May 25th just marked the 60th anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s heavyweight boxing match against Sonny Liston.
It was their second match - the first, when Ali was still known as Cassius Clay, ended with a TKO in the 7th round. It secured Ali the tile, but Liston was favored in the rematch.
And the rematch was not without controversy. Malcom X was recently assassinated, leading to fears on Ali’s life. Security was very tight. And with Ali embracing the Nation of Islam; it was hard to find a location. They ended up fighting in Maine.
The fight itself? You can watch it. It won’t take more than a few minutes (you can jump to about 11:48 on this video, which includes Ali taking to the press after the knockout)
This was a hugely controversial result. Did Ali actually knock out Sonny Liston? Or did Liston take a dive? Was Liston doing it at the behest of mobsters, bookies, or maybe a fear that the Nation of Islam was coming to shoot somebody?
Sure, Liston might’ve taken a dive (the jury’s still out)—but the script wouldn’t have changed. Their first bout already told the story. Ali was faster, fresher, and 7 years younger than Liston. Ali was “The Greatest of All”, after all—just ask him!
If Sonny did take a dive, maybe it was mob pressure, a fat payday, or simple self-preservation: why endure eight rounds of Ali’s poetry-in-motion when you know the ending?
I believe Ali in his prime would have even beaten Tyson in his prime. Ali was a lightening-fast, strong, smart boxer. He’d rope-a-dope slugger Iron Mike until the guy ran out of steam—then float in, sting hard, and close the show.
Dive or no dive, that snapshot of Ali standing over Liston—gloves cocked, eyes blazing—is pure sports mythology. One of the most iconic in sports history.
It was a complicated situation. In the first fight Liston was under instruction not to win. Ali didn’t know that. Those that ran boxing knew Ali was the future and a gold mine for the sport. When Ali got the liniment in his eyes he fought the sixth round without really being able to see. At the end of the round he asked his trainer, Angelo Dundee to cut off his gloves. Dundee knew that the outcome was predetermined. He refused and pushed Ali out of the corner to continue the fight. This was uncharacteristic for Dundee because he was known for looking out for his fighters. At the end of the round Liston feigned the shoulder injury. He was afraid that “the kid was going to quit.”
The second fight was a farce. Lewiston, Maine? Cummon.
Liston was a sad and tragic figure. He grew up under horrible circumstances. He was a fearsome fighter. His toughness was for real but he was controlled by the mob. Further rumor is that he agreed to fix the first fight because he got a cut of Ali’s future fights. He didn’t die of a drug overdose. He hated needles.He was murdered and it was made to look like he overdosed.
Where do I get this? From someone who knew the inside of the boxing business. Take it for what you will.
What’s your supporting evidence for this claim? I know the victory was controversial, but Liston’s shoulder injury appears to have been legit. The claims of Liston’s team trying to blind Ali don’t make any sense if he was trying to throw the fight. The odds never waivered before the fight, usually that’s a sure indication that someone was trying to gain from the fix.
I’ve never bought into the claim that Sonny Liston threw that first fight against Cassius Clay—still going by that name then. By the second bout, of course, he was Muhammad Ali.
Just watch the early rounds: Liston came out aggressive, firing 61 jabs in the first round alone—about three times his usual output. That’s not the work of a man planning to lay down; that’s a seasoned slugger trying to overwhelm a hungry young challenger before his shoulder locked up. After round four, his trainer was begging him in the corner: “You can’t hook—keep pumping the jab and walk him down.” That’s a coach urging a wounded fighter to gut it out, not signaling a staged dive.
Plus, Liston had negotiated an immediate rematch clause—you don’t insist on that if your plan is to dive early. No suspicious betting lines either; the FBI checked and found nothing shady. And, the mob had no interest in dethroning their golden goose/cash-cow. They wanted Liston holding that belt. I believe Clay (Ali) won it fair and square, with speed, strategy, and grit.
Ali sits high in my personal pantheon—top five all-time sports icons who transformed their games for the better. Right there with Jordan, Pelé, Tiger, and the Babe. Each was larger than life, idolized by kids and grownups alike. That’s what sports should be about.
