Muhammad Ali vs. Cleveland Williams

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Challenger rankings
Org. Pos. As of Published
1+ Mth. Old
WBA 7 30.06.1966 30.06.1966
Ring 8 30.06.1966 30.06.1966
2+ Mth. Old
WBA 7 30.06.1966 30.06.1966
Ring 8 30.06.1966 30.06.1966
3+ Mth. Old
WBA NR 30.04.1966 02.05.1966
Ring 10 31.05.1966 31.05.1966
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Muhammad Ali 213 lbs beat Cleveland Williams 211 lbs by TKO at 1:08 in round 3 of 15

  • Date: 1966-11-14
  • Location: Astrodome, Houston, Texas, USA
  • Referee: Harry Kessler 20-16
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  • Judge: Jimmy Webb 20-16
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  • Judge: Ernie Taylor 20-16
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Notes

  • On November 29, 1964, Williams was shot in the stomach during an altercation with a Texas highway patrolman. The bullet moved across his intestines and lodged against his right hip. That night, he underwent nearly six hours of surgery that involved removal of a small section of intestine. "I died three times on that operating table," Williams said. He underwent four operations over the next seven months for colon damage and an injured right kidney, which was removed in June 1965. Doctors did not take out the bullet, which had broken his right hip joint and caused partial paralysis of some hip muscles. Williams lost almost 60 pounds off his 220-pound frame, but he regained strength by tossing 80-pound hay bales on his manager's cattle ranch. He returned to the ring in February 1966 and won four consecutive fights before facing Ali.

Timeline

  • Williams was first seriously suggested as Ali's next challenger by The Times editor Bill McIntyre on June 28: "Williams has been bouncing punches off pushover types ... for a long time but he's been standing still because the better heavyweights hesitate at being led to slaughter. Cleveland looks like a mean man inside the ring, which is why they call him the Big Cat, and can hit like a sledgehammer which explains why he's flattened fifty foes".[1]
  • That day, Williams stopped Tod Herring in the 3rd round on the undercard of the Terrell-Jones fight; Herring was 26-5 with 19 KOs, coming off of two losses to Floyd Patterson (4th-round TKO) and Elmer Rush (3rd-round TKO) and hadn't won a fight since January 1965.
  • Two days later, Ali's coach Angelo Dundee added fuel to the fire in an interview with Bill McIntyre for The Times following WBA champion Ernie Terrell's title defense against Doug Jones, in which he claimed that "Cleveland Williams could take both of them on the same night". McIntyre agreed with Dundee.[2]
  • Terrell was also in negotiations with Williams, looking to avenge his only knockout loss of his professional career.[3][4]
  • On July 27, Robert Lipsyte of The New York Times wrote an article in which he emphasized Williams as the only viable challenger to Ali: "A few minutes before the Terrell-Jones fight, ... Cleveland Williams knocked out Tod Herring, that Houston Happening. Herring is just a brawler but Williams' thundering triumph served notice that the 33-year old former top contender had recovered from a near-fatal gunshot would. After Williams and Terrell, the ranks thin... One very strong possibility at the moment is Williams... Williams has the box-office appeal, especially in Houston, and a vigorous publicity campaign would convince the Clay-weary country that the big cat isn't just another tabby".[5]
  • On August 3, Ali confirmed in an interview to Arthur Daley from The New York Times that he was planning to defend his title against Williams at Houston Astrodome "about ten weeks" after defeating Karl Mildenberger.[6][7][8]
  • When asked on August 6 whom he would consider tougher than his upcoming opponent Brian London, Ali replied: "I would rate Karl Mildenberger of Germany, Cleveland Williams and Ernie Terrell as tougher opponents".[9]
  • On August 23 and again on August 26, Ali reiterated that he would like to face Williams after the Mildenberger fight.[10][11]
  • After defeating Karl Mildenberger on September 10, Ali confirmed the fight against Williams would take place in November in Houston. After that, Ali said, he would take a four-month break.[12]
  • Contracts signed on September 15.[13]

Ranking Movemenents

  • The same day The Times printed Angelo Dundee's claim that Williams could take both Ernie Terrell and Doug Jones "on the same night", The Ring Magazine elevated him from No. 10 to No. 8 in its monthly rankings.
  • On September 13, Ring Magazine moved Williams from eighth to fourth, where he remained until the day of the fight.
  • Williams also started ascending in the WBA rankings: on July 1 he entered the rankings at No. 7.
  • On November 4, 10 days before the fight, WBA moved him to No. 4.
  • After the Ali fight, Williams was removed from WBA and Ring Magazine rankings entirely.

