Muhammad Ali question

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 22 Feb 2007, 18:04

One for the Historians here.

I have been viewing some Ali on ESPN classic - didn't watch it all so I might have missed Bert Sugar explain.

But why was there 15 months between Ali's two fights with Liston. Okay he changed his name, but surely there is another reason. Why wasn't there a fight in the interim.

Boxingnut · Post by **Boxingnut** » 22 Feb 2007, 18:32

Was the rematch pushed back from the scheduled date because Ali suffered a hernia? I seem to remember reading this somewhere and that Liston had trained really hard and was deflated that the fight was postponed.

chief · Post by **chief** » 22 Feb 2007, 18:53

Yeah, 3 days before the fight, Ali suffered a hernia and was rushed to hospital.. He got little sympathy off Liston though who said words to the effect of if he kept his mouth shut more it wouldn't of happened..

Incidentally, the venue for the rematch was then changed because the original authorities in Masachussits (sp??) felt the promoter was linked to organsied crime...

JC · Post by JC » 22 Feb 2007, 19:02

chief wrote:Yeah, 3 days before the fight, Ali suffered a hernia and was rushed to hospital.. He got little sympathy off Liston though who said words to the effect of if he kept his mouth shut more it wouldn't of happened...

According to Thomas Huaser's (sp) book Liston had not been in great shape for the first fight but had got back to peak fitness for the original rematch date. Apparently when he heard about the postponement the disappointment started him back drinkng again.

chief · Post by **chief** » 22 Feb 2007, 19:24

Rumours of drug abuse too, based on the crowd who were with Liston.. Ali had his own problems around the time of the 2nd fight though, with the assasination of Malcolm X.

Good book the Hausser book, used to read it on the tube into work..