May 15, 1965 Maine Governer, John H. Reed, said that he is 'Proud to announce that Lewiston, Maine will have World Heavyweight Championship come to his state, and the City of Lewiston welcomes it with open arms. The textile town of 41,000 will soon be invaded by thousands of boxing fans, in hopes of seeing a complete heavyweight bout. Governer Reed followed, 'What we need, is an honest-to-goodness championship bout to put Lewiston on the map. I'm sure, after this bout everyone will be talking about it.' The bout will be held at the Central Maine Youth Center, a 4200 seat capacity arena, that is currently being used as a hockey rink. This will be a far cry from the 17,000 seat Boston Garden where the bout was supposed to take place. The Youth Center is owned by the Dominican Fathers of St. Peter and St. Paul Parish. The Governer added, that this Championship Fight will add close to $1,000,000 in revenue for the City of Lewiston.
May 6, 1965 The District Attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts enforced a restraining order on the scheduled May 25, 1965 Championship Bout at the Boston Garden. Two-days later, on May 8th, it was announced that the bout would be switched north to Lewiston, Maine. A local fight promoter, Sam Michael with help from the Mayor of Lewiston, Robert T. Couturier would welcome the bout to their predominantly French-speaking city. The fight promoters, Inter-Continental-Promotions and Fred Brooks of Sports Vision, Inc. couldn't care less where the bout was held, as they had $3,500,000 in closed circuit contracts to fulfill their obligation with. If the fight did not go through, there would never be another one between Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston. As Fred Brooks stated, 'We can have the fight in a 'Television Studio' for all I care, as there is no money in the 'live gate receipts'. The big money is in the theater outlets and closed circuit revenue.'
May 7, 1965 Harold Conrad, a spokesman for Inter-Continental-Promotions has announced that the Championhsip Fight will take place on the set date, but the site is now Lewiston, Maine. Local Maine fight promoter, Sam Michael will handle the promotions for the site. Mr. Michaels will pay the promoters $200,000 for the rights to 'Live Gate Receipts', in return for staging the event. Mr. Michaels stated the St. Dominic's Arena is a 4200 seating capacity facility. With additional temporary seating, the capacity could reach close to 5500. Mr. Michaels said the prices of the tickets will be $100, $50 and $25. With an anticipated sell out, Mr. Michaels expects to realize a profit of $25,000. This content is protected
