"Keep on punching Kid" Last thing George said to me after I met him in person in Toronto around 1996. What a kind big hearted man he is. I'll never forget shaking his mighty hand. A Canaduan Legend and a champion who made us all proud. Thank you George.
@@michaeltrumph121 only a hater would claim liston wasn't hurt. the slow mo shows it caught him coming in and shook him right down to his toes. he didn't even stay down for the count, so there was no fix. walcott simply lost the count.
@@driger888 As far as I'm concerned Liston took a dive. He was not hurt at all. Ali was a powder puff puncher and he threw that punch going backwards, it did not pack anywhere near the power necessary to hurt someone like Liston. Liston fought guys who hit twice as hard as Ali (Williams for example) and wasn't even fazed by their shots, so there's no way Ali could ever hurt him. Here's what happened in those fights, so u can understand better: Liston was a lot older than stated, he was around 40 years old at that time. He never believed for one second Ali has a chance against him, so he took him lightly and didn't even bother to train properly for the first fight. He also had a shoulder injury and tried to get the fight postponed, but the Athletic Commission wouldn't approve it. So the fight goes as planned. Liston is surprised by Ali's speed, he can't hit him. In an attempt to hit him, he hurts his shoulder even more and is forced to quit. After the match, he is embarrassed and questioned by everyone. He is humiliated. Determined to set things right, he trains like he never did in his life. Despite his age, he reaches peak form for the rematch. But the disaster strucks. Ali gets hernia and has to be operated. The rematch is postponed by 6 months. Given Liston's age, there was no way for him to stay in shape for that long. When matchday arrives, Liston knew he only had one shot, to KO Ali early. Anything else would probably mean another loss. So he tried to do just that. He lunged with his hook 10-15 times in that first round. Ali picked up on the fact that Liston was of balance when he did that. So as Liston tried it one more time, Ali clipped him. The only reason Liston fell was cause he was off balance. All Ali had to do was push him and Liston still would have fell down. Then he acted like he was hurt and waited for the judge to count. But he didn't got counted out, so he had no choice but to get up and continue. Then the ref stopped the fight. Paul Gallender, a guy who has researched Liston's life for more than 30 years explains way better than me what happened. Here's a story about it: archive.boxing.media/this_just_in_alis_hernia_killed_liston.html Jerry Izenberg also has a similar story. He doesn't think it was a fix, but that Liston simply wanted out of there. Start watching at around 16:00. ua-cam.com/video/gG4mXwB-oLs/v-deo.html Whether he took a dive or he simply took this opportunity to quit, the point is that punch was never strong enough to KO someone like Liston.
George was sitting at ringside, right near Jimmy Cannon. Both had clear views of the punch. Cannon said the shot connected, but "wasn't hard enough to squash a grape." Keep that in mind when you know Liston had never even been knocked down before, and that includes 2 fights against Cleveland Williams (whom Foreman sparred with later, and said hit as hard as anyone he ever faced), and Mike DeJohn, who Chuvalo himself said hit as hard as Foreman and harder than Frazier. The punch was real, but Liston took a dive. Didn't matter, Ali would have won the fight anyway. It would have been similar to the first fight. Liston lumbering around the ring, swinging at air, as Ali repeatedly peppered him with punches until Sonny was done.
George said his manager had a fight arranged with Sonny for early 1971, George said has Sonny confirmed this, manager said yes, but strangely enough Sonny had been dead a few days when took the phone call
I agree that it wasn't much of a punch. Ali got no leverage on it. It was an arm punch as Ali was moving backwards. However, Liston did not see it coming at all. He was legitimately stunned. Liston was up at the count of 8 or 9 but he was counted out anyway. I don't think he took a dive. His wife said that if Sonny took a dive, she never saw any of the money.
Liston got rocked early by Ali’s counter right over listons lunging jab. Liston lunged right into it. POW 💥. Liston should not have been chasing Ali around. That is exactly what Ali wants.
I disagree. When you see the effects of the punch in slow motion, you can see the muscles in Liston's back ripple with the blow. He didn't take a dive. Could he have got up? Possibly. But I think he realised he could never beat Clay.
