I met Ali in 1975 at Harvard Square Theater when he touring his book, The Greatest. I had the opportunity to shake his hand which was really something for me as I had followed him since I was a kid.
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Post fight Angelo Dundee said Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali was the Best thing that happened to Boxing and boy was he Honest. RIP Muhammad Ali 🙏 RIP Sonny Liston 🙏
This is the best version that I have seen with the walk into the ring for Liston and the referee instructions. I never get tired of this fight I was so young then. He loved Ray Robinson whom he patterned his footwork from. A heavyweight fighting like a middleweight was incredible!
Joe Louis the Great Brown Bomber was Uncle Tomming like hell, switching back and forth, trying to justify Sonny wearing that arse whooping. My cousin Shug, she was crazy about Clay, thought he was so pretty. I remember her bragging about Clay when I was a kid.
@@aarondigby9859 i only have one question though. How in the world was joe luis uncle tomming when both fighters are black. Man im blown away from the people who always play victim to some kind of fake racism.
@@optimumpcyt That both fighters were black is NOT the point. The Brown Bomber was pandering to the audience. 95% of White America despised Cassius Clay (as did a lot of black people, at that time). He was the EXTREME uppity n*****. White people, black people, nobody had seen ANYTHING like him (outside of pro wrestling . . . where Ali would say he got his schtick). Liston was an unfortunate thug and ex-con, who White America would normally hate, but because Ali was who he was, they wanted Liston to beat the living shit out of him. Floyd Patterson, like Joe Louis, was seen as a good Negro . . . a worthy champion, a credit to his race. In this fight, Liston was the lesser of two evils. I was a little kid at the time and even I could see this, it was so obvious. I was at my Little League game when news of Clay's victory spread around the field. All the white male adults (there were no black people in my town) were beside themselves with disbelief, anger and outrage. It was all they could talk about . . . the fight HAD to be fixed. The world was upside down. It was a different time, then. Racism clearly hasn't gone away, but it's kept a little more buttoned up and hidden today . . . more under the surface. Back then, people wore their racism on their sleeves. I didn't live in the Deep South, I lived in Central California . . . in what was becoming Silicon Valley. Like I said, I was a clueless little kid playing baseball, and I was amazed at the reaction . . . so much so, it remains a vivid childhood memory.
Amazing…ahead of his time…the degree of difficulty in his masterful movement in the squared circle…the speed unseen… butterfly bee…the brass showmanship very hype….”I shook up the world “…”I’m a bad man”…and that was just a glimpse of how truly great …R.I.P. long live the gre……
Why would 8 people dislike this? I was 13 and listening to this fight on the radio that night 50 years ago today. Just hoped Ali wouldn't get killed by Liston. Never actually saw film of the fight til 25 years later, and then here. This was Ali's best fight ever. He was 22, lightning fast hands and feet, and even quicker reflexes. He was never better. People say the Cleveland Williams fight was Ali at his peak, but I disagree. He was The Greatest, and his greatest night was Feb. 25, 1964. We admired him for his boxing, but we LOVED him for his courage to speak up. In 1964 that was no easy thing to do for any black man, but he did it. In 1967 at least half the country hated him. Today nearly the entire world loves him. God Bless Ali!
I wouldn't say this waz his greatest fight but definitely 1 of'em. He was young and not fully experienced yet here. He actually got better after this fight if u watch the 2nd liston fight. He comes out charging at liston. Ali also got tired in the 3rd round after that flurry he threw so I can tell he was still working on his wind. The Williams fight however, Ali is dancing and throwing a 100 combinationz. More experienced now and confident on how to fight big puncherz. Long live Ali
buckfan1969 CONSIDERING THE WORLD THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO LOSE, I WOULD SAY THAT THIS AND HIS FIGHT AGAINST FOREMAN IN ZAIRE WERE BOTH AWESOME. HE WAS A HUGE UNDERDOG IN BOTH FIGHTS...HE ALSO WAS VERY BRAVE IN SPEAKING HIS MIND...I ALWAYS ADMIRED HIM FOR DOING THAT.
Two-Face,......Liston could have beaten all their asses. This fight was fixed. Watch Liston destroy a young Cleveland Williams if you want to see how the stud could fight. Knocked him out in the 3rd round, then ko'd him in the 2nd round in the rematch. Then liston pounded Floyd Patterson and took his belt in one round. He did it again in one round in the rematch. You're seeing liston acting here, not actually fighting. Watch the real liston and then you'll see. He could have snapped Ali like a twig in one round, but the mob paid him to flop,..in both fights. Sonny Liston was the baddest dude to ever step foot in a ring. Some guys openly stated they wouldn't fight Liston. Liston was so mean that he scared the hell out of fear.
@@MrMarco855 Liston was also 40 years old or older for this fight! He lied about his age when he first start fighting because he started so late. His face and the fat behind his neck is not of a 32 year old.
@@joedoe5231That's what a lot of people say but it's bullshit. I've heard estimates from his upper 30's to in his 50's, which shows it's all guesswork. Claiming Liston was old is one of many myths people invented after the fight. They felt the need to explain how Liston could have lost, because he was considered unbeatable and most other fighters were scared shitless of him. He absolutely mauled Floyd Patterson twice, and he beat the hell out of Cleveland Williams twice, all 4 of those wins took him a total of 7 rounds. Cleveland Williams was a stud in his prime at the time, considered the hardest puncher in the game. He bloodied Liston's nose in the 1st round of the first fight. Liston walked through his bombs and beat him down like a child,...….twice. Liston's mother was asked about Sonny's age by a reporter, she said he was born in January, 1932. Later another reporter asked her, this time she said May of 1932. Because of this discrepancy, sportswriter's began to say his age was unknown. He was very big as a kid, when he was 18 he looked 30. He's one of those guys that never looked young. The fact is, his mother and his wife maintained that he was born in May, 1932 throughout his life. His mother either made a mistake or the reporter got it wrong in the first interview, but nobody ever said anything other then the year was 1932. He was 31 in the 1st fight with Ali and 32 for the 2nd fight. He was in his prime and he continued kicking asses for 7 more years and 16 more fights. Ali fans will never accept that both fights were fixed, but they were. I researched and found evidence to back it up, but any real fan that knows what their watching should see the fix. Liston never landed a decent shot to the head in the fight, he held punches when he had wide open shots, he intentionally missed with his jab , he threw ridiculous punches to avoid hurting Ali, he purposely trailed Ali just out of reach. Just ask,.....I'll show you where he stopped his own punch when Ali was stationary, against the ropes and trapped. He did that twice in one round. Liston had Ali in a corner in another example, Ali had nowhere to go and he wasn't trying to move out of the corner. Liston could have undressed Ali right then, but instead, he stepped back and to the side, letting Ali walk past him out of that corner. Is that how 2 top level heavyweights fight? The claim of Ali's speed is ridiculous. What happened to his speed when Henry Cooper beat his ass all night, knocking him down in the 4th round? I know, Ali was clowning around too much. Another bogus excuse. He fought his best except for one minute when he saw that Cooper was bleeding in the 3rd round. Other then that Cooper nailed him10 times roughly with a left hook. Cooper won the first 4 rounds, only losing after he was badly cut and couldn't see. What happened to Ali's speed when he fought Doug Jones? Jones nearly flattened him in the first round. Ali won a close decision but Jones had no trouble landing hard shots with both hands all night. These were the 2 fights leading to the Liston fight. Ali's speed was not an issue for his opponents, 2 guys far below Liston's level. Liston wasn't slow like you think. He was always in the best shape, at 31 he was in his prime and he was faster then Cooper and Jones possibly as well. How did Ali's speed neutralize Liston completely when the previous 2 guys had no trouble at all? Nobody wants to use common sense, and look at the fight honestly. Ali couldn't see for an entire round, he said he saw only faint shadows. Liston had to lag far behind in that round, throw body punches that he held back, throw soft punches to his head and never landed a hard shot,..... save for one hook that he froze and held right after it landed. Otherwise, what did speed have to do with a round where Ali was unable to see? Maybe Ali was so fast he could avoid a ferocious champion even without seeing him, or maybe Ali fans don't want to face the truth, it's either one or the other.
+Mike Ruggieri He had minimal defence. His defence was his amazing anticipation, head movement, reflexes and gauging just the right distance to fire punches from whilst hot getting hit. He makes it look oh so easy.
Isaw a video once of Ali training on a speed bag. He hit the bag 120times in 1 minute. I remember Marvin Hagler once tried the same thing. He was credited with 78 in one minute
@@richardjamesss438 Whatever. Tyson lost to Buster Douglas and struggled against Tony Tucker and Bonecrusher Smith when he was in his prime. Frazier would get whooped against the prime Ali from 1964 to 1967 version.
Ali is the greatest, period. The announcer referred to him as that kid a few times during the fight. Some people back then didn't like Ali, Cassius Clay, but the more they watched him fight, if they liked his style or not, I think most knew he was, and still is, the greatest ever boxer.
There was a deep hatred for Ali - because he was outspoken - initially about how much better he was and then his espousal of Islam and his refusal to join the armed forces. He lost four of his best years because the American state had its revenge on him. Liston was reckoned to be unbeatable, but he came up against a man whose punching speed and movement negated Liston's power. The continuous left jabs opened up his face. Clinical and masterful.
It cracks me up when I see "Rapper's" call themselves "Gangster" or "OG" today. Sonny Liston wasn't only a hell of a Champion that never really got his due, but he was a "OG" for real. Read his autobiography. Straight up badass!
SONNY WAS A GREAT FIGHTER,ALI WAS REALLY SCARED BUT HE SAID WHAT COULD I DO I WAS ALREADY IN THE RING,AND HE ALREADY WENT OFF TALKING....LOL! GOTA LOVE THEM BOTH TRUE CHAMPIONS
Funny thing is there was a real OG in boxing named Mitch Green. He was even the leader of the bloods at one point and he doesn't even compare to Liston. In the boxing world Liston was more feared then the leader of the bloods.
In the third round Sonny started fighting wild as hell, Clay done tracked his head movements and cracked his skull, reflexes too fast, hand speed is exceptional, masterful footwork.
I love Ali's respectful bow to the one and only Sugar Ray Robinson before the fight begins. I always thought the broadcaster missed an opportunity to point that out as he narrated.
In Europe it was about 3am when his fights were broadcast live on TV. Since we didn't have a TV receiver, when I was 12 or 13, I was allowed to go to my grandparents' house early in the morning to watch. Grandfather and grandmother, both well over 70 at the time, were enthusiastic about Ali. They didn't miss a fight. No wonder I was excited too. There will never be another like him: light-footed, aesthetic, athletic and hard-hitting. This wasn't boxing, this was boxing art.
