- For Liston#1 (the above poster is from Liston#2) Ali was still Cassius Clay the challenger to the champion Liston. Clay was a huge underdog. Liston was supposed to be unbeatable. Clay was supposed to be nothing but an overrated big mouth being set up for the professional kill. Instead, Clay totally outclassed Liston. The champion abdicated his title and throne, by refusing to get off of his stool for the 8th round. Which was not great for Clay, because it made some in the audience scream “fix.”
- The next day the world was informed, by Clay himself, that he was a member of the most controversial/hated Negro group in America, the “black Muslims.” And, a mere two weeks later, he compounded that issue by informing the world he had a new name, Muhammad Ali.
- Meanwhile, state and federal investigations had been started after Liston#1. The investigation found Liston was part owner of the company that had promoted the bout (Liston #1) and, that he had paid Clay an extra $50,000 before the bout for exclusive promotional rights to Clay’s (who was now Ali) next bout, win, lose or draw in Liston #1. (Yes, it was convoluted.) More though, that Liston’s partners in the prootional company were the same people he had worked for as a loan shark-gangster-enforcer.
- By the time Liston#2 occurred convoluted only begins to explain the situation
– Cassius Clay, now Muhammad Ali, had been stripped of his championship. The sanctioning body (the World Boxing Association) had deemed the rematch illegal
– Malcolm X had been assassinated and both the black Muslims and Ali were implicated, because of this Ali was put under 24-hour protection by both the police and the “black Muslims”
– the promoters for Liston #2 were unable to get a major city or arena to accept their bout, but they were not going to just give up on the money they invested, so they decided to have the bout in a high school gym in a little town called Lewiston, Maine
– the patrons had to be body searched before they could enter
- After all of this, the bout ended in one round. Not with the knockout that the above poster shows, but with louder shouts of “fix, fix, fix,” because the bout did not end with Liston on his back. (Like the poster shows.) No, Ali was yelling to Liston “get up and fight.” Which means Ali himself didn’t believe he had knocked Liston out. Indeed, the referee allowed Liston to get up and continue the bout…until the Timekeeper and a media person started yelling for the referee to stop the bout because Liston had been given more than 10 seconds to get back on his feet. (See it on YouTube.) “Fix, fix, fix,” shouted the crowd.
- After that bout, or because of that bout, Ali was suddenly drafted. He refused to comply. This led to him being exiled for 3 1/2 years. Upon his return he loss to title challenger Frazier. After that it took another 3 1/2 years, to earn another title shot. This time winning with an eighth round knockout of Foreman.
Now that you understand Ali/Liston #2 is a marketing creation let’s create a new poster. I nominate Ali v Williams November 1966. Look at the angle of the camera. Note the lines created by the angle. Vertical Ali. Horizontal Williams. Now that was a knockout! (See it on Youtube.)
