On February 25, 1964, it was
about 1 minute and 45 seconds into the fight and a boxer was on the ground, but
the problem is no one really understood what really happened (Eisen). Boxer
Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, had the world in shock after
knocking out Sonny Liston. This boxing match was not your ordinary fight as
many witnesses believed they had just saw a conspiracy theory:
Was the boxing match simply a
“fixed fight” to benefit Liston?
Did Liston actually get
hit in the chin by Ali?
Let’s
examine this controversial fight and the likelihood that Liston did not get
knocked out.
Character analysis on
Sonny Liston
Who is this guy by the name
of Sonny Liston? Sonny Liston could be described as a successful American boxer
who was heavily known for his ferocious attitude and questionable decision
making. He can be seen as a unique individual because of his interesting
childhood and other strange events that he was involved in.
No one really knows his
exact birth year, which is strange, as many historians says he had to be born
between the years of 1929 to 1932 according to prison records (Sonny Liston
Biography (1). His father, Tobe Liston, was a very abusive man as he went along
to have around twenty five or twenty six kids in his lifetime(1). Tobe
Liston was also an extreme alcoholic as he was constantly getting into
altercations because he was drunk. These traits and bad habits eventually made
their way to Sonny Liston himself. Liston was arrested over twenty times in his
younger life, which leads one to assume that he was a troublemaker (1).
Although jail time is a bad thing, this negative can be turned into a positive
because the penitentiary was where his boxing career started where he was
taught by older males. Liston probably gained the aggressive attitude and
mindset from him working as a strike labor goon, and his physical size, being
over 6ft and 200 pounds at the age of 16(1). In the book “The real deal on
Charles “Sonny” Liston” written by Paul Gender states, “No athlete was ever
vilified more viciously and unfairly than Sonny Liston” which proves my
reasoning that Liston was very aggressive (1). So a struggle between Liston and
his father is that they never really had any relationship with each other. They
barely liked each other and he ended up moving out in his early teen life,
which lead him to nothing but trouble.
Sonny Liston’s overall boxing
career can absolutely be called a success. He had won a total of thirty nine
fights just by knockout and also defended his title several of times (“Cassius
Clay defeats Liston” 1). An unwise action that Liston made is when he was
fighting another great, Muhammad Ali, Liston did not continue to fight in the
6th round. As a 10 to 1 favorite coming into the fight, Liston, the heavyweight
champion, just stood in the corner and refused to get back in the
boxing ring. One can find this a little odd because heavyweight champions are known
for being fierce with an aggressive attitude, but instead he spit his
mouthpiece out letting the world know that he was giving up on the
fight(1). Knowing that he was losing in this battle, it is possible
that Liston was a bit afraid of Ali. Also, after the fight there, were no
physical injuries that impacted Liston which proves the reasoning
that he simply did not want to get back in the boxing ring(1).
Another unwise decision
that Liston makes is to drink alcohol before his big rematch to take his title
back from Ali. This bad trait of constantly drinking goes back to his father
who was an extreme alcoholic. This drinking had a big impact on his fighting
ability considering his balance was off and his body was no longer toned and
fit. Acclaimed boxing writer Jerry Izenberg of the Newark Star Ledger says,
“Liston looked horrible, and kept falling in the ring” (1). This bad decision
by Liston proves that he was never motivated and dedicated to his boxing
career. This can be seen as surprising because usually when athletes have a lot
of potential to be great, they usually pursue their dreams not letting any
obstacles get in their way. However, this is not the case with Sonny Liston as
he lets himself down along with his fans and coaches. Liston‘s decision to
drink might have a small effect on the rematch between him and Ali where he
fell to the ground and no one knew exactly what happened. This incident is called
the “Phantom punch” where many fans were left with questions for Liston
(Snowden 1).
Sonny Liston, being a successful boxer with an
aggressive attitude and questionable decision making, leads him to be a very
interesting individual to many.