Ali there has never been a heavyweight fighter who moved like this with stamina and grace combined with attitude. Ali also never ducked a fight fought all the monsters he also had a brass chin lol. Format broke Norton and Frazier in half torn the life out their body and head but Ali took all his punches full force and still beat Forman. Wow
Most of Ali's Fights we heard on the Radio...and you hung on every word...later the Wide World of Sports...Howard Cosell...would replay the fight ...days later... on ABC TV...The People's Champ...We will always love you...
My missus is in Louisville right now. Visited ALI's grave -- so emotional. Yes had had issues because of Farrakhan. But no one I have heard of stood up for what he believed in like Ali. RIP Champ. The Greatest.
When I was in 9th grade in 1966, I - a white kid - went to the 80% black highschool in Hartford,Ct. - Weaver High. Ali, passing through Hartford on his way to Boston stopped in and ran to every room in the three story building - some fifty rooms - and said hello to every person there. That was at the time when black riots were first breaking out in major cities.
Greatest eating punches with his head turned into pulp his only elite win was forman whom beat him so bad that he never gave a rematch ! Norton forman shavers one eyed diabetic fraizer all smashed him to bits he is a trend with pillow hands a d a great chin nothing more
Biggest regret of my life was i think i was the biggest Ali fan imo and in '79 i think it was he came to Lake Charles, La bc his wife at the time Veronica Porche had relatives here I actually knew that family and got word he was over there.I lefft church to pass by and check it out and there was a traffic jam !!!! I didn't go up to the house but almost parked and walked up !!!!!I To this day i regret not going !!!!! I knew the son who lived there and yrs later i told him about how i passed and didn't stop and the greatest answer was he told me.......U should have bc every one else in LC surely did !!!!!!
This fight more than any other fight shows the greatness of Ali. To psyc yourself to fight a criminal power puncher, intimidation styled like liston is takes unbelievable balls
Sonny Liston had absolutely nothing to win. winning or loosing he would still the "villain" everybody hates. M Ali, had everything to win. if he wins, he becomes the HERO who defeat the villain. Everybody were on his side. Take that into consideration.
32:45 That "king of the world" speech never gets old. Such an unbridled, genuine, joyful, and savage reaction by a 22-yr old black man in 1964. I can't even describe the emotions that it makes me feel. It's beyond pride. It's a turning point. It feels so liberating it actually makes me focused, if that makes any sense. And i wasn't even born til 1970; the impact it had on my dad and uncles and their generation...was 10 times more revolutionary. R.I.P. People's Champ 🐐
@@khaledelfeky6328 I consider it one of those moments where everything changed. Like there was something new and startling and that this was the future. From here on in, it is the new standard.
"I was gonna take him in 8 as you can see. But the man stopped it just to keep me from looking so great!" Not a huge fan of Boxing,---but I love that line. :)
It's amazing how the announcers saw Ali's style as a detriment to his winning. "Liston will hit him hard in the body if he can just get this kid to stand still." Do you people understand that if you aren't being hit, you aren't losing the fight? Not to mention how off balance it makes Liston to keep swinging so hard at nothing. I guess change is often hard to accept at first.
What a historic moment in boxing history..... When he said " I shook up the world". He really did. The man put his talent on the line.... there has never been an equal to Ali. He knew exactly who he was and what he was doing in time and place. He is the Greatest boxer ever.... hands down.....RIP
A fixed fight can't shake up a bowl of jello. Ali was 21, constantly boasted loudly that he was the greatest before he was even a full grown man. He wasn't even the # 1 contender while shouting how great he was. How easily take in are some? His every move was mesmerizing to his followers, but his 'greatness' was a product of his own boasting, not based on his boxing skills. If Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey weren't the greatest at 21or 22, then neither was any other fighter, including Ali. Ali wasn't the best during his prime, let alone the best ever.
Far more superior than Liston who found out here. A badly beaten, humiliated and exhausted Liston retired on his stool. Both great champions and legends.
@@MrMarco855. Am not kidding no. I also heard they Liston was hiding osama bin laden in his gloves and trained by weapons of mass destruction. I believe it yea but Liston couldn’t not continue the fight. Liston quit the fight in eight to make Albert pike look so great. !!! Hi there! Hello!!
I was 12 years old sitting on old linoleum floor watching on black and white TV. Little did I know I was watching the beginning of anew era..in 74 I made my first of 8 bouts. Ali was still in the ring making history..one of the greatest of all time..liston was a tank...all respect.
Man, that ring walked by Liston was so gangsta. Greatest ring walk in the history of boxing. Look how he walks through the crowd and everyone in the arena is standing up staring at him. Sonny wrapped up in that terry robe just adds to the mysterious badass mystic around him.
@jamesa .hamilton29 Liston was the best heavyweight that ever lived. He was the most misunderstood champion ever as well. Read about him before slandering his name.
I was the sound engineer for a well known rock band on tour in 1975. We were staying at the St. Moritz in NYC. We entered the lobby at the same time as Ali, and I said "Hey Champ!" He looked over at us long haired white boys and with a smile, walked over and shook hands with all of us. (huge hands) We chatted for a good 10 minutes before his people pulled him away. Cordial, humble, and funny as hell. I'm sure he didn't know who we were but it didn't matter. Wonderful memory! My hero!
💯 ...and he was still so undeveloped here, compared to the dancing master that he would become a couple years later. Liston actually hit him a few times. Later, he'd have a string of fights where he went virtually untouched. As far as movement, the only other boxer that's even in the conversation is the Sugar.
@@greysonG10 😂🤣💀 Excellent insight, thank you. Next time i'm in a fight, i'll remember that all i need to do is run from my opponent, and his eyes will magically start to bleed and swell up bigger and bigger until they're completely shut.
@@Nkosinati Stop being a smartass man, he spends the majority of his fights just backpedaling and avoiding a brawl. Of course the tactic works, and isn't illegal or something, but he wasn't a dog. I have more respect for a guy who just butted heads and boxed, like a Marvin Hagler or something. It's wack watching dudes just run around the ring and then throw occasional flurries of punches and then start running again. Smh, shows fear imo.
@@MrMarco855 Fixed? Liston juiced his gloves to blind Clay in the fifth round! Does that sound like it was fixed? Liston had a bad shoulder even before the fight. He hadn’t trained hard. And he was beaten badly. Clay was way ahead when Liston quit.
This is many peoples favorite boxing match and one of Ali’s many greatest fights. A badly beaten, humiliated and exhausted Liston retired on his stool.
Ali's greatest fight was against Foreman, where he showed his superior Boxing IQ and handled all of Foreman's best punches, and he managed to get Foreman completely gassed out, rigor mortis to the 10th degree, before he landed over 17 punches in a row in roughly 4 seconds, and Foreman hit the canvas like a hundred pound bag of sh*t & was unable to get back on his feet in 10 seconds. Rumble in the Jungle....
Growing up I knew Ali was "the greatest" and all that, but I really just recently started reading about him and understanding the 60's........what an incredible human being.
Yes, Ali was an incredible man who transcended boxing. There may have been a (very) few, "better" boxers throughout history, (Sugar Ray Robinson for example) but Ali will always be the "greatest". There's a difference between best & greatest. It can't really be explained. People either understand it, or they don't. Like for example, SRV. (Stevie Ray Vaughn). He was probably a better & more, technically proficitent guitar player then Jimi Hendrix, but Hendrix is the "greatest". Ali was one of those rare boxers who could turn the "Sweet Science" of boxing, into an art form. Watching Ali box was like watching Picasso, Van Gogh, Dali, etc, paint, or Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, etc, play. Boxing, or any sport for that matter, will never have another Ali.
gjc82071 Sugar Ray Robinson predicted Clay/Ali would knock Liston out. He came close on that prediction. Joe Louis, said that Clay/Ali would loose. In fact, Joe Louis always picked him to loose his fights. Clay/Ali was an important sports hero. He was way beyond boxing. He said the "I'm the greatest" was intentional, and to send the message that a black person is now saying "I'm the greatest"! it was more about having a black person speak highly of himself in front of millions rather than being humbled . SO he ditched his name, which went back to slavery, and went with a name that to him was free. One thing that was stunning, was just how many times Ali was right when predicting his fights. Unbelievable. He would fight guys like Cooper and goof off, and then turn it on in the round he picked. Anyone else with such a distracted way of fighting would be finished.
Those introductions ! All those famous boxers , all legendary .From Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano to Sugar Ray Robinson .First time I ever saw these guys in the flesh . Very impressive moment .
@@jimwolf264 And when he was robbed of 3+ years in his prime when I met him at Syracuse University in 1973 by an embarrassed fed govt he overcame! Liston a mob bag man in Vegas, thug.🥴
@@jimwolf264 according to Sonny Listons older sister Liston was born in 1919 so this makes him around 45 in this fight Ali being 22 here so 23 years age difference
jdpymetube Yeah, Ali was one of a kind...wish I was more like him...what an impressive man...he made all races aspire to greater heights...turned his back on Malcolm which pained him in later life. I am a whitebread who admires them both...
Watching this fight is just as exciting now to watch as it would be back then. I’m a big fan of Ali and he was awesome to watch fight. He was born to fight his skills as a boxer were awesome to watch.
That left from Clay is like a trip hammer, I don't think any heavyweight will ever out perform his agility and ability to dogde punches, he'll always be one of the greatest.
Ya know what happened to Terell when he didn't call Ali by his name. I think it's quite disrespectful to call a man by a name he denounced and he made it clear in no uncertain terms that he no longer wants to be addressed as such. Ernie Terell was literally beaten into submission for that. Now the man is no longer here to defend himself yet you still find one guy in the comment section who still doesn't respect him enough to call him by his name. WHAT'S HIS NAME MAN?
@@KibatheMalinois bro he was Clay here. And you have to call him Clay sometimes to differentiate his career. He was at his best as Clay. And some people separate his career that way. Nothing wrong with that. And again he was Clay here anyway. Stop taking things so seriously.
@@el34glo59 oh yes, you are definitely correct, people remember the name Cassius Clay, nobody remembers the name Muhammad Ali. Did you take your reality pills this morning?
Interesting. You can't say Liston fought poorly. He was clearly a highly skilled fighter. But he plods. Ali, on the other hand, almost dances - his movement and reflexes are absolutely astounding.
Sonny had an 84" reach and power in either hand. He didn't have to dance. A few years later, he gave Chuck Wepner such a beating that Chuck needed 54 stitches in his face.
Liston didn't train at all for this fight because he didn't take Clay/Ali seriously. Plus, in the preceding year he had two one-round title fights against Patterson. Out of shape and not much actual ring time. Rumor had it that at that time Liston was probably 40 years old. Even Clay/Ali commented on it. A formidable fighter, but past his prime of the late 1950s. Patterson was never really a heavyweight but more of a light-heavy - too small to be fighting Liston or Clay/Ali. If Marciano had attempted a comeback, he would have cleaned Pattersons clock. Not only Rocky, but also Cleveland Williams could have beaten Patterson.
