Ali beat Liston fair and square
I was fortunate to have a vast number of sports heroes to follow while I was growing up – Pele, Best, Charlton, Nicklaus, Keino, Spitz, Gould, Korbut, Laver, Court, Meads, Chamberlain, Sobers, Herlihy and the rest all played an important part in my sports education.
But the person who towered over everyone was Muhammad Ali, or Cassius Clay as he was when I began following him.
I can still recount nearly all his 61 professional fights, certainly all his title fights. I know who beat him, who knocked him down. And, of course, I’m terribly sad that he’s had such terrible health problems over the past 25 years.
Of all his great fights, the best, I’ve always thought, was when he won the heavyweight title the first time, beating the frightening Sonny Liston in Miami on February 25, 1964.
He was still Cassius Clay then, a slender, 22-year-old gasbag. The speed he showed that day was breathtaking.
Joe Louis, the former heavyweight king, was commentating for television, and described the first round as maybe the greatest he had seen.
Liston was a feared knockout puncher, but he could not touch Clay, who buzzed around the ring as if he had an outboard motor powering him. Clay’s legs, hands and head movement were blindingly fast.
They say Liston grew old in the ring that night, and that’s how it looked.
There was one sticky moment – the fifth round, when Clay was virtually blinded, some liniment used to seal Liston’s cuts finding its way into his eyes.
But he got through the round, backpedalling and evading.
By the end of the sixth, Liston was well beaten. He did not come out for the seventh, remaining on his stool when the bell rang.
As is the case with many bullies, he did not show as much courage when faced with someone better.
He complained he had a shoulder injury, but it looked as if he was simply physically and mentally beaten.
Sports Illustrated later named the fight the fourth-best sports moment of the 20th century.
Now, 50 years later, the FBI has released ‘‘evidence’’ indicating the fight was fixed.
Apparently Ash Resnick, a Las Vegas gambler with organised crime connections, fixed many bouts, including the first Clay-Liston fight. I don’t believe it. Liston definitely had underworld connections, and of course many, many boxing fights have been fixed.
But on hearing this FBI revelation the other day, I watched the Liston-Clay fight again.
Clay that night was a superb boxer. He had the speed of a lightweight and the size of a heavyweight.
Liston actually didn’t box too badly,
Muhammad Ali, centre, is escorted on stage by his wife Lonnie Ali and a personal assistant during last year’s The Muhammad Ali Celebrity Fight Night Awards XIX in Arizona, which are given out to celebrities who embody the qualities of Ali and his fight to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease. Photo: Reuters but he was faced with the problem of trying to hit a ghost, someone who was there but wasn’t. Eventually it got to him.
Ironically, there is genuine suspicion about the Ali-Liston rematch the following year. Liston toppled over in the first round as if hit by a falling tree, when he was merely clipped by a light right, the so-called ‘‘phantom punch’’. He may have taken a dive that night. But not in Miami. I know about youthful innocence and hero worship. But you’ll never convince me that Clay’s exhibition in Miami was anything but boxing at its greatest.