Quote Originally Posted by amat View Post
I don't think he threw the second Ali fight. It's possible but it's not like the "phantom punch" was a knockout blow. People forget he actually got up (which is why I always found the story behind that famous Ali picture misleading) and continued fighting after the knockdown. Joe Walcott didn't keep a count so it was after they started fighting that he broke up the action because the timekeeper said he counted to 10.

If Liston was going to throw the fight, I always imagined he would have stayed down but who knows. Given the fact that he got up though I always felt that to be an unfair assumption.
I disagree totally Sonny Liston acted like he had been shot by a shotgun, the way he was rolling on the canvas was ridiculous, considering the punch was a grazing shot. There was something for certain shady about that fight, and lets also remember Bruce Seldon took a dive against Mike Tyson, and similar to Sonny Liston. Still got up and what appeared to be a missed punch above Bruce Seldon's head.