Like all of Ali's opponents, they couldn't avoid Ali's left hand jab. They knew it was coming but still couldn't get out of its way. When Liston couldn't do anything about it, he got cut and bruised. A poor trade off for useless body shots then to get hammered with lefts and rights from Ali. Sure Liston landed a few head shots but Ali always seems to be going backwards when hit which lessens the blows. Ali age 22 in perfect health and skills beyond compare was on top of the world.
You should hear the British announcers call this fight, one of his Holiday marathons I used to watch on cable around 2001, they the British broadcaster does a great job.
Ali shot his jab from the hip it leaves you open but Ali jab had enough pepper to leave you in your tracks and gives him enough time to either get out of range or follow up
@@vgr112261 It hurts your feelings but it's the truth just the same. Too much emotional attachment for you to see what's obvious. Ali wasn't even a fully developed man but Liston was a man's man. Ali wouldn't have entered the ring against Liston if it wasn't fixed. His team feared Eddie Machen, wouldn't put Ali in against Machen this early in his career, yet they had no fear of Liston? It's a nice fantasy for Ali fans like it was for me in my youth. It's easy to deceive a kid but almost impossible after you've seen the bullshit many times over.
In my opinion, the biggest upset in boxing history, even more so than Tyson vs. Douglas. Tyson was feared, but not nearly as Liston. Liston was a genetic freak, with cannonball fists and an 84 inch reach on a 6 foot 1 frame! Just look at the man; shorter than Ali and yet looked twice his size. He truly embodied his nickname, "The Big Bear." No one wanted to fight him, not even Floyd until JFK pressured him. Nothing but respect to Ali, he truly earned the right to be called The Greatest. But Liston will always be my favorite, the most misunderstood man in boxing history, an enigma, the giant who could have been The Greatest instead had life not dealt him a bad hand.
Even the great musician Sam Cooke was present and Ali did a great thing to bring him up into the ring and introduce him. That's game recognizing game right there...
I remember listening to this on the radio as a little kid with my Dad. He was so upset when Liston failed to answer the bell in the 7th round! But then he grew up with some of the great heavyweights including Demsey, Tunney and Joe Louis. And Cassius Clay was a brash upstart! Little did my Dad and the rest of the world know Ali would become 'The Greatest!"
@@MrMarco855 Did you watch it? If it wasn't fixed, and Liston kept getting up for another round, Clay would have KO'd him or outpointed him by ten miles. Maybe Liston just gave up, thinking " What's the use? I can't touch this guy."
@@MrMarco855 How do you know this. You don't. You just hate Ali so much you can't give him credit for anything. Liston was one of the all time greats but a bully who couldn't handle when he was losing, very similar to Tyson.
Why did they not show how Ali dealt with the stinging substance in his eye?...what was resolved in his corner, between round 5 and 6?...and the commentator did not refer to that situation in the last round. Very strange!
Wow. I have never seen a fighter throw so many punches with so much power and so much confidence...that completely missed his opponent. No wonder Liston's shoulder was thrown out of socket. Anybody who's boxed knows that just one of those kind of misses hurts your arm; Sonny threw about 40-50 of them. Incredible endurance by Liston to last as long as he did; incredible speed and skill by Clay. R.I.P. two great champions. 🏆🐐💐💐
Liston quits on his stol in the 6 but why? Sports Illustrated writer tex maule wrote that Liston s shoulder was legitimate 8 doctor examined Listons shoulder at St Francis hospital In Miami and agreed that it was badly damaged for liston to continue fighting the torn tendon had bled down into the biceps causing it to numb the arm
Fighting the heavyweight champion of the world while being blind for a whole round and still winning is absolutely astonishing, Ali’s truly the greatest.
That fifth round when Clay is blinded by the linament on Sonny's glove and the way Clay avoids and ingenuously and creatively manipulates Sonny by buying time, pawing Sonny with his glove is totally masterful and puts Ali/Clay in the upper echelon all by himself as the greatest.
@@aarondigby9859 There was a interview with the ref, Barney Felix said that he was caught by a good combination at 20:39. that dazed him and was trying to shake off the effects in his corner. He checked the other corner , found no evidence of linament.
ALI was a master at taking bullies apart. Liston was used to pulverizing opponents who who stand in front of him and moved like dinosaurs. Ali moved like a middleweight and with his hands and legs being so fast Liston had absolutely no idea what the hell to do. End of story.
Ali fought flat footed half the fight, couldn't see for an entire round, would have been knocked out in a round or two had the great Sonny Liston been really fighting. It was a fix, ask the promoter, who was the brother of Angelo Dundee, Ali's trainer. Liston was controlled by the mob, the mob fixed all the fights in boxing, the FbI made a report and said the fight was fixed. Ali barely beat Cooper, got lucky when Cooper got badly cut, Ali barely beat Jones who nearly decked him in the first round. For those 2 fights just before he fought Liston, I guess Ali lost his speed. Those guys were not in Liston's league, yet they hammered Ali with no problem, Cooper nearly knocked him out. Ali fans are too emotionally involved to admit the truth.
@@MrMarco855 Ali hit him with the left at will. Liston was a bull, but slow as shit on his feet. His left jab was amazing, but bot fast enough. This type of fighter was easy for Ali. Quicker guys were a problem. You Say Ali was flat footed here. Count the left jabs he takes. Count them! Sonny moved the same against Patterson. Same lumbering advance. Same punches. Patterson avoided punches which an odd stance and weaving motion. Ali just kept moving back with either the feet or leaning back with the body. I think Liston was possibly the hardest puncher in history, but he moved like a Frankenstein with lead in his shoes.
@@Bob-Maplethorpe Ali could have hit Liston while Liston had his hands behind his back and it wouldn't have been as bad as the daily beatings given by his father. Liston had welts thick as a rope from beatings since very young. He feared Ali like Ali was a brave soldier. Liston was a man, Ali a kid. You don't know Liston, only the bullshit that was invented by people searching for reasons to explain how Ali won. They invented a dozen reasons because they knew something was wrong. All of it is shit. Liston believed in hard training as a rule. He was 31, in his prime. He never went out before a fight. He had no fear of Ali no matter how crazy he acted. Liston was called a nxxxxx once by a St. Louis cop driving by Liston's house. Liston removed the cops gun from him, dumped him head first into a garbage can injuring the cops knee. Those that say he feared Ali because of the way Ali acted are full of shit. He unarmed a cop, Ali was but a pimple on Liston's ass. No man stood with Liston, ask George Foreman, you might believe him.
@MrMarco855 Foreman was young when he sparred Liston. 1970s Foreman would have been a different story. Ali had Liston's eye nearly closed by round 4. Liston's own arm was torn from an injury that was made worse by him missing so badly with his swings. The Liston who stepped in with Ali in 1964 loses 10 times out of 10 against Ali because he was so slow by comparison. Although nobody knew it then, Ali could take a massive beating and keep on fighting, so Liston wouldn't have rocked him. You are wrong about Liston's age. He was older than 31 in that fight. Based on his sister's memory, he could have been over 40 in 1964. Had Liston been 30, things would have been different. Watch Liston's 1950s fights. He was still slow compared to Ali, but he might have beaten Ali at 21 had he been in his prime. If you put prime Liston Against the Ali who fought Big Cat Williams, I still say Ali wins, just because he was far too fast. No heavyweight in history could move like that version Ali. None!
Ali was far superior than Liston.Liston threw his shoulder out from missing and punching at air. Liston just couldn’t keep up. A badly beaten, humiliated and exhausted liston retires on his stool. Ali was just to fast and wore liston out.
When I see him in this fight, I keep reminding myself how much better he would get in the next two years. Here, he's basically a late adolescent: you can still see the child in his face. He took the heavyweight championship while he was stilling filling out. The Greatest.
Yeah barely 22 here, but the best speed, reflexes and movement I've ever seen for a heavyweight boxer, not sure a prime Tyson would land much on this Ali
@@davebryant8050 Parkinson's disease doesn't usually come from blows to the head, given that it destroys motor coordination but leaves everything else alone. By refusing to be drafted, he had nothing to gain, and everything to lose. When you can't square your conscience with taking the easy way out (exhibition matches, professional fights at any time of his choosing), and you make the hard choice, most people consider that heroic. Just because you don't like his politics doesn't diminish that.
@@davebryant8050 Refusing to be inducted into the armed forces was his finest moment - he was a conscientious objector and the U S Supreme Court ultimately vindicated him. He showed great moral courage and principle. I applauded his refusal to fight for the U S empire in its criminal war of aggression against the people of Vietnam. If he had been inducted, he would’ve led an easy life, fought done exhibition fights to entertain the troops. No way he would have been sent to the front lines. But his religious conscience would not let him do it. He sacrificed his career for his principles. And punks like you call him a “coward”? You’re just plain ignorant!
Thank you, Ali was other worldly, it was the racially charged civil rights movement was happening right along with this event. I'll never forget it, I shook up the world. All the middle aged ladies of our community were crazy about Cassius Clay. They all thought he was the cat's meow. It was so interesting observing this when I was a kid.
@@aarondigby9859 yeah people keep talking about a prime Larry Holmes of the late 70's which I admit he looked very good especially in the first fight against Shavers but then I watched this video of the young Ali and Holmes did not move this well, not even close
@@youtoo2233 THANK YOU, they think I made this shyt up. Another fight I love to watch is the Rumble in the Jungle when Ali dismantles George Foreman and Jim Brown and Joe Frazier was sitting at ringside. Ali showed them how great he really was.
@@aarondigby9859 I can't help but wonder what Joe Frazier was thinking, it probably made him want to fight Ali again so bad so he could get that belt back. He already knew Ali took a great punch, and then to see him take Foreman's punches easily really showed him like you said how great Ali was. Ali really made Foreman not look like much competition. Yep he surprised ol Jim Brown too. But I think it's early as the end of the second round Jim Brown was starting to see something, Ali was getting in some tremendous shots on George, there's one particular three punch combination Ali lands at the end of that second round, looked like he was about to take Foreman's head off 😅
I was 12 years old when My brother and I listen to the fight on the radio I knew then this man was special long before his religious beliefs and his politics he was my first sports hero I am now 70yrs old today
@@paulcooper5748 And Ali admitted to being scared by that stare!...liston was a beast, only an Ali could have beaten him...but the 2nd fight, somebody told Liston to lay down, after receiving that short, but very good, punch...Just as well, because he had to realize then, that Ali would beat him all night long!