Ali made heavyweight title fights global must-see events. He did it not just with skill, but with charm and a razor-sharp wit—the guy was damn funny. His trash talk was pure showmanship, but no one did it better. Calling yourself “The Greatest” is bold—unless you really are. And Ali was. He was the Secretariat of boxing. Actually, Secretariat vs. Ali? Now that’s a heavyweight bout I’d pay to see.
Liston’s precise age is unknown. He believed he was born in 1932, and others list it at 1930. In any case, you’re right—he was probably more than 7 years older than Ali.
In the first fight, Ali used the same strategy he would later use on George Foreman. That is, Liston is a bully, and the way you set a bully off their game is to tag them first. Unlike Liston’s previous opponents, Ali wasn’t afraid of him, and he just completely undressed him.
The second fight has Charlie Foxtrot all over it. Lewiston, Maine, for a heavyweight championship? Jersey Joe, and later Joe Louis, showed that being a great fighter does not make you a competent referee. Nat Fleischer, who had absolutely no authority in the fight, tells Jersey Joe that Liston’s been down for a 10+ count and needs to be counted out. Isn’t that the timekeeper’s job?
The punch that connected with Liston, taught to Ali by legendary boxing trainer Stepin Fetchit, was a solid punch, but there’s no way it should have put him flat on his back the way it did. In one interview with Cosell, not long after the fight, one of the observers at the fight told him “It wouldn’t have crushed a grape.” Liston might have just been looking for an early out to cash his check. Too bad there’s only that one camera angle.
I answered your first sentence in my last sentence. I knew people that were real insiders in the boxing business. I’m not going to name names but, for example, they worked the corners of championship fights.
Like I said, it was a complicated situation. At the time the mob controlled boxing. That doesn’t mean that all fights were fixed. If you wanted to get the fights that would get you to the championship you had to deal with some very shady characters.
I take nothing away from Ali. He very well may have been the greatest. However, when he fought Liston he had not yet reached his prime. He was scared of Liston which is why he pulled all kinds of shenanigans before the fight to get in Liston’s head. Then, being the champion, he was able to pick his opponents and develop into the true champion that he was.
The liniment was apparently an accident whether it came from Ali’s corner or got on Liston’s gloves. The key is that Ali was going to quit. He asked Dundee to cut off the gloves. A round later Liston quit. His shoulder may have been bad but he could have continued.
The money angle wasn’t a gambling ploy. It was the money that Ali had the potential to generate. He was the Magic Johnson/Larry Bird of boxing. He resurrected the sport. The real money wasn’t in fixing one fight, it was in laying the groundwork for the future. It worked out.
I have the highest regard for Ali. He was special. I feel sorry for Liston. He was owned, used and abused.
I don’t contest your experience, and your unnamed sources may be real, but it’s not very convincing. Lots of people have worked in boxing that disagree with you, and they named their sources.
There’s not much upside to telling your guy the fight is rigged in his favor. Anything he does other than try to win legitimately could screw things up. I think Ali was smart enough not to trust anyone who told him he had the fight in the bag.
The Mob™ has been mentioned several times. Their influence in boxing was waning while at the same time the Nation of Islam was rising. Liston was worried about crossing the Nation. They may have ‘convinced’ him to lose that fight. Liston was constantly afraid of the police, they hounded him everywhere he went and he would have been happy to let Ali become their new target. After the second fight Liston moved to Sweden to fight for Ingemar Johansson who had become a major promoter there. I think that’s a clear sign the powers that were in US boxing weren’t interested in him anymore.
I’m fascinated and was not aware of this story. Yeah, watching the match…it doesn’t look like he was hit hard enough to put him down as much as it did.
Did Ali really yell, “Get up! No one is gonna believe this!”?
From the angle we have, it doesn’t look to me like much more than a glancing blow. But if Liston was going to throw the fight, you might expect him to go down on a more convincing punch. Maybe a different angle would show this one to be a more solid punch.
One point I’ve seen against it being a dive by Liston: He did get up, and he and Ali resumed fighting for a few seconds, before the ref (Jersey Joe Walcott) came over and stopped the fight.
Walcott really should have let them continue, but there was clearly confusion about whether Liston had already been down for 10 seconds. As I understand it, though, the ref shouldn’t start that count until the other boxer (Ali) retuns to his corner. Here, Ali ran around the ring. So Liston never should have been counted out.
