BoxRec

I had a non-Boxing fan ask me which fight of Ali's career that he actually won was he the biggest underdog in, and I said the two big ones were Liston I & Foreman, with Liston being the biggest in official betting terms (7-1, vs 4-1 with Foreman). Interestingly, Ali was almost as big an underdog for his REMATCH with Liston (3-1) as he was for the clash with Foreman.

It got me thinking, though. Which WAS the bigger upset/more impressive boil over? There are good cases for each. Think Id go with Liston I though.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:I had a non-Boxing fan ask me which fight of Ali's career that he actually won was he the biggest underdog in, and I said the two big ones were Liston I & Foreman, with Liston being the biggest in official betting terms (7-1, vs 4-1 with Foreman). Interestingly, Ali was almost as big an underdog for his REMATCH with Liston (3-1) as he was for the clash with Foreman.

It got me thinking, though. Which WAS the bigger upset/more impressive boil over? There are good cases for each. Think Id go with Liston I though.

Ali was a 3-1 dog for the Liston rematch?

That sounds out of line to me. I thought Liston was a slight favorite, just a bit above even money.

yancey wrote:

Goodnight, Irene wrote:I had a non-Boxing fan ask me which fight of Ali's career that he actually won was he the biggest underdog in, and I said the two big ones were Liston I & Foreman, with Liston being the biggest in official betting terms (7-1, vs 4-1 with Foreman). Interestingly, Ali was almost as big an underdog for his REMATCH with Liston (3-1) as he was for the clash with Foreman.

It got me thinking, though. Which WAS the bigger upset/more impressive boil over? There are good cases for each. Think Id go with Liston I though.

Ali was a 3-1 dog for the Liston rematch?

That sounds out of line to me. I thought Liston was a slight favorite, just a bit above even money.

Liston was 6-5 favourite for the rematch.

Giancarlo wrote:

yancey wrote:

Goodnight, Irene wrote:I had a non-Boxing fan ask me which fight of Ali's career that he actually won was he the biggest underdog in, and I said the two big ones were Liston I & Foreman, with Liston being the biggest in official betting terms (7-1, vs 4-1 with Foreman). Interestingly, Ali was almost as big an underdog for his REMATCH with Liston (3-1) as he was for the clash with Foreman.

It got me thinking, though. Which WAS the bigger upset/more impressive boil over? There are good cases for each. Think Id go with Liston I though.

Ali was a 3-1 dog for the Liston rematch?

That sounds out of line to me. I thought Liston was a slight favorite, just a bit above even money.

Liston was 6-5 favourite for the rematch.

Some people will just not learn. "If you want to lose your money, bet on Sonny."

I find it really odd that Liston was the favorite in the rematch, considering that Ali beat him with not a lot of trouble the first time around. I guess reputation mattered more to people than results did back then.

gilgamesh wrote:I find it really odd that Liston was the favorite in the rematch, considering that Ali beat him with not a lot of trouble the first time around. I guess reputation mattered more to people than results did back then.

It was about the injury and the alleged Mob involvement.

Thats your answer.

Ahh...ok then. Funny how the alleged Mob involvement if anything worked the other way in that one.

Ali's was the haveiest underdo in his title fight with Liston.
I thought that was generally accepted by boxing experts everywhere, but maybe I'm wrong...

gilgamesh wrote:Ahh...ok then. Funny how the alleged Mob involvement if anything worked the other way in that one.

People were of the opinion either the first fight was the fluke result of the injury, or the Mob forced Liston to dive so they could score. Those were the reasons Ali was underdog twice.