@@curbozerboomer1773 Yes ali was fast he's style was jab and move but if he stood there trading punches with big sonny it may of been a differant story sonny could hit hard.
This was truly a changing -of-the-guard moment. The speed and snap of Ali's jabs was amazing. Coupled with his maneuverability, Sonny just never seemed to work it out. Had Sonny Liston been just a couple of years younger, ...
It's a strange phenomenom. Ali so quick, with great reach, so smart. Sonny Liston, probably the hardest puncher of all time, with a lighting fast jab. And yet he couldn't reach Ali. The one guy on the planet, maybe in history who Liston couldn't hit squarely. Both fighters so great, it makes you wish they could have flourished separately. Ali could hit, he knocked out plenty of guys. Liston wasn't slow, wasn't plodding, but he had to be used to just destroying guys with his power. He couldn't figure out Ali cause Ali was an original. Sonny lost heart. Ali was too clever and too talented. To me Sonny Liston was just as talented, but in a different way.
@@MrMarco855 That's the big question. Still, a fight between the two best fighters on the planet? I don't think that coulda been kept quiet. No evidence. On the other hand Liston was devastated that he couldn't get any love from the press and public after whipping Patterson. Which leads to bitterness, which leads to corruption. Liston's wife said she never saw any money from it. Also, Liston went down in the 2nd fight with Ali the same way essentially as the first. No odds on the 2nd one, no incentive to bet. No fighter is perfect, if Sonny Liston had more heart. Nobody ever knocked down Sonny prior to Ali, his heart hadn't been tested. "Get up man." Ali don't hit that hard. Well, I saw Liston get knocked out again in '69? by a guy much skinnier than him. It was a great shot though. That was his weakness, he lacked will. The will to get up. Ali could hit, just ask George Foreman. Sonny Liston was an enigma, not communicative. His best friend was Joe Louis. Good friends with George Foreman also. Sonny Liston liked fighters that were like him. He only showed respect for one guy in the ring, a guy only slightly less ferocious than him- Cleveland Williams. Sonny took shots in that fight but he persevered. I thinks it cause he thought he was in a real fight that time and acted accordingly. You know I tend to think that real life is complicated, it ain't no "Rocky" movie.
Cleveland Williams was a beast of a fighter. He had the most cut body a human could have. Could of been a Mr. Olympian if he had the vanity. All before steroids. Sonny Liston showed him mad respect after he finally knocked out Mr. Williams. Helped him the fuck up, shouldered Cleveland over to his corner, stood there until he was 100% convinced the man was gonna be okay. Then Sonny Liston shook his hand, gave him a hug, congratulating Cleveland Williams cause he gave Sonny a real whipping before going down. Never happened before. Sonny Liston the mob enforcer hopefully recommends C.W. for a job in Vegas. George Foreman, who actually fought Cleveland Wlliams, said Sonny Liston was the only man who could ever back him up in the ring. And George Forman once charged his pet lion to keep him from killing George's brother. The lion backed the fuck off. George Foreman had an implacable stare in the ring. So did Sonny Liston, with no expression. One of 22 kids. Arkansas. Segregation and sharecropping South... Muhammed Ali had mad courage, masked behind the clowning and promoting. When Sonny Liston pulled the gun out and fired at Ali fleeing from the casino. Muhamned Ali didn't know those were blanks, and he didn't look all that scared. In fact he was laughing. In the ring this guy had no fear of Sonny Liston, or George Foreman. He should have. That's why he won- three times. Mike Tyson and Rocky Marciano were great heavyweight punchers; but Liston, Forman, Louis could knock a guy out with straight jabs. Greatest defensive fighters in history: Floyd Mayweather and Muhammed Ali. When he was young.
I met Ali in 1975 at Harvard Square Theater when he touring his book, The Greatest. I had the opportunity to shake his hand which was really something for me as I had followed him since I was a kid.
😮😮😮
@@VincentForbes-th5wj
CT
Зачем все это ,это обычная плоть ,поклонятся можно только Творцу
@@oleholeh4816Sad thing is allah whom ali followed was a deceiver says so in the koran Hell is for the Christ rejector sad indeed.
I😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😂😅Person Person 3😂😮😮😮😢😂😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😂😮😂😮😅😂😅😅😅😂😂😅😢😅😂😮😂😅😂😅😅😅😂😂😮😂❤😅😮😂😅😅😂😅😮😅😂😅😂😅😢😅😂😮How 😢😅❤😮😊😂❤😅❤😮😅😂😂😅😊😮😮😅😮😮😊😮😅😮😅😅😮😊😅😅😅😅😮😅😅😅😅😮😅😅😮😅😅😅😅😊😅😅😂😢😅❤😅😅😅😢😂😅😢😂😂😅😮😅😮😅😮😂😮😅😮😂😅😂😅😂😅😢😮😅😢😂😅😂❤😮😂😅😮😅😅😂😅❤😮😅😮😂😅😂😅😅😅😂😂😮😅😮😂😊😮😮😂😮😂😅😅😅😂😂😅😅😂😂😅😂😮😮😅😂😅😮😢😅😂😮😂😅😅😅😂😅😂😅😂😂😂😂😊😂😅😂😅😮😅😂😅😂😅😮😢😂🎉😅U047😅🎉😅😮😮😅😂😂😅😅😅😂😅😮😮😅😂😅😂😮😮😂😮🎉😮😂😢😮😂😮😅😅😮😂😅😅😮😅😮🎉😮😅😮😅😅😂
Post fight Angelo Dundee said Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali was the Best thing that happened to Boxing and boy was he Honest.
RIP Muhammad Ali 🙏
RIP Sonny Liston 🙏
This is the best version that I have seen with the walk into the ring for Liston and the referee instructions. I never get tired of this fight I was so young then. He loved Ray Robinson whom he patterned his footwork from. A heavyweight fighting like a middleweight was incredible!
Joe Louis the Great Brown Bomber was Uncle Tomming like hell, switching back and forth, trying to justify Sonny wearing that arse whooping. My cousin Shug, she was crazy about Clay, thought he was so pretty. I remember her bragging about Clay when I was a kid.
@@aarondigby9859 7yu b
@@aarondigby9859 i only have one question though. How in the world was joe luis uncle tomming when both fighters are black. Man im blown away from the people who always play victim to some kind of fake racism.
un match truqué et racist
@@optimumpcyt That both fighters were black is NOT the point. The Brown Bomber was pandering to the audience. 95% of White America despised Cassius Clay (as did a lot of black people, at that time). He was the EXTREME uppity n*****. White people, black people, nobody had seen ANYTHING like him (outside of pro wrestling . . . where Ali would say he got his schtick).
Liston was an unfortunate thug and ex-con, who White America would normally hate, but because Ali was who he was, they wanted Liston to beat the living shit out of him. Floyd Patterson, like Joe Louis, was seen as a good Negro . . . a worthy champion, a credit to his race. In this fight, Liston was the lesser of two evils.
I was a little kid at the time and even I could see this, it was so obvious. I was at my Little League game when news of Clay's victory spread around the field. All the white male adults (there were no black people in my town) were beside themselves with disbelief, anger and outrage. It was all they could talk about . . . the fight HAD to be fixed. The world was upside down.
It was a different time, then. Racism clearly hasn't gone away, but it's kept a little more buttoned up and hidden today . . . more under the surface. Back then, people wore their racism on their sleeves. I didn't live in the Deep South, I lived in Central California . . . in what was becoming Silicon Valley. Like I said, I was a clueless little kid playing baseball, and I was amazed at the reaction . . . so much so, it remains a vivid childhood memory.
Amazing…ahead of his time…the degree of difficulty in his masterful movement in the squared circle…the speed unseen… butterfly bee…the brass showmanship very hype….”I shook up the world “…”I’m a bad man”…and that was just a glimpse of how truly great …R.I.P. long live the gre……
He said "I'm pretty" you ain't that pretty "I'm a BAD MAN" DUDE AINT COMMENT ON THAT ONE! LOL
Why would 8 people dislike this? I was 13 and listening to this fight on the radio that night 50 years ago today. Just hoped Ali wouldn't get killed by Liston. Never actually saw film of the fight til 25 years later, and then here. This was Ali's best fight ever. He was 22, lightning fast hands and feet, and even quicker reflexes. He was never better. People say the Cleveland Williams fight was Ali at his peak, but I disagree. He was The Greatest, and his greatest night was Feb. 25, 1964. We admired him for his boxing, but we LOVED him for his courage to speak up. In 1964 that was no easy thing to do for any black man, but he did it. In 1967 at least half the country hated him. Today nearly the entire world loves him. God Bless Ali!
they are jealous, thats why
nice comment
I wouldn't say this waz his greatest fight but definitely 1 of'em. He was young and not fully experienced yet here. He actually got better after this fight if u watch the 2nd liston fight. He comes out charging at liston. Ali also got tired in the 3rd round after that flurry he threw so I can tell he was still working on his wind. The Williams fight however, Ali is dancing and throwing a 100 combinationz. More experienced now and confident on how to fight big puncherz. Long live Ali
buckfan1969 I am agreed sir and this man dominate on my heart
buckfan1969 CONSIDERING THE WORLD THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO LOSE, I WOULD SAY THAT THIS AND HIS FIGHT AGAINST FOREMAN IN ZAIRE WERE BOTH AWESOME. HE WAS A HUGE UNDERDOG IN BOTH FIGHTS...HE ALSO WAS VERY BRAVE IN SPEAKING HIS MIND...I ALWAYS ADMIRED HIM FOR DOING THAT.
Damn.
Marciano,Ray Robinson,Joe Louis and Ali in the same arena...
Two-Face,......Liston could have beaten all their asses. This fight was fixed. Watch Liston destroy a young Cleveland Williams if you want to see how the stud could fight. Knocked him out in the 3rd round, then ko'd him in the 2nd round in the rematch. Then liston pounded Floyd Patterson and took his belt in one round. He did it again in one round in the rematch. You're seeing liston acting here, not actually fighting. Watch the real liston and then you'll see. He could have snapped Ali like a twig in one round, but the mob paid him to flop,..in both fights. Sonny Liston was the baddest dude to ever step foot in a ring. Some guys openly stated they wouldn't fight Liston. Liston was so mean that he scared the hell out of fear.
You are in a delusion. No one doubts Liston could fight. He was just up against a buzzsaw of speed and defense he hadn't seen before.
nobody ever seen before
@@MrMarco855 Liston was also 40 years old or older for this fight! He lied about his age when he first start fighting because he started so late. His face and the fat behind his neck is not of a 32 year old.
