On this day 25 February 1986 (Exactly 33 years ago) Ghana’s Azumah Nelson, widely considered the greatest African boxer of all time, defeated Marcos Villasana of Mexico by majority decision at the Inglewood Forum, Los Angeles, California, USA, retained his WBC World Featherweight title.
On this day 25 February 1989 (Exactly 30 years ago) Azumah Nelson retained the WBC Super Featherweight title with a round 12 TKO victory over Mario Martinez of Mexico.
On this day 25 February 1952 (Exactly 67 years ago) The former Ghanaian boxer, Roy “The Black Flash” Ankrah, who won the Gold Coast flyweight title, Gold Coast bantamweight title, Gold Coast featherweight title, Gold Coast lightweight title, Gold Coast welterweight title, and British Empire super featherweight title, beat Ronnie Clayton of the United Kingdom for the Commonwealth (British Empire) Featherweight title, at the Ice Rink, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, UK.
On this day 25 February 1995 (Exactly 24 years ago) Kofi Jantuah successfuly defended his Ghanaian Super Lightweight title with a victory over Marciano Commey at the Azumah Nelson Sports Complex.
On this day 25 February 1989 (Exactly 30 years ago) Mike Tyson TKOs Frank Bruno in round 5 for WBC, WBA, IBF & the Ring heavyweight boxing titles at the Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas.
On this day 25 February 1964 (Exactly 55 years) Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay] TKOs Sonny Liston in round 7 for his first World Heavyweight Championship title
at Miami Beach, Florida
Background
Liston was the World Heavyweight Champion at the time of the first Liston–Clay fight in Miami Beach on February 25, 1964, having demolished former champion Floyd Patterson by a first-round knockout in September 1962. Ten months later, Liston and Patterson met again with the same result—Patterson was knocked out in the first round.
Liston was the most intimidating fighter of his day, and considered by some, at the time of the Clay fight, to be among the best heavyweights of all time. Many were reluctant to meet him in the ring. Henry Cooper, the British champion, said he would be interested in a title fight if Clay won, but he was not going to get in the ring with Liston. Cooper’s manager, Jim Wicks, said, “We don’t even want to meet Liston walking down the same street.”
Boxing promoter Harold Conrad said, “People talked about [Mike] Tyson before he got beat, but Liston was more ferocious, more indestructible. … When Sonny gave you the evil eye—I don’t care who you were—you shrunk [sic] to two feet tall.” Tex Maule wrote in Sports Illustrated: “Liston’s arms are massively muscled, the left jab is more than a jab. It hits with true shock power. It never occurred to Liston that he might lose a fight.” Johnny Tocco, a trainer who worked with George Foreman and Mike Tyson as well as Liston, said Liston was the hardest hitter of the three. Several boxing writers actually thought Liston could be damaging to the sport because he could not be beaten. Liston’s ominous, glowering demeanor was so central to his image that Esquire magazine caused a controversy by posing him in a Santa Claus hat for its December 1963 cover.
On the other hand, Clay was a glib, fast-talking 22-year-old challenger who enjoyed the spotlight. Known as “The Louisville Lip”, he had won the light heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Italy. He had great hand and foot speed and lightning fast reflexes, not to mention a limitless supply of braggadocio.However, Clay had been knocked down by journeyman Sonny Banks early in his career, and, in his previous two fights, had eked out a controversial decision against Doug Jones and—more seriously—was knocked down by a left hook at the end of round four against the cut-prone converted southpaw Henry Cooper. Clay
was clearly “out on his feet” in his corner between rounds, and his trainer, Angelo Dundee, stalled for time to allow Clay to recover. Although Clay rallied to win the fight in the next round, it seemed clear to many that he would be no match against the daunting Liston, who seemed a more complete boxer in every way than Cooper.
The brash Clay was equally disliked by reporters and his chances were widely dismissed. Lester Bromberg’s forecast in the New York World-Telegram was typical, predicting, “It will last longer than the Patterson fight—almost the entire first round.” The Los Angeles Times’ Jim Murray observed, “The only thing at which Clay can beat Liston is reading the dictionary,” adding that the face-off between the two unlikeable athletes would be “the most popular fight since Hitler and Stalin—180 million Americans rooting for a double knockout.” The New York Times’ regular boxing writer Joe Nichols declined to cover the fight, assuming that it would be a mismatch. By
fight time, Clay was a seven to one betting underdog. Of the 46 sportswriters at ringside, 43 had picked Liston to win by knockout.
The fight
Clay weighed in at 210 lb (95 kg) while Liston was several pounds over his prime fighting weight at 218 lb (99 kg). Many of those watching were surprised during the referee’s instructions to see that Clay was considerably taller than Liston. While receiving instructions, Liston glowered at Clay, while Clay stared back and stood on his toes to appear even taller. Clay later said of the moment: “I won’t lie, I was scared … It frightened me, just knowing how hard he hit. But I didn’t have no choice but to go out and fight.”
At the opening bell, an angry Liston charged Clay, looking to end the fight quickly and decisively. However, Clay’s superior speed and movement were immediately evident, as he slipped most of Liston’s lunging punches, making the champion look awkward. Clay clearly gained confidence as the round progressed. He hit Liston with a combination that electrified the crowd with about 30 seconds left in the round and began scoring repeatedly with his left jab (the round lasted an extra 8.5 seconds because referee Barney Felix didn’t hear the bell). Clay had been hit hard by a right to the stomach, but he said later, “I felt good because I knew I could survive.”
