As much as I like Ali, and as much as I think he was the greatest heavyweight champ of all time I still think BOTH fights with Liston were thrown by Sonny.
BTW - One of my childhood friends, Andy Felix, had an uncle (Barney Felix) who was the referee in the first fight. Andy told me that his uncle told him that Ali (then Cassius Clay) was seconds away from being counted out because Muhammad had trouble seeing (due to liniment in his eyes). That fact is also reported on Wikipedia.
Missing why you think the first fight was fixed. Or at least Liston taking a dive. I think Ali just schooled him, then in the 2nd the mob (and Liston) knew he couldn't win then went for the 1 round fix to make their bank.
Didn't Liston's manager put that crap on his gloves that got in Ali's eyes? Or was that just some movie BS?