@@joedoe5231That's what a lot of people say but it's bullshit. I've heard estimates from his upper 30's to in his 50's, which shows it's all guesswork. Claiming Liston was old is one of many myths people invented after the fight. They felt the need to explain how Liston could have lost, because he was considered unbeatable and most other fighters were scared shitless of him. He absolutely mauled Floyd Patterson twice, and he beat the hell out of Cleveland Williams twice, all 4 of those wins took him a total of 7 rounds. Cleveland Williams was a stud in his prime at the time, considered the hardest puncher in the game. He bloodied Liston's nose in the 1st round of the first fight. Liston walked through his bombs and beat him down like a child,...….twice.
Liston's mother was asked about Sonny's age by a reporter, she said he was born in January, 1932. Later another reporter asked her, this time she said May of 1932. Because of this discrepancy, sportswriter's began to say his age was unknown. He was very big as a kid, when he was 18 he looked 30. He's one of those guys that never looked young. The fact is, his mother and his wife maintained that he was born in May, 1932 throughout his life. His mother either made a mistake or the reporter got it wrong in the first interview, but nobody ever said anything other then the year was 1932. He was 31 in the 1st fight with Ali and 32 for the 2nd fight. He was in his prime and he continued kicking asses for 7 more years and 16 more fights.
Ali fans will never accept that both fights were fixed, but they were. I researched and found evidence to back it up, but any real fan that knows what their watching should see the fix. Liston never landed a decent shot to the head in the fight, he held punches when he had wide open shots, he intentionally missed with his jab , he threw ridiculous punches to avoid hurting Ali, he purposely trailed Ali just out of reach. Just ask,.....I'll show you where he stopped his own punch when Ali was stationary, against the ropes and trapped. He did that twice in one round. Liston had Ali in a corner in another example, Ali had nowhere to go and he wasn't trying to move out of the corner. Liston could have undressed Ali right then, but instead, he stepped back and to the side, letting Ali walk past him out of that corner. Is that how 2 top level heavyweights fight?
The claim of Ali's speed is ridiculous. What happened to his speed when Henry Cooper beat his ass all night, knocking him down in the 4th round? I know, Ali was clowning around too much. Another bogus excuse. He fought his best except for one minute when he saw that Cooper was bleeding in the 3rd round. Other then that Cooper nailed him10 times roughly with a left hook. Cooper won the first 4 rounds, only losing after he was badly cut and couldn't see. What happened to Ali's speed when he fought Doug Jones? Jones nearly flattened him in the first round. Ali won a close decision but Jones had no trouble landing hard shots with both hands all night.
These were the 2 fights leading to the Liston fight. Ali's speed was not an issue for his opponents, 2 guys far below Liston's level. Liston wasn't slow like you think. He was always in the best shape, at 31 he was in his prime and he was faster then Cooper and Jones possibly as well. How did Ali's speed neutralize Liston completely when the previous 2 guys had no trouble at all? Nobody wants to use common sense, and look at the fight honestly. Ali couldn't see for an entire round, he said he saw only faint shadows. Liston had to lag far behind in that round, throw body punches that he held back, throw soft punches to his head and never landed a hard shot,..... save for one hook that he froze and held right after it landed. Otherwise, what did speed have to do with a round where Ali was unable to see? Maybe Ali was so fast he could avoid a ferocious champion even without seeing him, or maybe Ali fans don't want to face the truth, it's either one or the other.
His reflexes and speed makes absolutely no sense for a heavyweight fighter to possess. What a gifted athlete.
+Mike Ruggieri He had minimal defence. His defence was his amazing anticipation, head movement, reflexes and gauging just the right distance to fire punches from whilst hot getting hit. He makes it look oh so easy.
Glenn Wheatcroft I call that great defence hit n not get hit is key to victory
@Thorsten Hessler Exactly. So why make 'defense' an issue?
He combined that with a ring intelligence equal to Nikola Tesla!
@@arminius301 what a hell of a comparison,but Muhammad Ali,is an intelligent prognosis to compare with.
Ali ... He DID float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. No man has ever, and will ever have the speed, the skills, the greatness of Muhammad Ali.
I beg to differ. Mike Tyson was quicker. To bad we couldn't ever see a fight between Ali & Tyson! That would be one hot ticket!
Isaw a video once of Ali training on a speed bag. He hit the bag 120times in 1 minute. I remember Marvin Hagler once tried the same thing. He was credited with 78 in one minute
Until he met Joe Frazier and got battered up and down the ring for 12 rounds
@@richardjamesss438 Frazier got battered too.
@@richardjamesss438 Whatever. Tyson lost to Buster Douglas and struggled against Tony Tucker and Bonecrusher Smith when he was in his prime. Frazier would get whooped against the prime Ali from 1964 to 1967 version.
Ali’s stamina which often seems to be overlooked, is ludicrous
Something he lacked along with his legs during the second half of his career, post-exile. 1960's Muhammad Ali was otherworldly
@@ARG0T Too many women in his life. Some wrong'uns too. Sonny was one of the best ever Boxers too though - Rematch was hopelessly fixed.
SEE EXACTLY THIS MAN SAID IT NOBODY TALKS ABOUT HIS UNBELIEVABLE UNHUMAN LIKE STAMINA!!!
One would think that but Ali took more napes on the rope then fought in the match. LOL.
Except he clearly seems to run out of gas just when he is rallying in Round 3.
Ali is the greatest, period.
The announcer referred to him as that kid a few times during the fight. Some people back then didn't like Ali, Cassius Clay, but the more they watched him fight, if they liked his style or not, I think most knew he was, and still is, the greatest ever boxer.
Not the greatest but very great
@@fatalsniper3413 The Greatest
@@fatalsniper3413 Greastest, NO DOUBT.
There was a deep hatred for Ali - because he was outspoken - initially about how much better he was and then his espousal of Islam and his refusal to join the armed forces. He lost four of his best years because the American state had its revenge on him. Liston was reckoned to be unbeatable, but he came up against a man whose punching speed and movement negated Liston's power. The continuous left jabs opened up his face. Clinical and masterful.
Sugar Ray Robinson is the GOAT p4p fighter ever even Ali himself said it@@diegoandresterzaga4380
It cracks me up when I see "Rapper's" call themselves "Gangster" or "OG" today. Sonny Liston wasn't only a hell of a Champion that never really got his due, but he was a "OG" for real. Read his autobiography. Straight up badass!
He was Mental
Sonny could barely sign his name. He was illiterate. No way he could write an autobiography!
SONNY WAS A GREAT FIGHTER,ALI WAS REALLY SCARED BUT HE SAID WHAT COULD I DO I WAS ALREADY IN THE RING,AND HE ALREADY WENT OFF TALKING....LOL! GOTA LOVE THEM BOTH TRUE CHAMPIONS
Funny thing is there was a real OG in boxing named Mitch Green. He was even the leader of the bloods at one point and he doesn't even compare to Liston. In the boxing world Liston was more feared then the leader of the bloods.
@@billfred9411 Mike Tyson beat the street cred out of Mitch Green in the ring and on the street!
15 rounds no ac, just pure strength and skill, boxers in this era was the real deal
In the third round Sonny started fighting wild as hell, Clay done tracked his head movements and cracked his skull, reflexes too fast, hand speed is exceptional, masterful footwork.
that third round is indeed a thing of beauty. i've seen it 10 times and still enjoy it.
Liston made sure to land no punches the entire fight. It was fixed, he pretended to go hard but he landed nothing, as was written into the script.
Fixed, just like the Foreman fight, but that is entertainment… all about the money
@@williambracken9505 Bullshit
@@MrMarco855total nonsense. Liston tried like hell to KO a blind Clay in the 5th. He just got his arse whipped. Didn’t train and paid the price.
I love Ali's respectful bow to the one and only Sugar Ray Robinson before the fight begins. I always thought the broadcaster missed an opportunity to point that out as he narrated.
Everybody knew he fashkoned himself after "Mr Walker".....pound-for-pound!
The best ever do it. SRR
In Europe it was about 3am when his fights were broadcast live on TV. Since we didn't have a TV receiver, when I was 12 or 13, I was allowed to go to my grandparents' house early in the morning to watch. Grandfather and grandmother, both well over 70 at the time, were enthusiastic about Ali. They didn't miss a fight. No wonder I was excited too. There will never be another like him: light-footed, aesthetic, athletic and hard-hitting. This wasn't boxing, this was boxing art.
I used to watch pay per view fights for free while in Spain and France. The only catch was that they were around 4 or 5 in the morning.
Best video I’ve ever seen on the Ali vs Liston fight and I’ve seen them all. For 1964 it’s amazing at the quality unbelievable!!
Ali there has never been a heavyweight fighter who moved like this with stamina and grace combined with attitude. Ali also never ducked a fight fought all the monsters he also had a brass chin lol. Format broke Norton and Frazier in half torn the life out their body and head but Ali took all his punches full force and still beat Forman. Wow
Foremat didn't land a punch except for on the arms and gloves.
Most of Ali's Fights we heard on the Radio...and you hung on every word...later the Wide World of Sports...Howard Cosell...would replay the fight ...days later... on ABC TV...The People's Champ...We will always love you...
My missus is in Louisville right now. Visited ALI's grave -- so emotional. Yes had had issues because of Farrakhan. But no one I have heard of stood up for what he believed in like Ali. RIP Champ. The Greatest.
Very few people notice Bundini... every great athlete needs a Bundini... love the man...
You don't see him, but you can hear him.
When I was in 9th grade in 1966, I - a white kid - went to the 80% black highschool in Hartford,Ct. - Weaver High. Ali, passing through Hartford on his way to Boston stopped in and ran to every room in the three story building - some fifty rooms - and said hello to every person there. That was at the time when black riots were first breaking out in major cities.
Incredible
I also met him at the corner candy store in the 60s greeting kids, got his autograph Muhammed Ali.
Are you still alive
Ask your moms
@@PROSPER40 I think so . . .
The best part is, although nobody in the business believed him at the time, he did turn out to be the greatest. It was a privilege to watch him fight.
Greatest eating punches with his head turned into pulp his only elite win was forman whom beat him so bad that he never gave a rematch ! Norton forman shavers one eyed diabetic fraizer all smashed him to bits he is a trend with pillow hands a d a great chin nothing more
That’s wonderful
Biggest regret of my life was i think i was the biggest Ali fan imo and in '79 i think it was he came to Lake Charles, La bc his wife at the time Veronica Porche had relatives here I actually knew that family and got word he was over there.I lefft church to pass by and check it out and there was a traffic jam !!!! I didn't go up to the house but almost parked and walked up !!!!!I To this day i regret not going !!!!! I knew the son who lived there and yrs later i told him about how i passed and didn't stop and the greatest answer was he told me.......U should have bc every one else in LC surely did !!!!!!
E cosa ha concluso?Non ci crede nemmeno lui.E stata una combine.
@@simonemusmeci2048Tell it to George Foreman, Joe Frazier and all the others he beat. He was the greatest.