Milt Bailey, one of Liston’s cornermen, recalled, “In the first round Sonny couldn’t catch up with Clay, and I thought we might have some trouble.” Indeed, it was perhaps the worst round of Liston’s career. Between rounds, sitting on his stool, Clay turned to the press contingent at ringside and opened his mouth as if yawning or making a mute roar.
Liston settled down somewhat in round two. At one point, he cornered Clay against the ropes and hit him with a hard left hook. Clay later confessed that he was hurt by the punch, but Liston failed to press his advantage. Two of the official scorers awarded the round to Liston and the other had it even.
In the third round, Clay began to take control of the fight. At about 30 seconds into the round, he hit Liston with several combinations, causing a bruise under Liston’s right eye and a cut under his left, which eventually required eight stitches to close. It was the first time in his career that Liston had been cut. At one point in this attack, Liston’s knees buckled and he almost went down as he was driven to the ropes.
Les Keiter, broadcasting at ringside, shouted, “This could be the upset of the century!” Mort Sharnik described the moment: “Cassius hit Liston with a one-two combination; a jab followed by a straight right. Cassius pulled the jab back and there was a mouse underneath Sonny’s right eye. Then he pulled the right back and there was a gash underneath the other eye. … It was like the armor plate of a battleship being pierced
A clearly angered Liston rallied at the end of the round, as Clay seemed tired, and delivered punishing shots to Clay’s body. It was probably Liston’s best moment in the entire fight. But as the round ended, Clay shouted to him, “you big sucka, I got you now”. Sitting on his stool between rounds, Liston was breathing heavily as his cornermen worked on his cut.
During the fourth round, Clay coasted, keeping his distance. However, when he returned to his corner, he started complaining that there was something burning in his eyes and he could not see. “I didn’t know what the heck was going on,” Angelo Dundee, Clay’s trainer, recalled on an NBC special 25 years later. “He said, ‘cut the gloves off. I want to prove to the world there’s dirty work afoot.’ And I said, ‘whoa, whoa, back up baby. C’mon now, this is for the title, this is the big apple. What are you doing? Sit down!’ So I get him down, I get the sponge and I pour the water into his eyes trying to cleanse whatever’s there, but before I did that I put my pinkie in his eye and I put it into my eye. It burned like hell. There was something caustic in both eyes.”
The commotion wasn’t lost on referee Barney Felix, who was walking toward Clay’s corner. Felix said Clay was seconds from being disqualified. The challenger, his arms held high in surrender, was demanding that the fight be stopped and Dundee, fearing the fight might indeed be halted, gave his charge a one-word order: “Run!”
Clay later said he could only see a faint shadow of Liston during most of the round, but by circling and moving he managed to avoid Liston and somehow survive. By the sixth round, Clay’s sight had cleared, and he began landing combinations almost at will. “I got back to my stool at the end of the sixth round, and under me I could hear the press like they had gone wild,” Clay later said. “I I twisted round and hollered down at the reporters, ‘I’m gonna upset the world upset the world.'”
There are two basic narratives about what occurred next in Liston’s corner. According to Ali biographer David Remnick, Liston told his cornermen, “That’s it.” This supposedly rallied Liston’s handlers, who thought he meant he was finally angry enough to win, but Liston really meant that he was through fighting, which he indicated by spitting out his mouth guard.
However, Liston biographer Paul Gallender’s take is that Liston’s shoulder was essentially paralyzed by the end of round six, and his corner made the decision to end the fight, despite Liston’s protests. Liston spit out his mouth guard in disgust, still not believing that Clay was the superior fighter.
As the bell sounded for the seventh round, Clay was the first to notice that Liston had spat out his mouth guard. Clay moved to the middle of the ring with his arms raised, dancing the jig that would become known as the “Ali Shuffle” while Howard Cosell, broadcasting at ringside, shouted “wait a minute! Wait a minute! Sonny Liston is not coming out!” Liston failed to answer the bell for the seventh round, and Clay was declared the winner by technical knockout. It was the first time since 1919 that a World Heavyweight Champion had quit sitting on his stool. At that point the bout was level on the official scorecards of the referee and two judges.
Sensing that he had made history, Clay quickly ran to the ropes amidst the commotion in the ring and shouted at sportswriters, “Eat your words!” In a scene that has been rebroadcast countless times over the ensuing decades, Clay repeatedly yelled “I’m the greatest!” and “I shook up the world.”
Clay had to be persuaded to hold the traditional post-fight press conference. He called the writers “hypocrites” and said, “Look at me. Not a mark on me. I could never be an underdog. I am too great. Hail the champion!”
On February 27, 1964, Clay announced that he was a member of the Nation of Islam. His membership in the group was first disclosed the previous night at the group’s annual national convention in Chicago by Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad.
“I began worshiping this way five years ago when I heard a fellow named Elijah Muhammad on the radio talking about the virtues of the Islam religion,” Clay said. “I also listened to his ministers. No one could prove him or them wrong, so I decided to join.”
On March 6, 1964, Elijah Muhammad announced in a recorded statement played over the radio that Clay would be renamed Muhammad Ali. Muhammad means “worthy of all praises”, and Ali means “most high”.
By George ‘Alan Green’ Mahamah