Main Idea/Details/Survey
In the mysterious fight between Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali, two
conspiracy theories are identified. One of the theories suggest that the boxing
match was a fixed fight. Another conspiracy theory suggests that Liston did not
get hit and fell without contact connecting between him and Ali. Let’s dive
deeper into these two and see the likelihood of these theories being true.
In the state of Maine is
where the crowd chanted “fake” as they had just witnessed Ali win the
heavyweight championship. After this fight had ended in a knockout, about 4,000
fans were left puzzled, amazed at what they just saw (Eisen 1). This fight
could be seen as the rematch between the two because they had fought before
with Ali winning in 7 rounds (1). With Liston losing this first fight, he was
still promised 1.2 million dollars but instead only received 13,000.00(1). Like
anyone would be, Liston was highly frustrated because of the amount of money he
got. He didn’t receive all of his money because the mob tax had robbed him and
if this information became public he would have been killed (1).
As their next fight was slowly
approaching, Ali collapsed in the gym while training, which made the fight
postpone for six months. During this time, Liston trained like day in and day
out, but when he found out the fight had to be delayed, he gave up on his self.
Boxing Writer, Jerry Izenberg, states, “Liston looked horrible and kept
collapsing in the gym”. Which proves he was not physically ready for the fight
(1). After this news got to Liston, his
timing was off, and he was slowly getting out of shape (1).
As this big rematch was approaching, Malcolm X, a human rights
activist, was killed. Ali and Malcolm were very close friends as they were both
huge Muslim figures here in America (1). This is when a lot of talk started to
emerge about the nation of Islam coming to the fight and to attempt to
assassinate Ali as well. This time would
be perfect for Islamic assassins because they knew they could catch Ali at the
fight considering he was supposed to be competing. Sure enough, Liston being
Ali’s opponent was terrified that they would miss and kill him instead and is
another reason this fight can be called a fix (1).
The other theory in this case suggests that Liston did not get
knocked out. Many people would say that this is easy and one should go back to
watch the film. Unfortunately, because of the day in time and the way the
cameras were positioned, the film still will leave one puzzled (Snowden 1).
Allen Barra from the New York Times stated, “The broadcast tape provides no
help: The cameras were placed in both fighters corners in such a way that the
punching action was never clearly seen” (1).
Liston goes on to say years later, “I was off balance and he caught me
with a stiff right hand, it rattled me. It was a good shot” (1). Liston’s words
are one of the only reliable resources that are left to find out what really
happened (1). Immediately after Ali knocked Liston out, he yelled, “Get up and
fight sucka”, which sort of proves he didn’t think it was enough to knock out
the former heavyweight champion (1). Another writer who was ringside by the
name of Jimmy Cannon stated, “I saw that punch and it couldn’t have crushed a
grape”, which shows sarcasm and humor considering a grapes size (1). After
showing the ancient video to peers in my
class, twelve out of twenty people believes that he did not get hit and
purposely fell. The other eight people who believe he did get hit says his head
flew back right when Ali swung.
The
Controversial fight
Various opinions and debates come up
when this fight is being discussed as these questions fans and others have,
will most likely never be answered.
Was this boxing match simply a “fixed
fight”?
Did Liston actually get hit in the chin
by Ali?
This Controversial fight still to this day
leaves people puzzled as one will never know what really happened.
1 “Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston”, A&E
Television Networks, History.com
Snowden,
Jonathan, “The Phantom punch hits 50”, Bleacher Report, May 25 2016
King J senior writer, “Mad men discuss Muhammad Ali vs.
Sonny Liston”, Sep 29, 2010 “Sonny Liston Biography”, A&E television
networks, Biography.com, February 4, 2016 Works Cited
Eisen
Lou, “Ali vs. Liston 2”, Fight network, November 29, 2016
Snowden,
Jonathan, “The phantom punch 50 years later, Bleacher Report, November 28, 2016
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