This fight more than any other fight shows the greatness of Ali. To psyc yourself to fight a criminal power puncher, intimidation styled like liston is takes unbelievable balls
Ali was far more criminal than Liston. Read something, learn the truth. Bullshit and Ali are both overrated.
Cus D’Amato claimed Ali as a “boxing wizard”.
@@MrMarco855 🤡🤣😂🤣. He’s the greatest. 🍼
Sonny Liston had absolutely nothing to win.
winning or loosing he would still the "villain" everybody hates.
M Ali, had everything to win.
if he wins, he becomes the HERO who defeat the villain. Everybody were on his side.
Take that into consideration.
Just going against a prime Foreman when you are past yours, is by itself, the very definition of Balls.
Sonny block almost every punch with his face. 😮
32:45 That "king of the world" speech never gets old. Such an unbridled, genuine, joyful, and savage reaction by a 22-yr old black man in 1964. I can't even describe the emotions that it makes me feel. It's beyond pride. It's a turning point. It feels so liberating it actually makes me focused, if that makes any sense. And i wasn't even born til 1970; the impact it had on my dad and uncles and their generation...was 10 times more revolutionary.
R.I.P. People's Champ 🐐
The Greatest🐐🐐🦋🥊🐝
L0
even though he had george foreman and sonny listen doped
young Ali is like watching the Matrix. head movement is unreal.
Excellent explanation! Thank you so much!
Merci for this.
This Fight was the start of an Era.
Wow.. so powerful
@@khaledelfeky6328 I consider it one of those moments where everything changed. Like there was something new and startling and that this was the future. From here on in, it is the new standard.
of nothing racism and trucked
The World stopped and mourned for Ali before this fight.
The World stopped and mourned for Ali V Foreman.
11:05 that left hook from Liston would’ve dropped anybody else. What a phenomenal chin
One of my favorite fights of all time 💣
And began the legend. May he rest in peace.
Not sure, but this was his last fight under the Cassius Clay Name.
Ali bowing to Sugar Ray Robinson, twice, was pure respect.
He knew who deserved his respect!...Their styles were similar.
Ali's favorite fighter growing up.
The day he officially entered the ranks of 'The Greatest'.
2022 and I’m here watching the great Muhammad Ali RIP legend الله يرحمه
yes he was the best god bless you allah
امين
@@Space_studystyle Rocky Marciano was the greatest of all time.
Jesus is the way, the truth, the life.
Ameen
I just rewound this enough to say I love the way he taunted not only Who he was fighting, but the Crowd Also
This is where Floyd gets it from
@@sherrillraymond7595 Both of them real decent men right?
@@MrMarco855 yeah they seem to be
I mean if you consider Trump decent then they angels
"I was gonna take him in 8 as you can see. But the man stopped it just to keep me from looking so great!"
Not a huge fan of Boxing,---but I love that line. :)
Thank you!
This is an example of GREATNESS....
It's amazing how the announcers saw Ali's style as a detriment to his winning. "Liston will hit him hard in the body if he can just get this kid to stand still." Do you people understand that if you aren't being hit, you aren't losing the fight? Not to mention how off balance it makes Liston to keep swinging so hard at nothing. I guess change is often hard to accept at first.
So is a fixed fight.
What people don't realize is that at the time of this fight Liston was over 40 years old.
What a historic moment in boxing history..... When he said " I shook up the world". He really did. The man put his talent on the line.... there has never been an equal to Ali. He knew exactly who he was and what he was doing in time and place.
He is the Greatest boxer ever.... hands down.....RIP
A fixed fight can't shake up a bowl of jello. Ali was 21, constantly boasted loudly that he was the greatest before he was even a full grown man. He wasn't even the # 1 contender while shouting how great he was. How easily take in are some? His every move was mesmerizing to his followers, but his 'greatness' was a product of his own boasting, not based on his boxing skills. If Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey weren't the greatest at 21or 22, then neither was any other fighter, including Ali. Ali wasn't the best during his prime, let alone the best ever.
Far more superior than Liston who found out here. A badly beaten, humiliated and exhausted Liston retired on his stool. Both great champions and legends.
@@theshepardthewolfandtheshe5304 You're kidding, you don't know this was a fixed fight?
@@MrMarco855. Am not kidding no. I also heard they Liston was hiding osama bin laden in his gloves and trained by weapons of mass destruction. I believe it yea but Liston couldn’t not continue the fight. Liston quit the fight in eight to make Albert pike look so great. !!! Hi there! Hello!!
“Champion of the world”
" I was planning for 8 but the man stopped it to keep me from lookin so great" BEST LINE
I was 12 years old sitting on old linoleum floor watching on black and white TV.
Little did I know I was watching the beginning of anew era..in 74 I made my first of 8 bouts. Ali was still in the ring making history..one of the greatest of all time..liston was a tank...all respect.
Man, that ring walked by Liston was so gangsta. Greatest ring walk in the history of boxing. Look how he walks through the crowd and everyone in the arena is standing up staring at him. Sonny wrapped up in that terry robe just adds to the mysterious badass mystic around him.
Sonny was just a big bad bag man for the mob! Low life limited thug, wearing suits and diamonds and gaudy watches as he realized the end of that ride!
By m, mMO
@jamesa .hamilton29 Liston was the best heavyweight that ever lived. He was the most misunderstood champion ever as well. Read about him before slandering his name.
1@@jamesa.hamilton269
I was the sound engineer for a well known rock band on tour in 1975. We were staying at the St. Moritz in NYC. We entered the lobby at the same time as Ali, and I said "Hey Champ!" He looked over at us long haired white boys and with a smile, walked over and shook hands with all of us. (huge hands) We chatted for a good 10 minutes before his people pulled him away. Cordial, humble, and funny as hell. I'm sure he didn't know who we were but it didn't matter. Wonderful memory! My hero!
Clay(Ali) shook up the world the piston that got to Liston and became the greatest Heavyweight of all times (rip) champ put it in😊💪💪👍💯
Ali's body control was unreal. He was Fred Astaire. You can watch the boxers at all the weights and no one moves like Ali did then.
💯 ...and he was still so undeveloped here, compared to the dancing master that he would become a couple years later. Liston actually hit him a few times. Later, he'd have a string of fights where he went virtually untouched. As far as movement, the only other boxer that's even in the conversation is the Sugar.
You are so sick and stupid 🙄
Literally all he's doing is running from his opponents, lol.
@@greysonG10 😂🤣💀
Excellent insight, thank you. Next time i'm in a fight, i'll remember that all i need to do is run from my opponent, and his eyes will magically start to bleed and swell up bigger and bigger until they're completely shut.
@@Nkosinati Stop being a smartass man, he spends the majority of his fights just backpedaling and avoiding a brawl. Of course the tactic works, and isn't illegal or something, but he wasn't a dog. I have more respect for a guy who just butted heads and boxed, like a Marvin Hagler or something. It's wack watching dudes just run around the ring and then throw occasional flurries of punches and then start running again. Smh, shows fear imo.
I think this was Ali’s greatest fight. He was at his absolute peak. Liston was by far the best fighter he fought in the 60s.
You must not be a good fan of Ali, this was fixed, that's why he looked so good. He was fighting the air, and the score was tied 3-3 when it ended.
@@MrMarco855 Fixed? Liston juiced his gloves to blind Clay in the fifth round! Does that sound like it was fixed? Liston had a bad shoulder even before the fight. He hadn’t trained hard. And he was beaten badly. Clay was way ahead when Liston quit.
This is many peoples favorite boxing match and one of Ali’s many greatest fights. A badly beaten, humiliated and exhausted Liston retired on his stool.
Maybe the best fighter he fought ever.
Ali's greatest fight was against Foreman, where he showed his superior Boxing IQ and handled all of Foreman's best punches, and he managed to get Foreman completely gassed out, rigor mortis to the 10th degree, before he landed over 17 punches in a row in roughly 4 seconds, and Foreman hit the canvas like a hundred pound bag of sh*t & was unable to get back on his feet in 10 seconds. Rumble in the Jungle....
I always thought that this was Ali's best fight.
Growing up I knew Ali was "the greatest" and all that, but I really just recently started reading about him and understanding the 60's........what an incredible human being.
Yes, Ali was an incredible man who transcended boxing. There may have been a (very) few, "better" boxers throughout history, (Sugar Ray Robinson for example) but Ali will always be the "greatest". There's a difference between best & greatest. It can't really be explained. People either understand it, or they don't. Like for example, SRV. (Stevie Ray Vaughn). He was probably a better & more, technically proficitent guitar player then Jimi Hendrix, but Hendrix is the "greatest". Ali was one of those rare boxers who could turn the "Sweet Science" of boxing, into an art form. Watching Ali box was like watching Picasso, Van Gogh, Dali, etc, paint, or Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, etc, play. Boxing, or any sport for that matter, will never have another Ali.
gjc82071
Sugar Ray Robinson predicted Clay/Ali would knock Liston out. He came close on that prediction.
Joe Louis, said that Clay/Ali would loose. In fact, Joe Louis always picked him to loose his fights.
Clay/Ali was an important sports hero. He was way beyond boxing. He said the "I'm the greatest" was intentional, and to send the message that a black person is now saying "I'm the greatest"! it was more about having a black person speak highly of himself in front of millions rather than being humbled . SO he ditched his name, which went back to slavery, and went with a name that to him was free. One thing that was stunning, was just how many times Ali was right when predicting his fights. Unbelievable. He would fight guys like Cooper and goof off, and then turn it on in the round he picked. Anyone else with such a distracted way of fighting would be finished.
Ali is like The Beatles. Every generation has to discover him for themselves.
He was truthfully an awful human being.
damn i wonder what it was like watching this live. Ive watched many times, but I always know how it ends.
Only 22yrs old... this guy was made for today's social media. He was way ahead of his time.
YES; way ahead of his time...
He is the winner and he deserved respect
One of very few sportsmen who transcended their sport. For me not just a remarkable boxer one of the greatest men of the twentieth century
Yes
Those introductions ! All those famous boxers , all legendary .From Joe Louis and Rocky
Marciano to Sugar Ray Robinson .First time I ever saw these guys in the flesh . Very impressive moment .
Cassius Clay was the fastest and most spectacular heavyweight boxer this planet has ever seen!!
A punching bag with a great chin media hype job nothing more
Yeah, you sound like a back in the day right wing reactionary afraid of the yruth and how they took y'all for million$ in green!
Well there was that 10 YEAR age difference..
