The first fight was legitimate. Liston was a classic bully and ALI was actually a bit afraid of him. However, fear is something we all feel at one time or another. It's what you do about the fear, how you deal with it, that makes the difference between a hero and a coward or the difference between victory and defeat.
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While I never like to label any professional boxer a coward (Victor Ortiz aside), look at the case of Michael Spinks. He was also afraid going in, against Mike Tyson. However, his fear consumed him once he was in the ring. He didn't show much fear before. I interviewed him and he didn't seem nearly as afraid as Tyrell Biggs was before facing Tyson.
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ALI felt the same but he was able to psych himself up and fool Liston into thinking he was crazy. Most of us have done something similar, whether we realize it or not.
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The second fight will always be a mystery. I've watched that fight and the press clippings leading up to it over 40 times in my life. I come up with the same conclusion. Something was definitely wrong.
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Because it involves ALI, who has since become an icon and literally one of the world's most recognized figures, we like to pretend or believe he couldn't possibly be involved in a fix. That's like looking at a good wife whose husband was just caught molesting a child. Do you really judge the wife?
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The point is that, if there was a fix, it had little or nothing to do with ALI. That much is clear. However, I still don't believe that one punch, though a solid one, was enough to keep a man like Liston down. Also, a blind man could see the way he flopped around on the canvas. He wasn't really hurt at all.
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Now, it's possible that the temple shot could have knocked him off his equilibrium. However, that's not likely to keep Liston incapacitated for long. I've seen sturdy fighters knocked off their feet by unbalanced flash knockdowns many times. He charged ALI and ran into a perfect right hand. The flesh disfigurement on the opposite side of Liston's face gave a clear indication that it was a solid punch. Still it's not likely to keep him down.
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I believe part of it was the fact that Liston was a classic bully. The young kid who tormented him more than a year earlier was now replaced by a slightly taller and more muscular fighter. ALI's punching power was always underrated. Also, by this time, ALI was well associated with the Nation of Islam, AKA, the Black Muslims. Many of these cats were shadier than the dark side of a building. It was well known that Liston was a bit spooked by them.
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It was also well known that Liston had deep mob ties. Basically, they owned him. It's very likely that any fix involved one or both of the two groups, one of the fighters but not the other. There was no indication that ALI knew anything about a fix. It's very believable that Liston did know something.
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Whatever he knew, he took it too his grave when they killed him.
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Um, yes, Liston was indeed murdered.
This topic has been considered for a while and still, no one's totally sure whether or not the rematch between the two was fixed. All we know is that Sonny Liston was absolutely FAR from his best in that match and there's no way Ali could put away a very durable man like Liston so quick and early. Again, even though we weren't there in the rematch, it's very likely that the mob had done something to cause such a shock in this rematch.
The first was legit. Liston surrendered in his stool at the start of the 7th round after realizing that he couldn't keep up with Ali's speed and superior boxing skills. The previous round (6th), he got blitzed with jabs and lightning-fast combinations which caused swelling and cuts all over his face. Liston would later say that he had a shoulder injury, though I think it was more of an excuse. In the second fight, the knockdown was legit. Liston walked straight into a chopping right hand from Ali. Now, the question is, was it enough or was it powerful enough for Liston to stay on the canvass? Obviously no. Did Liston, then, take a dive? Well, the circumstances point to it, but then, we will never know because Liston and all the people close to him, including his cornermen, brought their secret to the grave.
I believe the first fight was more suspicious than the second fight. The big bad Sonny Liston quits on his stool complaining of a hurt shoulder. Yet early in his career against an unknown opponent named Marty Marshall he fought with a broken jaw for much of the fight. The fight against Ali was for the heavyweight championship of the world, the most coveted title in sports. Yes Liston was frustrated and beaten so he quits. Now the second fight, I believe Joe Walcott fouled that up, Liston did not finish that fight laying on his back, he was up fighting when the contest was halted. If he took a dive he would not have gotten up. Ali was running around the ring , Walcott did not send him to a neutral corner. Liston was suppose to fight Ali 6 months earlier, the second time he was in top shape and was motivated. Ali had an emergency hernia operation and the fight was postponed. Liston did not care after the postponement. We may never know the truth.
There was something in the Ali vs Liston fights that were intriguing. The phantom punch was and wont be enough to keep the monster Liston down. i think Sonny could have beaten the count but there's something that kept him flat on the canvass. And great as Ali was, he wouldnt have knocked Liston out.Ali might have thought too, what made Liston stay down. it was never his punch, it was something else.
Ali vs Liston might have been fixed, what do you make of this?
Im of the opinion Ali vs Liston might have been fixed, either the first, or the second, or both. But im of the opinion too that the great Ali would have stood his ground against the hard punching Liston in a "fair and real " fight.
The first fight was no fix I think liston took a dive in the rematch due to not wanting to another beating liston was getting a good pay day anyways why take another beating liston might have been 40 years during the second fight but true we will never know the replay shows him getting hit with what appeared to be a light punch to the temple i honestly think liston had no chance so he took a dive and got paid the young ali was just too fast for the slower liston
No one will ever Know. Sonny Liston has been dead for over 40 years, but the mob fixing fights has happened before, and will happen again.
We will never know. It wouldn't be the first, or last time a fight was fixed. There have probably been high-profile fights fixed very recently that we may find out about in 30 or 40 years.
One thing is for sure, Muhammed Ali was on either cocaine or crystal meth for this fight. That post fight speech was nuts!
Anytime a champion quits on his stool rather than fighting to the finish even if it was with one arm there are questions about the fight.
A true champion will never quit.
Very likely, Ali was trying to promote himself. WWE like.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/the-pugilist/fbi-suspected-muhammad-ali-first-win-over-sonny-180758737.html
Welcome to the big bang theory on yahoo answers. Their is no real proof but articles and tabloids. The authors is using this for publicity. I hope your not a conspiracy theorist by any chance.
