Sonny Liston vs. Gerhard Zech
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Sonny Liston 221 lbs beat Gerhard Zech 226 lbs by KO at 1:11 in round 7 of 10
- Date: 1966-07-01
- Location: Johanneshov, Stockholm, Sweden
- Referee: Bengt Almqvist
Associated Press, July 2, 1966:
A crowd of 12,000 saw Liston, who won the title from Floyd Patterson and then lost it to Cassius Clay, knockout the German with a short left-right combination at 1:11 of the seventh round. The fight was scheduled as a 10-rounder. It was Liston's first fight since his controversial one minute knockout by Clay in their return world title bout in May 1965, at Lewiston, Maine.
Liston quickly bloodied Zech's nose with left jabs, but seemed heavy on his feet. Zech backed away, covering up most of the time, although he did lash out with counter punches in the second round. Liston, cheered on by the near sellout crowd, had a clear lead on points before finally putting the German down for the count. The German, his face and shoulders covered with blood from a cut over his right eye, got up reeling at the count of 10, but it was too late. The fight was promoted by Ingemar Johansson, the former world champion from Sweden.
- All three officials had Liston leading by scores of 30-24, 30-23 and 30-26.
Post-fight comments
- "I like Sweden. Its people appreciate boxing. I hope to remain here for at least two more bouts. I would like to face Karl Mildenberger and Floyd Patterson, who is popular here. Then I'm certain I'll be ready to face Clay in another championship match if he still is the titleholder." -Sonny Liston
- "If Liston meets Mildenberger, Karl will beat him. He is faster than I and much faster in throwing combinations, than is Liston." -Gerhard Zech