@@jimwolf264 And when he was robbed of 3+ years in his prime when I met him at Syracuse University in 1973 by an embarrassed fed govt he overcame! Liston a mob bag man in Vegas, thug.🥴
@@jimwolf264 according to Sonny Listons older sister Liston was born in 1919 so this makes him around 45 in this fight Ali being 22 here so 23 years age difference
He had my respect since he stood up against injustice. I saw this fight on black and white TV near Washington, DC.
he accepted awards from mass murdering American presidents, so had a very narrow and naive view of justice.
jdpymetube Yeah, Ali was one of a kind...wish I was more like him...what an impressive man...he made all races aspire to greater heights...turned his back on Malcolm which pained him in later life. I am a whitebread who admires them both...
Watching this fight is just as exciting now to watch as it would be back then. I’m a big fan of Ali and he was awesome to watch fight. He was born to fight his skills as a boxer were awesome to watch.
That left from Clay is like a trip hammer, I don't think any heavyweight will ever out perform his agility and ability to dogde punches, he'll always be one of the greatest.
Ya know what happened to Terell when he didn't call Ali by his name. I think it's quite disrespectful to call a man by a name he denounced and he made it clear in no uncertain terms that he no longer wants to be addressed as such. Ernie Terell was literally beaten into submission for that. Now the man is no longer here to defend himself yet you still find one guy in the comment section who still doesn't respect him enough to call him by his name.
WHAT'S HIS NAME MAN?
@@KibatheMalinois
👍💞محمد علي 💞👍
إسمه محمد علي رحمه الله والجنة مأواه
@@KibatheMalinois bro he was Clay here. And you have to call him Clay sometimes to differentiate his career. He was at his best as Clay. And some people separate his career that way. Nothing wrong with that. And again he was Clay here anyway. Stop taking things so seriously.
@@el34glo59 oh yes, you are definitely correct, people remember the name Cassius Clay, nobody remembers the name Muhammad Ali. Did you take your reality pills this morning?
Interesting. You can't say Liston fought poorly. He was clearly a highly skilled fighter. But he plods. Ali, on the other hand, almost dances - his movement and reflexes are absolutely astounding.
Sonny had an 84" reach and power in either hand. He didn't have to dance. A few years later, he gave Chuck Wepner such a beating that Chuck needed 54 stitches in his face.
Liston didn't train at all for this fight because he didn't take Clay/Ali seriously. Plus, in the preceding year he had two one-round title fights against Patterson. Out of shape and not much actual ring time. Rumor had it that at that time Liston was probably 40 years old. Even Clay/Ali commented on it. A formidable fighter, but past his prime of the late 1950s. Patterson was never really a heavyweight but more of a light-heavy - too small to be fighting Liston or Clay/Ali. If Marciano had attempted a comeback, he would have cleaned Pattersons clock. Not only Rocky, but also Cleveland Williams could have beaten Patterson.
Listen fought very poorly.
Rigged. You can tell Liston was holding back the entire fight. Shame. But Ali was the greatest regardless. But those old heads went easy on him.
@@gerrys4822 He said he was the greatest then I suppose he must of been talking about predictive programming .
Like all of Ali's opponents, they couldn't avoid Ali's left hand jab. They knew it was coming but still couldn't get out of its way. When Liston couldn't do anything about it, he got cut and bruised. A poor trade off for useless body shots then to get hammered with lefts and rights from Ali.
Sure Liston landed a few head shots but Ali always seems to be going backwards when hit which lessens the blows.
Ali age 22 in perfect health and skills beyond compare was on top of the world.
You should hear the British announcers call this fight, one of his Holiday marathons I used to watch on cable around 2001, they the British broadcaster does a great job.
Ali shot his jab from the hip it leaves you open but Ali jab had enough pepper to leave you in your tracks and gives him enough time to either get out of range or follow up
The fight was fixed. Liston would have knocked him out in 2 rounds otherwise.
@@MrMarco855 complete BS.
@@vgr112261 It hurts your feelings but it's the truth just the same. Too much emotional attachment for you to see what's obvious. Ali wasn't even a fully developed man but Liston was a man's man. Ali wouldn't have entered the ring against Liston if it wasn't fixed. His team feared Eddie Machen, wouldn't put Ali in against Machen this early in his career, yet they had no fear of Liston? It's a nice fantasy for Ali fans like it was for me in my youth. It's easy to deceive a kid but almost impossible after you've seen the bullshit many times over.
Sublime footwork and reflexes
ali racist and matched trucked
@@guillaumefrenkel6993cry me a river.
Round 1 may have be one of the most beautiful rounds of boxing I've ever seen.
The speed, agility & skill was amazing from this young heavy weight.
@@paulsanpala3557 Cassius Clay was very hard to hit at this stage in his young career.
@@aarondigby9859 Muhammad Ali*
If you like pretend fighting.
Precursor to Hearns Hagler
Defining moment for Ali...... The genesis of his greatness.... R.I.P
DUH
Fixed fight didn't define any fighter.
@@MrMarco855 can u back that up?
@@cliffworks748 Yes.
@@MrMarco855 This fight wasn't fixed, the 2nd fight was though
In my opinion, the biggest upset in boxing history, even more so than Tyson vs. Douglas. Tyson was feared, but not nearly as Liston. Liston was a genetic freak, with cannonball fists and an 84 inch reach on a 6 foot 1 frame! Just look at the man; shorter than Ali and yet looked twice his size. He truly embodied his nickname, "The Big Bear." No one wanted to fight him, not even Floyd until JFK pressured him.
Nothing but respect to Ali, he truly earned the right to be called The Greatest. But Liston will always be my favorite, the most misunderstood man in boxing history, an enigma, the giant who could have been The Greatest instead had life not dealt him a bad hand.
Even the great musician Sam Cooke was present and Ali did a great thing to bring him up into the ring and introduce him. That's game recognizing game right there...
ali was raciszt and nothing
Sam Cooke was a fine talent, and it was a shame that he got gunned down...even though it appears to have been his fault.
@@guillaumefrenkel6993 I bet he was considering the environment he found himself in
@@curbozerboomer1773 sam cooke fight rocky marciano
ah ah ah
I remember listening to this on the radio as a little kid with my Dad. He was so upset when Liston failed to answer the bell in the 7th round! But then he grew up with some of the great heavyweights including Demsey, Tunney and Joe Louis. And Cassius Clay was a brash upstart! Little did my Dad and the rest of the world know Ali would become 'The Greatest!"
Little did your dad and my dad know this fight was fixed.
@@MrMarco855 If you're gonna pull things out your ass than atleast do it properly
c est la honte deel histoire de la boxe
match truqué
un rniga&rd contre un racist
@@MrMarco855 Did you watch it? If it wasn't fixed, and Liston kept getting up for another round, Clay would have KO'd him or outpointed him by ten miles. Maybe Liston just gave up, thinking " What's the use? I can't touch this guy."
@@MrMarco855 How do you know this. You don't. You just hate Ali so much you can't give him credit for anything. Liston was one of the all time greats but a bully who couldn't handle when he was losing, very similar to Tyson.
Why did they not show how Ali dealt with the stinging substance in his eye?...what was resolved in his corner, between round 5 and 6?...and the commentator did not refer to that situation in the last round. Very strange!
Corner wash d his eyes with water
Ali was so fast for Heavyweight division
That left jab was incredible
Agility movement and evading were amazing
He is really the Greatest
That's awesome man at his job you gotta love him the greatest
Wow. I have never seen a fighter throw so many punches with so much power and so much confidence...that completely missed his opponent. No wonder Liston's shoulder was thrown out of socket. Anybody who's boxed knows that just one of those kind of misses hurts your arm; Sonny threw about 40-50 of them. Incredible endurance by Liston to last as long as he did; incredible speed and skill by Clay.
R.I.P. two great champions. 🏆🐐💐💐
Ali not clay
@@ahmetmagara8236 Fixed not real.
That Mouth
He didn't take him in the 7 the, Liston threw the towel in.
Liston quits on his stol in the 6 but why? Sports Illustrated writer tex maule wrote that Liston s shoulder was legitimate 8 doctor examined Listons shoulder at St Francis hospital In Miami and agreed that it was badly damaged for liston to continue fighting the torn tendon had bled down into the biceps causing it to numb the arm
The world will never be the same without him!!!!
*ROY JONES JR*
Muhammed Ali! Champion of the world!
@@theshepardthewolfandtheshe5304 NOPE! Extremist at best!
Affirmative! Champion of the world extreme! Muhammed Ali - the greatest of all times! GOAT!!
@@theshepardthewolfandtheshe5304 THE GOAT IN AND OUT OF THE RING.
Sonny Liston being hit by every punch in the book
Ali was a very good boxer at his age back then
Yet, he took those punches very well...I do not believe that Ali ever had him in serious trouble, despite that one flurry.
Fighting the heavyweight champion of the world while being blind for a whole round and still winning is absolutely astonishing, Ali’s truly the greatest.
That fifth round when Clay is blinded by the linament on Sonny's glove and the way Clay avoids and ingenuously and creatively manipulates Sonny by buying time, pawing Sonny with his glove is totally masterful and puts Ali/Clay in the upper echelon all by himself as the greatest.
What do anyone have to say about the fifth round?
After Clay's eyes cleared up, Clay came out the next round and finished Sonny off.
@@aarondigby5054 amazing
@@aarondigby9859 There was a interview with the ref, Barney Felix said that he was caught by a good combination at 20:39. that dazed him and was trying to shake off the effects in his corner. He checked the other corner , found no evidence of linament.
ALI was a master at taking bullies apart. Liston was used to pulverizing opponents who who stand in front of him and moved like dinosaurs. Ali moved like a middleweight and with his hands and legs being so fast Liston had absolutely no idea what the hell to do. End of story.
Ali fought flat footed half the fight, couldn't see for an entire round, would have been knocked out in a round or two had the great Sonny Liston been really fighting. It was a fix, ask the promoter, who was the brother of Angelo Dundee, Ali's trainer. Liston was controlled by the mob, the mob fixed all the fights in boxing, the FbI made a report and said the fight was fixed. Ali barely beat Cooper, got lucky when Cooper got badly cut, Ali barely beat Jones who nearly decked him in the first round. For those 2 fights just before he fought Liston, I guess Ali lost his speed. Those guys were not in Liston's league, yet they hammered Ali with no problem, Cooper nearly knocked him out. Ali fans are too emotionally involved to admit the truth.
@@MrMarco855 Ali hit him with the left at will. Liston was a bull, but slow as shit on his feet. His left jab was amazing, but bot fast enough. This type of fighter was easy for Ali.
Quicker guys were a problem.
You Say Ali was flat footed here. Count the left jabs he takes. Count them!
Sonny moved the same against Patterson. Same lumbering advance. Same punches. Patterson avoided punches which an odd stance and weaving motion. Ali just kept moving back with either the feet or leaning back with the body.
I think Liston was possibly the hardest puncher in history, but he moved like a Frankenstein with lead in his shoes.