George Chuvalo needs to look at the punch in slow motion. Plenty of power in that shot when Sonny Liston lunged in with a jab, which doubled the impact of Ali's punch. Ali was a scientific fighter. ua-cam.com/video/qFA3DFFavwk/v-deo.html
George is so right about the Liston dive (1st round)! I remember "ad nauseum " the numbers of sports casters calling the "dive" a real deal knockdown. I remember other pro atheletes of that time period swearing up and down that the Liston knockout was authentic and Ali's back-away right did the job. First place is that Liston was an "awesome", big, and tough fighter. Getting knock down, much less knocked out was something that had "NEVER" happened to this monster heavyweight, former heavyweight champ. He got hit with rights from power-puncher Cleveland Williams and barely blinked. No, Liston laid down in fight number 2 for sure. I believe the reason he did was that he realized from the first Ali fight that he wasn't going to win. Rather than take the beating that was surely going to happen, Liston took the easy way out and laid down from a punch that was not hard at all early in the fight. I will never forget that awesome fighter falling down from a light right to the head and watch him roll over like he had been hit with a sledge hammer. Fake knock out, not taking nothing from Ali's win, but that fight stunk to high heaven. Liston was not the champion that his predecessor (Floyd Patterson) was. Patterson went out fighting Liston, but he went out like the champion he was! Liston disgraced himself by his lay-down!
Sonny laid down ?He was on his feet fighting when the ref stopped the fight .It was the ref 's screw up not the fighters but as usual Sonny got blamed .
not only did liston take a dive, he didn't make it look very good either...getting up one knee and then rolling over back down...someone should have schooled him to make it look better, and you can see how upset ali was when sonny went down...he was upset because he knew it was a dive too....a very bad black eye for boxing on that night.
Legit hate people that talk as if they were there that night. It's legit laughable. Stfu. Stop acting like y'all know shit bcuz u saw someone state an opinion bcuz u don't handle opposite opinions.
Liston got rocked by Ali’s counter right over listons running or lunging jab. The rest was up to Liston in his head with his hands on the canvas to catch his fall. You clowns can regurgitate what you want. Liston got rocked. POW 💥
The mob ruled the fight game back in the 60's, so no doubt it is true. Chuvalo has said that the mob ordered him and his manager , Irv Ungerman, to throw his fight vs Ernie Terrell at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1965. Chuvalo refused, but lost the decision.
Same with that overrated slugger Rocky Marciano, fought in an era where the mob was ruling the streets, underworld, bookkeepers etc... nobody dared to win against marciano, they feered the mob.
@@osmang7401 Marciano was hurt a few times in fights. The great Archie Moore dropped Marciano in his last fight. Ezzard Charles definitely tried his best in both their fights. The second time they fought was a classic. Marciano fought in an era where there were no great big heavyweights, so he looked better than he was. If he had fought in the 60's and 70's, he would have been barely a top 6 or 7 guy.
George chuvalo was an almost great fighter,group aa.the body shots he put on ali in the first bout really did damage.george would have made an excellent hbo boxing color guy, if given the opportunity.
Sonny was on his feet fighting when the fight was stopped by the official .Sonny just got knocked down & got up ,their was no dive Sonny did nothing wrong .Jersey Joe (ref) just screwed up and as usual Sonny got blamed .He was on his feet fighting how thats a dive is beyond the beyond's.Sonny also continued fighting after this he fought right up until his death winning all but 1.
IMO Liston did get legitimately knocked down because he went down immediately the moment he got hit, no time to pretend to be hurt and fall down, the controversy was more of what he did while he was down, what looked fake was how he got to one knee and fell over, he probably wanted to be sure he was down for a 10 count, but he wasn't that hurt, look how he ducked Ali's punches, no one seriously hurt gets up and ducks punches that well. Yeah he threw the fight, he had death threats if he wouldn't.
