Lem Banker - My friend Sonny Liston

Yeah, the revisionism that has Clay "schooling" Liston for 6 rounds and "humiliating him" "making him quit" flies in the face of the facts that the fight was actually even and quite tame for the most part.

I thought Liston definitely won the 2nd and 5th rounds. Clay definitely won the 1st and the 6th.
I think Liston edged the 4th round, and Clay edged the 3rd.
Allowing even rounds, 3-3 or 3-2-1 either way are fair scores, or possibly 4-2 either way, or 2-2-2.
But the idea that Clay won 5 rounds to 1 (and dropped that round "only because Liston cheated") as many people claim is not a fair representation of the fight.

 

Yes, but Liston did have a shoulder injury going into the fight. This is fairly reliably established, and provides an obvious explaination for him quiting.

 

Also, the sizes of the fighters should discussed.
Liston; 218 @ 6' 1" (Really a shade under at 6' 3/4")
Clay; 210 1/2 @ 6' 3"

Clay was alot bigger than most people thought.
He was not the 21-year old 'skinny' light-punching fast kid from 1963 at 200 lbs.

 

Not really.
Fighters go into fights with nagging pains and injuries all the time. I haven't read any pre-fights reports that made anything out of Liston being injured in training.
Liston capacity for throwing punches with both hands seemed ok. He might have had a lousy shoulder but his quitting was unacceptable.