Description
On May 25th 1965, at Central Maine Civic Center, Lewiston, Main, USA. Midway through the first round, Sonny Liston threw a left jab, Muhammad countered it with a fast right hand which landed cleanly and knocked Liston onto his back. He rolled over, got onto his right knee then fell on his back again. Skeptics called it a fix and named the punch a “Phantom Punch” as many didn’t see it land. Ali called the punch “The Anchor Punch” which was taught to him by Stepin Fetchit who learned it from Jack Johnson. Ali beat Liston on a 1st round knockout and held onto his WBC World Heavyweight Championship.
After the fight Ali said, ‘The punch jarred him. It was a good punch but I didn’t think I hit him so hard he couldn’t get up.’ Liston said, ‘It was a good right hand punch, it made me groggy. I got to my knees but fell the second time because I was off balance. I could’ve got up but I didn’t hear the count.’
Prior to this fight, the WBA stripped Ali of his title after his agreement to give Liston a rematch. The WBA didn’t want a rematch. They stripped Ali from his title, a title he didn’t lose inside the boxing ring. However, the WBC still recognized Ali as the Champion.
On March 5th 1965, Ernie Terrell and Eddie Machin fought for the vacant WBA World Heavyweight Championship which Terrell won. He beat Machin on a 15 round unanimous points decision and became the WBA World Heavyweight Champion.