*The 1st Ali vs Chavulo fight along with their 2nd fight proves that a prime 88' Iron Mike Tyson would have put a whoopin on this prime 66' Ali! Chavulo only had 17 days to prepare since Ernie Tyrell back out of their fight. If Chavulo had a sufficent ammount of time to prepare then we can only imagine how much better Chavulo would have been. If Chavulo could pound on prime Ali like this then prime 88' Iron Mike Tyson would have put a can of whoop ass on him! Chavulo stayed in front of Ali too much watching him to much be a spectator at times....Tyson would not have! Ali would NOT be able to keep his distance from a prime 88' Tyson like he was able to do at times vs Chavulo. Heck...If Chavulo had Tyson's power than Ali would have been KO'd in both fights! Ali is lucky to be alive, Tyson KO's Ali in 5!*
Chavulo had never been knocked down in his career . Tyson had many fight with 19-30 days in between. Tyson really never beat anybody that Ali did. Liston twice, Frazier twice, Foreman. I think Ali had tougher competition. Boxing hasn't been the same since Ali was champ, just not the same level of boxers
steven brown LISTEN CLOSELY.........*JUST BECAUSE ALI'S COMPETITION WAS TOUGHER DOESN'T MEAN THAT TYSON COULDN'T HAVE BEATEN THEM!!!!!! IF U FEEL TYSON WITH HIS HEAD SCREWED ON RIGHT WHEN HE HAD CUS & ROONEY IN HIS CORNER COULDN'T HAVE BEATEN ALI'S COMPETITION THEN UR JUST BEING RIDICULOUS!*
KJRawX no foreman, Frazier would of gave him a go. Foreman would win. Ali beat boxers just like Tyson and Ali wouldn't loose to a sad Buster Douglas in his prime at 24. When Tyson was losing to buster, Ali was beating people like Sonny Liston. No comparison. Holyfeld man handled Tyson, way more than he man handled a 45 year old Foreman. Imagine Forman at 40-0. With easy wins over Norton and Frazier. Tyson would have been a warm up for Foreman in those days. In 97, at 31, Tyson only beat McNeillly, Douglas, and Frank Bruno, to get the title back, then 2 loses to Holyfeild. 4 years prime is so short, compared to Ali's 15 year reign, with real champion's. Tyson beats Ali in 5? He beat Liston twice and Tyson never beat anyone as close as Patterson
KJRawX You are out of your mind. Explain Ali vs. Frazier (any of them) and Ali vs. Foreman. Ali would've not underestimated Tyson the way he did Chuvalo. You wrote "Heck...If Chavulo had Tyson's power than Ali would have been KO'd in both fights!" I say, heck... if I had Tyson's power I probably would've KO'd Ali. Ridiculous, right?
Chuvalo one to talk. Two chances against Ali. Without Ali there would no Chuvalo that anyone would care about. Liston took the dive. But had Liston not took it in the first round does anyone question what the outcome would have been anyway? Ali had nothing to do with the dive. But Chuvalo 's claim to fame is Muhammed Ali. Back to lockdown Canada
A badly beaten, humiliated and exhausted sonny Liston retires on his stool. Rematch, Liston retires on the canvas after being clocked by Ali’s counter right over Liston lunging jab. Liston basically ran right into it. No one blames Liston for not wanting to continue both matches. Especially the rematch after being rocked early in the first round. Ali would have murdered Liston that night. 💥
There is a really great CBC documentary on Chuvalo here on UA-cam if you can find it. Very interesting boxer.
"Keep on punching Kid"
Last thing George said to me after I met him in person in Toronto around 1996.
What a kind big hearted man he is.
I'll never forget shaking his mighty hand.
A Canaduan Legend and a champion who made us all proud.
Thank you George.
Look at the Phantom or Anchor punch in slow motion on youtube....and notice the transference of power from Ali's punch to Liston's back....Boom..
+Daveed Anderson
Why don't YOU shut the hell up your dumb self.
just a perfect punch
@@driger888
It had no power whatsoever. Only imbeciles think Liston was actually hurt.
@@michaeltrumph121 only a hater would claim liston wasn't hurt. the slow mo shows it caught him coming in and shook him right down to his toes. he didn't even stay down for the count, so there was no fix. walcott simply lost the count.
@@driger888
As far as I'm concerned Liston took a dive. He was not hurt at all. Ali was a powder puff puncher and he threw that punch going backwards, it did not pack anywhere near the power necessary to hurt someone like Liston.
