Ali-Williams (1966)

[butterfly1964]

I was going through my own personal boxing video library, and I came across the Ali-Williams fight, a fight I thought I didn't even have. Well, I popped it in, and I watched it. I haven't seen the fight in it's entirety for about a couple of years, and I noticed that Ali didn't knock him out! He won on a TKO. All this time I thought Ali knocked the Big Cat out cold, and he just kept knocking him down, and the ref stopped it. It just amazing the things one can find out. I learn something new everyday, eh?

[sleazyfellow]

u can be koed n still get up, cleveland was wobbly big time after the first knockdown, u wanted ali to kill him in the ring or what?

[hellfire508]

Despite Williams being shot - literally... it is still in my eyes the single best performance by any fighter in a fight.

[Heckler]

Cleveland Williams was still a decent opponent, coming off a winning streak i believe. Watch Williams in the fight against Ali and ask yourself Would a prime Williams be able to do much better? Were there any oppurtunities that this version of Williams wasn't able to take advantage of, but in his prime he could've and in doing so produce a significantly better performance? I don't know if he could.

Ali looked sharpest in that fight against Williams. No clowning, he was well prepared and he went out there with the intention of putting Williams on the canvas ASAP to reduce the risk of Williams being seriously hurt. His performances in later matches in his pre-layoff career against Folley, Terell etc although still impressive were probably adversely affected by his legal battles and the political issues that were surrounding him and really starting to heat up at the time.

[butterfly1964]

Cleveland Williams was still a decent opponent, coming off a winning streak i believe. Watch Williams in the fight against Ali and ask yourself Would a prime Williams be able to do much better? Were there any oppurtunities that this version of Williams wasn't able to take advantage of, but in his prime he could've and in doing so produce a significantly better performance? I don't know if he could.

Ali looked sharpest in that fight against Williams. No clowning, he was well prepared and he went out there with the intention of putting Williams on the canvas ASAP to reduce the risk of Williams being seriously hurt. His performances in later matches in his pre-layoff career against Folley, Terell etc although still impressive were probably adversely affected by his legal battles and the political issues that were surrounding him and really starting to heat up at the time.

Ali was still facing legal troubles at the time of the Williams fight, but he could have made his other fights like this. hye could have knocked out patterson and terell if he wanted to, and folley IMO was a very impressive performance as well.

[BKM-]

So he wanted to knock him out early because he didn't wanna hurt him badly? Thats respectfull in a way.

[SABBATH]

I was going through my own personal boxing video library, and I came across the Ali-Williams fight, a fight I thought I didn't even have. Well, I popped it in, and I watched it. I haven't seen the fight in it's entirety for about a couple of years, and I noticed that Ali didn't knock him out! He won on a TKO. All this time I thought Ali knocked the Big Cat out cold, and he just kept knocking him down, and the ref stopped it. It just amazing the things one can find out. I learn something new everyday, eh?

Butterfly,

The first right hand that Ali dropped Williams with was almost the same shot he floored Liston with. Ali while moving backwards hits Williams with a right on the chin snapping it downwards. Williams gets pole axed. It was a sharp right on the button thrown with quickness and timing.

Compare it to the Liston knockdown (watch it in slow motion as Liston's head gets snapped downwards) and decide if you still think it's a phantom punch.

[Brassangel]

When someone is caught off guard by a fast, trained punch, it will hurt. It may even scramble one's eggs. While I am a firm believer that Sonny quit in that fight, Ali did hit him hard before Liston made the decision to give up. The punch against Williams was probably a little bit more dynamic than the previous punch mentioned above.

[SABBATH]

When someone is caught off guard by a fast, trained punch, it will hurt. It may even scramble one's eggs. While I am a firm believer that Sonny quit in that fight, Ali did hit him hard before Liston made the decision to give up. The punch against Williams was probably a little bit more dynamic than the previous punch mentioned above.

If you watch Liston's head snap, you can see it was no phantom punch. The elasticity in Liston's knees also gives. It was a legit knockdown but Liston could have gotten up in time if Ali had went to a corner.

Watch for yourself.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5T_dHRLn5...sonny%20liston

[BKM-]

I've always said that the punch was real and Liston got KO'd. Yeah Butterfly1964.