its amazing how they can restore it so well. anyway its definitely a legit left hand, enough to ko a sonny liston? well thats still up for debate ad infinitum.
Another angle with that HD and slow motion would be great, but the punch had more on it than I thought. I still think it normally wouldn't have dropped Sonny though, and think he took a dive in that fight.
Sonny wasn't KO'd, 1. the count should not have started until Ali was in the neutral corner 2. Sonny as a pro knows he is not obliged to get up until Ali is in the neutral 3. Ali stands over Sonny for 10-20seconds, Walcott fails to control Ali and eventually gets him to the neutral corner, 4. Liston gets up and they continue to fight 5. A ringsider tells Walcott that Sonny was down for over 10seconds, Walcott failing to understand that the count shouldnt start until the other fighter goes to his corner stops the fight. 6. WALCOTT F*CKED UP, PLAIN AND SIMPLE
It's definitely enough to score a kd, because Liston was off balance, with most of his weight forward when the blow connects on/near his temple, and it's clear that it connected with enough force to cause him to pitch forward and put his hands on the mat to break his fall. Was it enough to cause him to flop on his back? Who knows? But now more than ever I'm convinced that the kd itself was legit.
The kd wa legit. You can see (though not much of it in this clip) that Liston actually tries to keep from pitching forward by putting his hands on the canvas a couple of times. If it was all fake, he would just have dropped like a sack of potatoes, but he actually tries to stop his momentum by using his hands.
It's actually amazing how accurate Ali is. Look at the trajectory of his right hand. Almost like a rollercoaster going around every obstacle to reach Liston's chin.... and that in the blink of an eye.
