles on the subject. Reporting from Miami Beach - there´s no talk of fix in any of the Danish articles.
Same on the second fight. The phantom punch that send Liston to the floor - a punch nobody saw - is actually described in "Ekstrabladet" as a short, hard right.
I put more in to the fact that Cassius Clay was in a great shape in both fights. Liston was trimmed but had not gone more than a couple of rounds in three years - Clay was very active during the same period - Liston was rusty and soon found out that Clay was something very special . . impossible to nail with a punch and hitting harder than expected.

 

I can't claim to know the truth about these fights, but I think both were dubious. The second one was a complete farce: since when does a boxing writer tell the referee when the count is done?

 

Well if the second fight was fixed Ali wasn't in on it. The most surprised man in the hall that Liston went down from "the phantom punch" was Ali.
The first thing he does is stand over Liston gestures for him to get up yelling "get up ya bum"
Ali being the great opportunist he is was talking "phantom punch" by the post fight interviews!
Liston definitely lay down for what reason? Who knows.