Once and for all.....Did Sonny Liston take a dive or not?

[Easy-E]

I think the shot landed clean and dropped Liston.
However, he made no effort to get up.
Yes and no.

[AREALFIGHTER]

This is funny nothing we do on this website is going to change what happened in that fight. My opinion if he took a dive it had nothing to do with ali.

[Bozo_no no]

For years it has been argued that for whatever reason, whether it being that Liston knew he couldn't beat Ali, or he was influenced by the mob, etc that he had taken a dive in their rematch against one another. Others argue that Ali just hit him with a well timed shot. You guys be the judge:



What do you guys think?

I've always thought that shot legitmatly dropped and stunned him because he didn't see it coming and it was sharp.

But,

he could have got up. I think that with all the racial tension and death threats around the event, or maybe for some reason we don't know about, he decided to stay down.

Either way, Ali legitmatly dropped him and did all that could be asked of him in that fight. Not his fault Liston (for whatever reason) didn't want to fight.

It's always bugged me that the contraversy around this fight casted a su****ious light on Ali. He didn't do anything suspect or wrong.

[Easy-E]

This is funny nothing we do on this website is going to change what happened in that fight. My opinion if he took a dive it had nothing to do with ali.

I think it had everything to do with Ali.
He knew he couldnt beat him, and didnt want to get beat up.

[Dirt E Gomez]

I believe the shot landed, and miiiiight've been a flash knockdown, but there was no way Liston was actually hurt bad. He could've easily gotten up and continued fighting on. So whether or not the punch landed cleanly to me is irrelivent, since the result was Liston quit.

[AREALFIGHTER]

I think it had everything to do with Ali.
He knew he couldnt beat him, and didnt want to get beat up.

Liston was able to bear down and fight why ali got under his skin to act ****** is beyond me. If he did take a dive it was for betting reasons. Ali just got him totaly frazeled when I think liston could have broght it. That was a weakness in listons game he I guess could not think through adversity. That punch did not look right as ali had to change the angle halfway through the punch. I just guess liston turned out to be a fairly easy nut to crack which I cannot understand with his street tough guy ways.

[AREALFIGHTER]

I guess what I was saying is that liston may have been told to stay down.

[Bozo_no no]

There's way too many reasons to even begin to guess why he stayed down.

The story of the death threats of Ali being shot in the ring is a valid point, but Liston was also involved with the mob.

So you have that, the theory of taking a dive to throw a fix, and reasons like screwing over his handlers.

Liston was a thug, and there's no telling why he stayed down. He took the reason to the grave.

[AREALFIGHTER]

There's way too many reasons to even begin to guess why he stayed down.

The story of the death threats of Ali being shot in the ring is a valid point, but Liston was also involved with the mob.

So you have that, the theory of taking a dive to throw a fix, and reasons like screwing over his handlers.

Liston was a thug, and there's no telling why he stayed down. He took the reason to the grave.

I'll buy that

[pjpj]

I think he took a dive. Ali himself didn't seem convinced that shot legitimately hurt Liston.