Just wanted to mention something about the 10-count in the 2nd Ali-Liston fight. Actually, the referee does not start the count. The knockdown time keeper (not to be confused with the regular timekeeper) starts the count as the referee makes sure the fighter who scored the knockdown goes to a neutral corner. The referee then picks up the count from the kncokdownkeeper. For example if the kncokdown timekeeper was at 3, the referee starts the count at 4. The referee doesn't start at 1.
In the 2nd Ali-Liston fight, the referee (Walcott) should have consulted the knockdown timekeeper but he didn't. Interestingly enough, had Walcott done so, the knockdown timekeeper would have told him that he had already reached 10.
john2345 wrote:If the return with Ali had taken place on the date that was originally scheduled (Ali pulled out with a hernia) I think Liston would have entered the ring in the best possible shape - mentally and physically. He had trained really hard for that fight, and when it was called off it really hit him hard. I think he remarked that he didn't believe he could get himself back to that peak of fitness again.
To those who dismiss Liston as a "bully" who backed off when a fighter stood up to him, have you watched the Cleveland Williams fights? Liston takes several huge shots and fights back to overwhelm Williams. And bullies tend to pick on the little guys - Liston (as Brockton says) fought anyone who was available. Liston was intimidating, that's different from being a bully.
An earlier poster reckoned Liston received too much adulation on this forum - but he gets hardly any from the mainstream sports press. Ask most people to name their top heavys of all time and he'll rarely get a mention - depite the fact that he was a truly great fighter.
J
You're right; I've got more than a few Liston fights and when a guy stood up to him or nailed him with something hard he didn't crumble-he beat the shit out of the other guy. Liston does not get the credit he deserves as the quintessential box-puncher and the best jabber IMO ever in the heavyweight division. He is invariably sold short because he came immediately before Ali and also because he was the bad guy (and he was a bad guy).
