Feb. 25, 1964: Liston vs. Clay

[BigBoyBrackey]

Thirty-six years ago tonight, on Feb. 25, 1964, Cassius Clay -- in his last ring appearance before converting to Islam and changing his name -- beat the supposedly invincible Sonny Liston for the undisputed world heavyweight championship.

I watched the fight on youtube earlier, seeing it in its entirety for the first time in years.

The thing that struck me was how completely the soon-to-be Muhammad Ali took Liston apart. Liston was thoroughly flummoxed from the first round on, lunging while throwing off balance punches and, except for a few brief flashes, looking nothing like the guy who had demolished Floyd Patterson for a second time a little more than five months before.

I just finished re-reading the excellent "The Devil and Sonny Liston," by Nick Tosches. It's brilliant in many ways, but its characterization of the first Ali fight isn't one of them. Far from a lackluster bout which ended when Liston stayed on his stool for no apparent reason, Ali performed brilliantly, winning every round, by my count, except the fifth, in which he had trouble seeing after getting liniment in his eyes.

Liston's inability to solve Ali's movement or recover from the most punches he'd taken in a single fight in years, if ever, led the bully to give up. It reminded me of Duran-Leonard II.

Joe Louis, though far from a great announcer, sums it after the first round when he said "Clay completely outclassed Sonny Liston in this round."

I'd forgotten how often, and how hard, Ali hit Sonny. He opens with just jabs, then starts mixing in combinations, nearly dropping Liston at one point in the third. There are long stretches in which Ali can't miss and Liston can't land. Though I haven't seen every Liston fight, from the ones I have seen and what I've read, it's hard to imagine he took as many punches in the previous five years combined as in the six completed rounds in Miami.

It also reminded me of Tyson-Douglas, with Liston's frustration at being unable to finish, or even seriously hurt, a blinded opponent in the fifth serving as the equivalent of Tyson's deflation after Buster got up at the end of the eighth in Tokyo.

Say this for Iron Mike, though -- he didn't quit when he realized he couldn't win. At least not on that night.

ESPN Classic isn't showing the fight this year, as on past anniversaries. I've included the youtube links below, and highly recommend taking a half-hour to watch it, including the pre-fight weigh-in, where Ali's psychological assault begins.

The deification of Ali can get tiresome, especially when pundits and celebrities who don't know all that much about boxing get involved. But the clips below show what made him such a great fighter -- fists, feet and mouth.

The weigh-in: YouTube - Original Muhammad ali vs Sonny Liston weigh-in 1964
The fight, part I: YouTube - Muhammad Ali | Sonny Liston I 1/4
The fight, part II: YouTube - Ali-Liston I (2/4)
The fight, part III: YouTube - Alí-Liston I (3/4)
The fight part IV: YouTube - Al-Liston I (4/4)