Clay/Liston 2: May 25th, 1965-Lewiston, Maine-A Tuesday Night

In a few months, the Clay/Liston fight’s 51st anniversary will come up.  From a writing nine months ago on the 50th…….

May 25th, 1965, Lewiston, Maine.  A Tuesday night.

The boxing world took focus on the re-match of the Heavy-weight Championship of the World between the title holder,  the former Cassius Clay, now fighting for the first time as Muhammad Ali, and the challenger, Sonny Liston, whom Clay beat for the title just 15 months prior. From the ending of the first Clay-Liston fight on February 25, 1964, until the two stepped into the ring in Lewiston, chaos and controversy engaged both fighters as boxing game audience was enthralled in a day to day, month to month soap opera that would make a one hell of a mini-series.

Boxing was in a dark era of commotion as many questioned the legitimacy of the fight (1st Clay-Liston) in the Convention Hall in Miami Beach in February 1964.  It was a 6th round TKO win for Clay as Liston didn’t come out of his corner for the 7th round.  Clay had complained at the end of the 4th round to his corner man Angelo Dundee that he couldn’t see, as it was speculated that Clay’s eyes had been affected from some substance on Liston’s gloves in that round. Years later Liston’s trainer confessed that Liston ordered him to “fix” the gloves to blind Clay.

A few days later it was found out that Liston and Clay had a re-match already scheduled and many believed that Liston would make a lot more money if he lost the fight and had the 2nd fight as an ex-champ.  Liston complained he hurt his shoulder and gave some reason that was why the towel was tossed in the ring after round 6.  Some boxing aficionados say he was hurt, many others say Liston was faking it, and gave no credence that he couldn’t have continued.Issue after issue continued to surface.  Was the fight fixed by the Mob?  The fight was examined as high as a US Senate subcommittee, which found no basis of Liston or Clay or their handlers fixing the bout.  Liston/Clay was the first heavyweight   title bout to change hands since 1919  ending with the champ sitting on his stool.  The fight was fodder for the press.  It was a zoo from Liston/Clay to the 2nd Clay/Liston 15 months later.

Two days after becoming the champ Clay announced that he had joined the Nation of Islam and wanted to be recognized as Cassius X.  That didn’t go over with the boxing public.  Many believed that Ali had joined a black hate group toward whites.On March 12, less than a month after “One”, Sonny Liston was arrested on charges of reckless driving, speeding, and carrying a concealed weapon just to mention the nature of the beast.  Ali and Liston were not doing boxing any favors and neither were held in high esteem by the American public, not to even mention the sports fans of the nation now being divided by race, war, and social unrest.  It would be the start of the end of innocence in the United States and within a short few years all hell would burn in cities across the land.

The first date for the 2nd fight was Nov. 16, 1964 in the Garden in Boston.  Liston got into the best shape of his life for that date but three days before they were to step in the ring Ali underwent hernia surgery which pushed the fight back 6 months.  As the new fight date of May 25th approached, Liston was again arrested and speculation of his involvement with organized crime again surfaced.  On May 7th the Boston Garden and the State of Mass. backed out on the fight and Boston was now shelved as the location of Liston/Ali 2.The fight was quickly moved to Lewiston, Maine, a city of 41,000, and the Androscoggin Bank Coliseum (4,900), a junior hockey venue would be the site. It would be the smallest city since a Jack Dempsey heavyweight championship in 1923 to host.  Only 2,434 attended Liston/Clay 2 as the public was disgusted with both fighters, their activities leading up to the contest not pleasing the boxing public.

As for the fight, it would become the most controversial and shortest heavyweight title fights in history.  Needless to say, Ali defended his title with a first round KO.  As for the particulars and such of the historic fight, you can go to the history books and film (below).  This is a good place to let you do the homework if you care about boxing, Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston, the heavyweight division, and May 25th, 1965, 50 years ago this Memorial Day.

(As a 12 year old on the day, my Daddy and I attended the fight at the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Oklahoma City. As we entered the Auditorium, we were running late and just as we ascended the runway into the cavernous auditorium, we heard a shout and almost immediately men started running at us from the top of the runway down toward the exits. The fight was over and my Dad and I missed it.  Damn, we missed it.  The announced crowd for the closed circuit TV broadcast, Clay/Liston was 3500 in OKC.  It was the last event I can recall that I was late for a sports event. I was ruined that day. Never to be late for a sports event.  It still hurts me to this day I didn’t see the one rounder. My Dad and I were Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali fans even if the Daily Oklahoman would not call Ali by his new name. In the advertisement for the fight Ali was still listed as Clay.  The Daily Oklahoman also used the old name.  Interesting.)