Phanton Punch

[gogan]

Whats the whole story behind Ali`s phantom punch, was ali able to KO sonny liston in the 1st min of the 1st round. some say he trhough the bout because the mafia was going to kill him. but if your going to through a fight wouldn`t you throw it in a later round, not in the 1st min of the 1 round. anyone have any information on this

[LittleBigMan]

It Was A Phantom Punch

[jabsRstiff]

It was a real punch....quick enough, sharp enough, to surprise & slightly stun Liston.

But, it certainly didn't look hard enough to KEEP him down.

Liston looked like he put on quite the performance.

[M26]

It was no real knock out, thats for sure. Liston did not want to fight anymore. I am not sure why.

[adeelr]

Man you never know, Ali did connect flush on the jaw, but Liston was scared he was done, Ali took every thing away from him in the first fight so, it was no use comming back any ways the punch will remain a mystery but Ali himself believes that he hit liston very hard...he says so in the documentary "when we were kings".

[Bombardier]

There were also rumours that the Nation of Islam threatened Liston and that's why we stayed down. Hard to say whether or nto this is true...they were a pretty aggressive group back then, but it's hard to tell what is true and what was just hysteria created by a media that disliked them.

Liston was a headcase, and might have just given up in the ring for his own reasons.

[barryboy]

I think Liston was managed by mob guys so he could have been told to lay down and his efforts to get up didn't look very convincing though he could have just said screw this and decided on his own to give up but he took his lumps in later fights without quiting so i'd say someone told him to throw the fight.

[Champoreeno]

I think Liston was managed by mob guys so he could have been told to lay down and his efforts to get up didn't look very convincing though he could have just said screw this and decided on his own to give up but he took his lumps in later fights without quiting so i'd say someone told him to throw the fight.

That's about what I'd say happened as well. To elaborate on the 'lumps' he took in later fights, those knock downs looked legit, where the Ali fall was poorly acted.

[barryboy]

It was the Leotis Martin fight I was thinking about, he took a bit of a beating towards the end of that fight, his face was a mess but there was no question about the knockdown in that fight, he took a good deal of punishment before that plus he was a few years older than he was against Ali so it all looks very dodgy to me.

[xrhythmxnxbluesx]

he did hit him... it was a quick one but he did... this like hokins body shot to de la hoya... it look like it was nothing but he said he got him at the right spot... maybe it was the same with linston...