The Fight

  • The fight was shown on closed circuit television at 125 locations in the United States
  • The fight was seen, either directly or on delayed tape, in 46 foreign countries.
  • Tickets were priced from $5 to $100.
  • There were 35,460 fans at the Astrodome, which was the largest crowd ever to see an indoor boxing match at that time.
  • The gross gate was $461,290.
  • Ali got 50% of the live gate and 50% of the ancillary rights, including closed circuit TV and radio. Williams got 20% of the live gate and 14% of the ancillary rights. The remainder was divided among the Astrodome and the promoter.
  • Ali was a 5 to 1 favorite.
  • The Ali Shuffle was introduced during this fight.
  • According to CompuBox, Ali landed 62 percent of his power punches (46 of 74), while Williams landed only 10 punches in the whole fight.
  • In the November 21, 1966, issue of Sports Illustrated, Martin Kane reported:
Williams began in the first round with a few futile efforts to reach Ali with hooks and jabs, but they landed against a fading target. The first solid punch of the fight was the champion's right hand to the head, and thereafter he began to display his expertise with full confidence that nothing that Williams could deliver would damage him. He scored almost at will, with jabs, hooks and a four-punch combination. He circled the ring at a pace that Williams simply could not match.
That was the first round, and Williams was lucky to survive it. But it was the second that told the story. The round brought disaster to the Big Cat. A fully confident Ali began to show off a bit, his handsome face alight with the realization that he was the thorough master of the situation. Although he encountered a succession of Williams' jabs, and even a right uppercut, Ali was landing his lefts and rights with power.
Then, so suddenly that the crowd was stunned into a momentary silence, Williams went down from a left-right combination. He rose quickly and took a mandatory count of eight but resumed his fighting stance with a stunned look on his well-pummeled features. A thundering, withering barrage put him down again. But he came up, this time with blood streaming from his nose and mouth. He wasn't up long. Clay closed savagely, punching hard with well-set combinations. For the third time Williams crashed to the canvas. Before he could be counted out the bell rang.
The standard rule that declares it a KO if a fighter is knocked down three times within a round was waived for this championship fight. That is the only reason the match was permitted to continue into the third round, for there was not much point to it anymore. But the bell rang again and Williams and Ali rose from their stools to face each other once more.
For fleeting moments Williams had the crowd roaring encouragement. He came out of his corner on the attack, his hair awry, his fists flailing, only to find that he had no hope of reaching Ali. The champion met his onslaught with a right to the head, followed by a left and still another right. Ali repeated this combination with almost insolent ease, and then floored Williams with a hard left hook. The Cat arose with blood streaming from his mouth. Manfully and uselessly, he plodded once more into a forest of fists, one of which twisted him around so that his back was toward Ali. The champion bashed him with a left, a right, a left and then a right to his head, and, as Williams floundered about the ring, Referee Kessler stepped in and stopped it.

Aftermath

  • Many consider this to be Ali's best performance. Broadcaster Howard Cosell told Ali biographer Thomas Hauser: "The greatest Ali ever was as a fighter was in Houston against Williams. That night, he was the most devastating fighter who ever lived."
  • During an appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show in 1989, Mike Tyson said this was his favorite Ali fight. "It's Ali at his best," he said.
  • The Ring: Boxing The 20th Century stated: "Ali's jab had never been as blinding; his feet had never seemed so light; his combinations had never flowed so effortlessly. At age 24, he was 27-0 (22), and peaking. It was time to freeze the moment for the time capsule."

External Links


Preceded by:
Ali vs. Mildenberger 		WBC Heavyweight Title Fight
# 9 		Succeeded by:
Ali vs. Terrell


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