Ali vs Liston 1 | How Ali SHOOK UP the World - Breakdown

in 1964 muhammad ali shook up the world with a spectacular display of dominance against one of the most fearsome champions ever the great and powerful sunny listen but it was almost all derailed by a shocking development in the fifth round one that most would call unlucky happenstance but many insist was foul play today we're going to look at the techniques that ali used to defeat one of the most dangerous fighters of all time and how he overcame a bizarre random handicap that almost altered the course of history ali had chased a fight with liston for months drawing upon professional wrestling as an inspiration ali taunted and provoked liston every chance he got playing the hill to drum up public interest he called liston old saying he needed talking lessons as well as boxing lessons but most of all falling down lessons he called liston the big ugly bear saying the world needed a pretty champion finally liston accepted the fight proclaiming that ali wouldn't be pretty when he got finished with him most agreed with listed in fact almost no one gave ali a chance and with good reason sunny liston was a total monster in the ring liston's fists were bigger than most men's biceps he had an 84 inch reach and strengthened his neck by standing on his head for hours on end he had the brains to put these physical advantages to good use setting up his power shots with one of the best jabs in boxing history but most overlooked listens jab as the punches it set up tended to leave a much bigger impression liston had kale power in both hands but his left hook was particularly deadly and ali who kept his guarding hand as low as his lead hand at times was especially vulnerable to lead hooks in fact he had nearly been knocked up by cooper with one in his previous fight ali had come back to stop cooper shortly after but the public had not forgotten ali's temporary embarrassment anyone counting on ali's speed to save him need only look at liston's fights against former champion floyd patterson patterson's insane hand speed meant little when liston used his size to bully him against the ropes despite all this ali's coach angelo dundee was extremely optimistic upon viewing liston's previous fights he realized that listen was weakest against fluid boxers that had great head movement and lateral movement and those just happened to be ali's greatest strengths ali used complex footwork to circle his opponents on the outside catching them with whipping jabs before dashing in to throw lightning fast combinations he kept his hands low to encourage opponents to head hunt always staying just out of range compelling them to overreach as dundee said i didn't need to tell ali much for listening he already had everything he needed but the rest of the boxing world was not so convinced the oddsmakers had him a seven to one underdog and ali's bizarre pre-fight behavior did little to convince them otherwise back then wayans were usually non-eventful for melodies ali looked to change all that he stormed in with sugar ray robinson and his hype man bundini who only lovingly dubbed an expert on crazy all the while shouting out insults to listen at the top of his lungs ali predicted he would knock listen out in eight reiterated his belief that liston was in fact a big ugly bear while he himself was pretty then let loose what would become his most infamous quote [Applause] as liston stepped up to be weighed ali told his entourage to pretend to hold him back then acted as if he was going to fight liston right there by the end of the day the fight was all anyone could talk about most sports writers put ali's behavior down to hysteria assuming he must simply be scared out of his mind although ali was nowhere near scared at the weigh-in he was terrified on the night of the fight this wasn't due to fear or physical harm but rather that ali's constant trash talk had painted him into a corner to quote ali the truth is every time i go into the ring i'm scared to death because after all that popping off all that predicting all those people wanting to see me get whipped i know i'm in trouble if i lose they'll be ready to run me out of the country i'm on the spot when i'm out there and i'm scared to death most know that ali's trash talking helped to promote fights and intimidate his opponents but it seems it also put pressure on ali to succeed he was essentially betting his entire reputation on every fight but luckily for ali he was one of the rare few that thrived under pressure this was evident when the two met the ref in the middle of the ring ali stared listen down with the steady confident gaze then shattered one last insult the two went back to their corners the bell rang and finally the fight began i only seem to be everywhere at once dancing and fainting with the broken rhythm he circled inside changing headslots to draw punches then rebounding back to change direction in the blink of an eye listen pressed forward at first with his regular plotting steps but as he kept missing le by a foot or more listen changed to quick undisciplined shuffles then he was practically running at ali liston finally managed to connect with two hard body shots but ali stopped his attack by clinching under hooking one arm and tying up the other before walking listen out of the corner this moment might not seem like much but it was crucial proving that ali could move listen around and move himself off the ropes he would not suffer the same fate as floyd patterson ali now wisely kept further away all the meanwhile demonstrating