@@Bob-Maplethorpe Ali could have hit Liston while Liston had his hands behind his back and it wouldn't have been as bad as the daily beatings given by his father. Liston had welts thick as a rope from beatings since very young. He feared Ali like Ali was a brave soldier. Liston was a man, Ali a kid. You don't know Liston, only the bullshit that was invented by people searching for reasons to explain how Ali won. They invented a dozen reasons because they knew something was wrong. All of it is shit. Liston believed in hard training as a rule. He was 31, in his prime. He never went out before a fight. He had no fear of Ali no matter how crazy he acted. Liston was called a nxxxxx once by a St. Louis cop driving by Liston's house. Liston removed the cops gun from him, dumped him head first into a garbage can injuring the cops knee. Those that say he feared Ali because of the way Ali acted are full of shit. He unarmed a cop, Ali was but a pimple on Liston's ass. No man stood with Liston, ask George Foreman, you might believe him.
@MrMarco855 Foreman was young when he sparred Liston. 1970s Foreman would have been a different story.
Ali had Liston's eye nearly closed by round 4. Liston's own arm was torn from an injury that was made worse by him missing so badly with his swings.
The Liston who stepped in with Ali in 1964 loses 10 times out of 10 against Ali because he was so slow by comparison. Although nobody knew it then, Ali could take a massive beating and keep on fighting, so Liston wouldn't have rocked him.
You are wrong about Liston's age. He was older than 31 in that fight. Based on his sister's memory, he could have been over 40 in 1964. Had Liston been 30, things would have been different.
Watch Liston's 1950s fights. He was still slow compared to Ali, but he might have beaten Ali at 21 had he been in his prime. If you put prime Liston Against the Ali who fought Big Cat Williams, I still say Ali wins, just because he was far too fast. No heavyweight in history could move like that version Ali. None!
Ali was far superior than Liston.Liston threw his shoulder out from missing and punching at air. Liston just couldn’t keep up. A badly beaten, humiliated and exhausted liston retires on his stool. Ali was just to fast and wore liston out.
There will never be another Ali.
Sonny Liston was old school real MAN.!!! Respect
era demasiado bueno el boxeador vdr todos los tiempos no había otro
When I see him in this fight, I keep reminding myself how much better he would get in the next two years. Here, he's basically a late adolescent: you can still see the child in his face. He took the heavyweight championship while he was stilling filling out.
The Greatest.
Yeah barely 22 here, but the best speed, reflexes and movement I've ever seen for a heavyweight boxer, not sure a prime Tyson would land much on this Ali
@@davebryant8050 Parkinson's disease doesn't usually come from blows to the head, given that it destroys motor coordination but leaves everything else alone.
By refusing to be drafted, he had nothing to gain, and everything to lose. When you can't square your conscience with taking the easy way out (exhibition matches, professional fights at any time of his choosing), and you make the hard choice, most people consider that heroic. Just because you don't like his politics doesn't diminish that.
@@youtoo2233 That's what I been saying
@@davebryant8050 Refusing to be inducted into the armed forces was his finest moment - he was a conscientious objector and the U S Supreme Court ultimately vindicated him. He showed great moral courage and principle. I applauded his refusal to fight for the U S empire in its criminal war of aggression against the people of Vietnam. If he had been inducted, he would’ve led an easy life, fought done exhibition fights to entertain the troops. No way he would have been sent to the front lines. But his religious conscience would not let him do it. He sacrificed his career for his principles. And punks like you call him a “coward”? You’re just plain ignorant!
@@davebryant8050 He had more courage than you'll ever have,
Sometimes you forget how good Ali was then you watch a fight like this. Lightning reflexes comes close to describing his movement
ضصض
the best ever
Check out the smiles in the faces of the crowd. They knew they where witnessing greatness.
They were laughing because they knew they were witnessing a fixed fight.
@@MrMarco855cry about it.ali whopped sonnys ass
When this fight took place I wasn't even born yet.
Ali's speed, movement and reflexes, especially in the first round, HOLY CRAP!! I definitely see this Ali beating any heavyweight in history.
Thank you, Ali was other worldly, it was the racially charged civil rights movement was happening right along with this event. I'll never forget it, I shook up the world. All the middle aged ladies of our community were crazy about Cassius Clay. They all thought he was the cat's meow. It was so interesting observing this when I was a kid.
@@aarondigby9859 yeah people keep talking about a prime Larry Holmes of the late 70's which I admit he looked very good especially in the first fight against Shavers but then I watched this video of the young Ali and Holmes did not move this well, not even close
@@youtoo2233 THANK YOU, they think I made this shyt up. Another fight I love to watch is the Rumble in the Jungle when Ali dismantles George Foreman and Jim Brown and Joe Frazier was sitting at ringside. Ali showed them how great he really was.
@@aarondigby9859 I can't help but wonder what Joe Frazier was thinking, it probably made him want to fight Ali again so bad so he could get that belt back. He already knew Ali took a great punch, and then to see him take Foreman's punches easily really showed him like you said how great Ali was. Ali really made Foreman not look like much competition. Yep he surprised ol Jim Brown too. But I think it's early as the end of the second round Jim Brown was starting to see something, Ali was getting in some tremendous shots on George, there's one particular three punch combination Ali lands at the end of that second round, looked like he was about to take Foreman's head off 😅
I was 12 years old when My brother and I listen to the fight on the radio I knew then this man was special long before his religious beliefs and his politics he was my first sports hero I am now 70yrs old today
I am 56
..."the long left jab of Mr Clay
is making the difference"
classic comment
classic fight
thanks
He was Classic and Greater as a Cassius Clay.
The greatest boxing technician ever, Ali
match trucked stupid guy
@@guillaumefrenkel6993 sounds like your an ex boxer, one fight to many Urrr Uggg!!
That stare from Liston WOW!
And Ali was like: "hold my beer" :D
@@fiucik1 hold my beer, oh yea gimme another shot of that tequila too.
That was the stare of the bear.
@@paulcooper5748 And Ali admitted to being scared by that stare!...liston was a beast, only an Ali could have beaten him...but the 2nd fight, somebody told Liston to lay down, after receiving that short, but very good, punch...Just as well, because he had to realize then, that Ali would beat him all night long!
@@curbozerboomer1773 Yes ali was fast he's style was jab and move but if he stood there trading punches with big sonny it may of been a differant story sonny could hit hard.
Liston has such a long reach--84 inches. Amazing.
THE 1 THAT STARTED THE RISE OF THE GREATEST!
This was truly a changing -of-the-guard moment. The speed and snap of Ali's jabs was amazing. Coupled with his maneuverability, Sonny just never seemed to work it out. Had Sonny Liston been just a couple of years younger, ...
liston tried to cheat with putting stuff in Alis eyes and still couldn't even hurt him
Sonny Liston’s jab was a thing of beauty.
Ali, Liston, Robinson, Marciano, and Louis all within the same 40 ft. I couldn't even imagine.
You can't hit, what you can't catch, and that JAB was coming in too fast for Liston......RIP to both
Weird thing is everyone watching in the crowd is probably dead
There are some kids there...probably in their 60s 😬
Yooo that’s crazy but true
Se iniciaba hacia la gloria el más grande peso completo de todos los tiempos
I fought in that very venue,in that very ring. Fla_caribbean golden gloves 1977-1979
Well done Larry.
I was boxing around that time too.
November 1979 I had 6 fights
RUclips is truly a time machine
It's a strange phenomenom. Ali so quick, with great reach, so smart. Sonny Liston, probably the hardest puncher of all time, with a lighting fast jab. And yet he couldn't reach Ali. The one guy on the planet, maybe in history who Liston couldn't hit squarely. Both fighters so great, it makes you wish they could have flourished separately. Ali could hit, he knocked out plenty of guys. Liston wasn't slow, wasn't plodding, but he had to be used to just destroying guys with his power. He couldn't figure out Ali cause Ali was an original. Sonny lost heart. Ali was too clever and too talented. To me Sonny Liston was just as talented, but in a different way.
Fixed fight.
Kind of makes you think it was a fixed fight don't ya' think?
@@MrMarco855 That's the big question. Still, a fight between the two best fighters on the planet? I don't think that coulda been kept quiet. No evidence. On the other hand Liston was devastated that he couldn't get any love from the press and public after whipping Patterson. Which leads to bitterness, which leads to corruption. Liston's wife said she never saw any money from it. Also, Liston went down in the 2nd fight with Ali the same way essentially as the first. No odds on the 2nd one, no incentive to bet. No fighter is perfect, if Sonny Liston had more heart. Nobody ever knocked down Sonny prior to Ali, his heart hadn't been tested. "Get up man." Ali don't hit that hard. Well, I saw Liston get knocked out again in '69? by a guy much skinnier than him. It was a great shot though. That was his weakness, he lacked will. The will to get up. Ali could hit, just ask George Foreman. Sonny Liston was an enigma, not communicative. His best friend was Joe Louis. Good friends with George Foreman also. Sonny Liston liked fighters that were like him. He only showed respect for one guy in the ring, a guy only slightly less ferocious than him- Cleveland Williams. Sonny took shots in that fight but he persevered. I thinks it cause he thought he was in a real fight that time and acted accordingly. You know I tend to think that real life is complicated, it ain't no "Rocky" movie.
Cleveland Williams was a beast of a fighter. He had the most cut body a human could have. Could of been a Mr. Olympian if he had the vanity. All before steroids. Sonny Liston showed him mad respect after he finally knocked out Mr. Williams. Helped him the fuck up, shouldered Cleveland over to his corner, stood there until he was 100% convinced the man was gonna be okay. Then Sonny Liston shook his hand, gave him a hug, congratulating Cleveland Williams cause he gave Sonny a real whipping before going down. Never happened before. Sonny Liston the mob enforcer hopefully recommends C.W. for a job in Vegas. George Foreman, who actually fought Cleveland Wlliams, said Sonny Liston was the only man who could ever back him up in the ring. And George Forman once charged his pet lion to keep him from killing George's brother. The lion backed the fuck off. George Foreman had an implacable stare in the ring. So did Sonny Liston, with no expression. One of 22 kids. Arkansas. Segregation and sharecropping South... Muhammed Ali had mad courage, masked behind the clowning and promoting. When Sonny Liston pulled the gun out and fired at Ali fleeing from the casino. Muhamned Ali didn't know those were blanks, and he didn't look all that scared. In fact he was laughing. In the ring this guy had no fear of Sonny Liston, or George Foreman. He should have. That's why he won- three times. Mike Tyson and Rocky Marciano were great heavyweight punchers; but Liston, Forman, Louis could knock a guy out with straight jabs. Greatest defensive fighters in history: Floyd Mayweather and Muhammed Ali. When he was young.
L