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Boxing was in a dark era\u00a0of commotion as many questioned the legitimacy of the fight (1st Clay-Liston)\u00a0in the Convention Hall in Miami Beach in February 1964.\u00a0 It was a 6th round TKO win for Clay as Liston didn\u2019t come out of his corner for the 7th round.\u00a0 Clay had complained at the end of the 4th round to his corner man Angelo Dundee that he couldn\u2019t see, as it was speculated that Clay\u2019s eyes had been affected from some substance on\u00a0Liston\u2019s gloves in that round.\u00a0Years later Liston\u2019s trainer confessed that Liston ordered him to \u201cfix\u201d the gloves to blind Clay.<\/strong><\/p>\n A few days later\u00a0it 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\u00a0had\u00a0the\u00a02nd\u00a0fight as an ex-champ.\u00a0 Liston complained he hurt his shoulder and gave some reason that\u00a0was why the towel was tossed in the ring after round 6.\u00a0 Some boxing aficionados say he was hurt, many others say Liston was faking it, and\u00a0gave no credence that he couldn\u2019t have continued.Issue after issue continued to surface.\u00a0\u00a0Was the fight fixed by the Mob?\u00a0 The\u00a0fight was examined as high as\u00a0a US Senate subcommittee, which found no basis of Liston or Clay or their handlers\u00a0fixing the bout.\u00a0 Liston\/Clay was the first heavyweight\u00a0\u00a0 title bout\u00a0to change hands since 1919 \u00a0ending with the\u00a0champ sitting on his stool.\u00a0 The fight was fodder for the press.\u00a0 It was a zoo from\u00a0Liston\/Clay to the 2nd Clay\/Liston\u00a015 months later.<\/strong><\/p>\n Two days after\u00a0becoming the champ Clay announced that he had joined the Nation of Islam and wanted to be recognized as Cassius X.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t go over with the boxing public.\u00a0 Many believed that Ali had joined a black hate group toward whites.On March 12, less than a month after \u201cOne\u201d, Sonny Liston was arrested on charges of reckless driving, speeding, and\u00a0carrying a concealed weapon just to mention the nature of the beast.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n The first date for the 2nd fight was Nov. 16, 1964 in the Garden in Boston.\u00a0 Liston got into the best shape of his life for that date but\u00a0three days before they were to step in the ring Ali underwent hernia surgery which pushed the fight back 6 months.\u00a0 As the new fight date of May 25th\u00a0approached, Liston was again arrested and speculation of his involvement with organized crime again surfaced.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n As for the fight, it would become the most controversial and shortest heavyweight title fights in history.\u00a0 Needless to say, Ali defended his title with a first round KO.\u00a0 As for the particulars and such of the historic fight, you can go to the history books and film (below).\u00a0 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n (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\u00a0the exits. The fight was over and my Dad and I missed it.\u00a0 Damn, we missed it. \u00a0The announced crowd for the closed circuit TV broadcast, Clay\/Liston\u00a0was 3500\u00a0in OKC.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It still hurts me to this day I didn\u2019t see the one rounder. My Dad and I were Cassius Clay\/Muhammad Ali\u00a0fans 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.\u00a0 The Daily Oklahoman also used the old name.\u00a0 Interesting.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n