an incredible arsenal of risky defensive techniques he had been told that liston's eyes would tip him off when he was about to throw a heavy punch but even still his ability to evade punches seemed otherworldly he pulled back far beyond his base of support counting on his footwork to save him he avoided punches by turning his head to let them just skim his cheek he stepped back into southpaw as he slipped to increase the range of his head movement which allowed him an easier exit to the middle of the ring all the while he kept his hands by his hips goat enlisted into head hunting making him think that it would be so easy to finally shut that big mouth this has been the plan from the start to discourage liston by proving to him that his best weapon his jab was useless to quote dundee everything liston did came off that jab it was a timing thing if he hit you with that sucker everything else went in sequence so take it away from him by circling to the left and he can't hurt what he can't reach halfway through the round ali felt it was time to introduce listen to his own lead hand ali's whip-like jab did not hit as hard as listens but unlike listen's jab ali's was landing and so he could use it to damage liston's vision and more importantly set up harder punches ali caught liston with the number of lightning-fast lead hooks slamming them into the crevice between liston's shoulder and glove with surgical precision ali was incredible at both noting an opponent's tendencies to track their head movement and finding the small cracks in their guard in real time by the end of the round ellie felt comfortable enough to stand within range of listen's jabs dealing out as much punishment with his lead hand as he could when the two men walked back to their corners ali noticed that liston was still standing during the break man you're gonna wish you had rested all you could when we get past this next round thought ali in the second ali stayed within range of liston's punches so that he had more chances to engage himself but this more dangerous range required a whole new slew of defensive techniques and these were even riskier ali parried and cutlassed his punches just as they were about to connect or stifled them by smothering lysti's glove before he could even throw he framed off liston's shoulder to turn his punches off course then did the same to his head while blocking his vision ali took two damaging punches throughout the round both lead hooks although they failed to connect clean they shook alley nonetheless however ali had plenty of time to recover between each he was gambling big but so far liston had failed to deal him a hand bad enough to make him full but all the same the close range meant that liston could now effectively hurt ellie to the ropes so ali took a page from willy pep weaving as he linear shifted shuffling out to the inside to transfer to an open stance with his right foot full this allowed him to exit exchanges using routes normally exclusive to southpaws when this method failed ali would clinch to disrupt liston's balance as he threw tying him up to push or frame to throw his punches off balance all the while ellie used his very jab targeting either eye from all directions whipping his hand up from his hip corkscrewing it over listen's shoulder or shooting it out straight as an arrow the payoff was a tiny cut that opened over liston's left eye the first of his career ally was now certain he could safely turn up the heat in round three as it turns out he was right ellie came out and planted himself right in front of liston when liston threw ali stood his ground only taking small steps back as he fired off multiple he pivoted off the ropes and then planted himself right back at mid-range firing off a 1-2 before just shuffling out of the way of liston's explosive return hook he next double-jabbed into a signature cross step then tracked listen's head movement to nail him hard on the temple the most decisive blow of the fight so far thankfully for liston ali missed his follow-up hook but then ali pulled off the exact same sequence again stepping out of his cross step to land a thudding cross in the exact same spot this time listen's legs buckled but he managed to get his feet underneath him in time to retreat now ali chased listen to the ropes however rather than attack ali stayed at range staredlist and down and screamed at him whatever ali shouted at liston has been lost to time but it probably wasn't nice as listen reversed his retreat charging off the ropes ali backpedaled then rebounded back to land a swatting one too ballista now held his ground determined not to back up again no matter how much punishment he took he chased ali around the entire ring [Music] barreling forward headfirst to finally trap him near the same spot they begun liston next pounded tremendous hooks into ali's body ali tied him up and moved him to the middle of the ring and now was the challenger who refused to keep the distance ali stood his ground flooring to catch liston with combination after combination each time listen charged at ali ali would circle away until listen was spent then piece him up again [Music] but then near the end of the round liston caught ali coming out of a weave with the big left hook then with a tremendous uppercut as le tried to clinch these punches might have put many of liston's previous opponents out but what the world didn't know at the time was that ali actually possessed a legendary chin still it was best not to test it ali didn't take one more punch the rest of the round and as both men went