Liston made $1,000,000 betting against himself in the first Ali fight...

http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/02/26/fbi-papers-accuse-mafia-of-fixing-muhammad-ali-fight

This is interesting.

 

Funny, the first comment posted depresses me more about the state of the world, then any inkling that this story was actually true or not.

Let's face it. The FBI got a lot of shit wrong in the 1960's, let alone some speculative piece of paper that was uncovered how many decades later.

Let's also not forget who was in charge of the FBI during this time period.

Hoooooover, probably lost a few bucks on the fight himself.

 

Sonny might be great...but he will fall in 8

 

Tanking exists in boxing

 

same here

 

This is some balony for real..


Of course sonny beat on himself

That makes it sound better to anyone rather than the big scary guy getting whipped by some bragadocious kid

 

I'm not up on my FBI history, Nobleart. I just thought it was an interesting article.

 

I thought it was interesting too. Not 100% sure the fight was a fix but I definitively think it's a possibility now. But to Ali fans, you could have a pre fight video of Liston agreeing to dive, confessions from people in the know and cash transfer historics proving Liston made a fortune yet they still wouldn't believe it

 

You'd like to think this is bullshit but as Azazel says it's possible.

 

I'd be much more convinced about the rematch but the first fight looked like a legit asswhuppin to me and Liston's guys certainly thought so

 

what are you kdding me liston would of kill ali without cheating

 

Endeid, Qwerty. Hooo ar we kdding heur? Liston kill ali bye merders! khtfoko him ok bich.

 

leave it to the dumbass canucks to pollute the web with this. who the fuck would claim the FIRST Ali-liston fight was fixed, rather the the rematch?

 

amen. liston missed the memo when he went for broke prior to quitting.

 

Ali pucnh drunk chaet, dog jones beat him withh big puches in mouth too. Liston cheet because punch ali druk is mafia cheater. Lewis win.

 

surely for 1million he would have taken a dive in more convincing fashion though
quitting on your stool isn't the best way to make the public think you aren't taking a dive :scratcher:

 

Exactly

 

It's a Canadian news story, true. However, it also cites information obtained from FBI documents. Hardly pollution.

 

It is interesting on how a writer's choice of rhetoric can drastically change the general feel of a news story. Journalism at its finest.

http://msn.foxsports.com/boxing/sto...d-ali-sonny-liston-fight-was-a-mob-fix-022814

 

::

You seem upset by the truth.

Liston never saw any of the money. Smarter people took it off him. Then they killed him a few years later.

No need to get racial on the Canadians because they wrote a story, line-stepper.

 

The point people are missing here is very simple.

Clayli would have won. But the bookies didn't know this.

So by pulling Liston out, they {the mob} make money anyways. They had no downside to Liston losing. Once they were betting the right way.

The reason they didn't pull the stunt the second time is...well....Liston has actually "lost" the first fight. Losing the second fight isn't as much a shock. Odds won't be as great. Less money. Harder to pull the same stunt twice. And that's the rub......the reason they didn't do it on the second fight is because they had already done it on the first fight.

Asking dumb questions like "Why not wait till the second fight".....assumes that {a} Liston would win the first fight, {b} that Clayli would be in shape to take a rematch and {c} ignores the plain-as-day reality that whatever suspicion would fall on the mob for Liston losing the first fight, even more suspicion would fall on them for Liston suddenly losing a fight he had won so handily the first time out.

The reason this throws up so much dirt is because it shits all over the handy, contrived notion that Clayli drove the mob out of boxing singlehandedly.



Also....another rarely discussed point....Clayli suffered a hernia in the buildup to the rematch and the date had to be reset. Liston, it was said, had hammered himself into great shape for the rematch and slumped into depression when the fight was pulled.

The implication is that Liston was not in great shape for the first fight, why? Well, he legitimately may not have taken it seriously. Or he may have known the score.

 

Liston didn't throw that first fight, he was simply outclassed... The film doesn't lie

The second fight? I'm open to plenty of suggestions on that one

I don't think Clay/Ali himself was in on anything, for the record

 

I agree he was outclassed. That doesn't mean anything though. It certainly doesn't rule out that the fight was fixed in advance. It's like us hearing that Tyson planned to throw the Douglas fight in the 12th round but Douglas wasn't in on it and ruined it by accident ::

 

Liston's obvious effort would seem to exclude the fight "being fixed in advance"

Surely, the article SilentNight referenced should put this Canadian article in perspective, no? A few simple twists in the writing and basically a non-story about speculation amounting to nothing is turned into some story with implied proof

 

he does kind of look like he's deliberately swinging at air

 

Muhammad Ali changed his name. It used to be "Cassius Clay".

 

:bears: