No one thinks the “phantom punch” is real…right?

Sonny Liston was a terrible actor. We all knew kids in school who were like this. Even if he had taken classes at the Actor's Studio or studied privately with Stella Adler, it wouldn't have made a difference. He did a TV scene on "Love Boat" in which he says: "I can get any dame I want. All I got to do is reach out and grab." A perfect line for him, and he stunk it up. So how can anyone expect him to take a convincing dive?

 

You needed a gap between every and one. Without the gap it reads entirely different and one could say he didn't beat Trevor Berbick via your wording.

 

It almost could have been called a no contest. The ending was a few levels beyond farcical.

 

Well, polish my chalice and call me Alice. If a wad was involved too...this plot just keep gettin' deeper and deeper.

 

Ali landed a light punch and Liston took a dive. That's my opinion

 

He didn't have to act, due to his prehensile dong, that he was known to have had. He could literally grab any dame with it and there was nothing she could do, as it was like a boa constrictor but faster and more criminal. And, legally, there are no laws against this anyway. Because, you can say on the stand you didn't grab a woman with your hands and she can say your dong did it, but if you're the only one with one of those, it's very difficult for the jury to believe it. I watched an entire Harvard lecture on this and it's very complicated, but Liston was basically immune here.

 

I think the punch was sufficient to put Liston on the mat, absolutely. Liston got caught near the temple while leaning forward by a short punch that Ali did manage to turn over. Liston's reactions from the time he takes the shot to the time he puts his hands on the floor are entirely natural for someone who gets hit with a shot that they simply didn't see.

Everything after that is open to speculation, but that's a clean and legit KD, imo.

 

Exactly! Ali caught Sonny off balance with a short, crisp right that landed flush--nothing "phantom" about it!!

 

HOF sportswriter...the great Jimmy Cannon...said the whole thing was a farce...and that the "Phantom Punch" couldn't have "crushed a grape"!

 

You young "Revisionist" guys are hysterical...I watched that fight...it was a joke...a waste of time and money... and NOT ONE national sportswriter ever said that the "punch" was legit. When Liston QUIT while sitting on his stool...(as all great champions do)...in Miami in Feb.1964...one of Sonny's "trainers" came out to face the sportswriters with an x-ray to show Sonny REALLY DID hurt his shoulder. One writer said out loud, "I wonder who's x-ray that really is"? And then...of course there is Sonny taking a DIVE...(as all great champions do)...up in Maine in May 1965. And we all saw what Liston did when he tasted his own blood against Leotis Martin on TV in December 1969...Nobody does any research...they watch a 5 min video on you tube...and they know all the answers...

 

Reminds me of De La Hoya- Camacho. Yeah, Macho was past it, but he had no answer for The Golden Boy. He wasn't going to quit but he did everything he could to get disqualified. The ref wouldn't comply.

 

If you ever put on a pair of gloves you can find yourself on the canvas and wonder how you got there . Balance! The knockdown was legit. What followed is open to speculation.

 

Yes, that would have been a good solution.

 

Or Jersey Joe could have eventually ordered both combatants to go to their neutral corner and sort things out.

 

Y'all can't convince me otherwise lmao
Also modern martial artist made a sweet breakdown about it