back to their corner it was clear to all who was the worst for wear for the first time liston sat on his stool his corner frantically worked on his cut which ali had opened more and more with each landed shot during the course of the round in the fourth ellie planted himself even closer to liston despite this it was soon clear that both men were looking to slow the pace ali because he had only ever gone 10 rounds and hoped to preserve his stamina in case this fight went to full 15 and listen because he was exhausted but then something insane happened and it didn't happen mid-round but in ellie's corner after the bell ellie walked back to his corner squinting and blinking as he sat down he revealed to angelo that there was something in his eye for all intents and purposes ali was now totally blind to this day no one knows what got in ali's eyes while many suspected that liston's corner rubbed something on his gloves intentionally to blind ali it's far more likely that the ointment they had put on liston's previously damaged shoulder got in ellie's eyes angelo washed out ali's eyes as best as he could but ali in major pain asked for them to cut off his gloves so he could clean them out himself shouting i want the world to know there's dirty work afoot ali had been all but guaranteed to take the world championship in a decisive manner but only a maniac would go out against sunny liston while blind however angelo dundee believed denali so much he sent him out anyways yelling this is for the big one now get out there and run despite dundee's words ali tried to clinch it first as would become his custom in later years ali sacrificed his body to protect his head ali wouldn't be able to clinch much longer but he could still barely make out liston who looked like one big blur listed now sensed that something was wrong with ali and came at him with everything he had left but then ali suddenly came up with a plan if he couldn't know where liston was through sight maybe he could through touch he placed his glove on liston's head and used it to keep track of his position framing against liston's forehead and steering him as he turned away his use of multiple angles and stances allowed him to do this with either hand it wasn't much to hold out against a man that george foreman said hit harder than him but as it turns out it was just enough midway through the round things finally came into focus for ali the blur became a man and a man can be hurt by the end of the round ali was back to his normal self shouting out the press section i'm gonna shake up the world listen walk back to his corner knowing he had lost his last best chance to retain his title ellie backed up his words in the sixth setting up power shots off his jab by the middle of the round ali became the pursuer backing up the fearsome sunny liston ali had completely taken away listen's job through masterful counters and head movement and now he was free to land almost at will his predictions had come entirely true to quote the man himself clay comes out to meet listen and listen starts to retreat if listen goes back an inch farther he'll end up in a rainside seat clay swings with a left clay swings on the right look at young cassius carry the fight listen keeps backing but there's not enough room it's a matter of time and clay loads the boom now clay lands with a right what a beautiful swing and the punch raises the bear clear out of the ring yes the crowd did not dream when they laid down their money that they would see a total eclipse of the sunny as the world watched the two return to their corners it was clear to all that they were witnessing history but then something incredible and unexpected happened when the bell for the seventh ring liston stayed in his corner spitting his mouthpiece out to the floor at some point in the previous round one of liston's wide hooks had dislocated his shoulder he was unable to continue and the world had a new heavyweight champion unable to contain his excitement ali danced and ran around the ring before delivering his iconic post-fight interview i don't have a mark on the face yeah had accomplished his dream but his detractors were eagerly awaiting the rematch but for now ali was champion according to dundee a strange scene unfolded in the parking lot after the fight rocky marciano who had arrived to watch the fight with joe lewis was sprinting across the parking lot didn't you hear said rocky ali is going to get 1 million for his next fight i'm coming back stand back said louis i'm going to run too but thankfully nothing came with it you can check out my books on footwork power and defense linked below from the modern martial artist this has been david christian wishing you happy training

Channel: The Modern Martial Artist

Views: 934,681

Rating: 4.830421 out of 5

Keywords: Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston, boxing, I shook up the world, jab, technique breakdown, footwork, head movement, boxing analysis, heavyweight, classic boxing, golden age of boxing

Id: dRYSiXdiwPA

Length: 18min 6sec (1086 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 10 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/ExcellentLocal3501]

I never knew Liston dislocated his arm before this video, every other video makes it seem like he just quit out of frustration

[u/Hexys_broken_dreams]

I wake up every day in cold sweats, panic worried that this dude has stopped making videos. Dont ever stop modern martial artist!

[u/Gigantonigro]

Ali had a big ass neck. Probably why he was able to absorb that much punishment.