Liston fought guys who hit twice as hard as Ali (Williams for example) and wasn't even fazed by their shots, so there's no way Ali could ever hurt him.
Here's what happened in those fights, so u can understand better:
Liston was a lot older than stated, he was around 40 years old at that time.
He never believed for one second Ali has a chance against him, so he took him lightly and didn't even bother to train properly for the first fight. He also had a shoulder injury and tried to get the fight postponed, but the Athletic Commission wouldn't approve it.
So the fight goes as planned. Liston is surprised by Ali's speed, he can't hit him. In an attempt to hit him, he hurts his shoulder even more and is forced to quit.
After the match, he is embarrassed and questioned by everyone. He is humiliated. Determined to set things right, he trains like he never did in his life. Despite his age, he reaches peak form for the rematch.
But the disaster strucks. Ali gets hernia and has to be operated. The rematch is postponed by 6 months.
Given Liston's age, there was no way for him to stay in shape for that long.
When matchday arrives, Liston knew he only had one shot, to KO Ali early. Anything else would probably mean another loss.
So he tried to do just that. He lunged with his hook 10-15 times in that first round. Ali picked up on the fact that Liston was of balance when he did that. So as Liston tried it one more time, Ali clipped him. The only reason Liston fell was cause he was off balance. All Ali had to do was push him and Liston still would have fell down.
Then he acted like he was hurt and waited for the judge to count. But he didn't got counted out, so he had no choice but to get up and continue. Then the ref stopped the fight.
Paul Gallender, a guy who has researched Liston's life for more than 30 years explains way better than me what happened.
Here's a story about it:
archive.boxing.media/this_just_in_alis_hernia_killed_liston.html
Jerry Izenberg also has a similar story. He doesn't think it was a fix, but that Liston simply wanted out of there. Start watching at around 16:00.
ua-cam.com/video/gG4mXwB-oLs/v-deo.html
Whether he took a dive or he simply took this opportunity to quit, the point is that punch was never strong enough to KO someone like Liston.
George was sitting at ringside, right near Jimmy Cannon. Both had clear views of the punch. Cannon said the shot connected, but "wasn't hard enough to squash a grape."
Keep that in mind when you know Liston had never even been knocked down before, and that includes 2 fights against Cleveland Williams (whom Foreman sparred with later, and said hit as hard as anyone he ever faced), and Mike DeJohn, who Chuvalo himself said hit as hard as Foreman and harder than Frazier.
The punch was real, but Liston took a dive. Didn't matter, Ali would have won the fight anyway. It would have been similar to the first fight. Liston lumbering around the ring, swinging at air, as Ali repeatedly peppered him with punches until Sonny was done.
I agree!
George said his manager had a fight arranged with Sonny for early 1971, George said has Sonny confirmed this, manager said yes, but strangely enough Sonny had been dead a few days when took the phone call
I agree that it wasn't much of a punch. Ali got no leverage on it. It was an arm punch as Ali was moving backwards. However, Liston did not see it coming at all. He was legitimately stunned. Liston was up at the count of 8 or 9 but he was counted out anyway. I don't think he took a dive. His wife said that if Sonny took a dive, she never saw any of the money.
The funny part is Ali asks Dundee "Did I hit him?!?" He hit Liston so damn fast
Liston was caught with a fine punch and knew he was in for another hiding, after Ali's mastery of him in the 1st.
Shut up, u clueless imbecile. It was a clear fix.
Michael Trumph Nah bud it was a legit punch
@@michaeltrumph121 Funny. I don't hear anything 100% about that. Weird
It was not powerful enough 😔.
Liston got rocked early by Ali’s counter right over listons lunging jab. Liston lunged right into it. POW 💥.
Liston should not have been chasing Ali around. That is exactly what Ali wants.
I disagree. When you see the effects of the punch in slow motion, you can see the muscles in Liston's back ripple with the blow. He didn't take a dive. Could he have got up? Possibly. But I think he realised he could never beat Clay.
That's called taking a dive! 😉
Sonny was way past his peak here, the Sonny between 58-61 was one of the best Heavies of all time
George Chuvalo needs to look at the punch in slow motion. Plenty of power in that shot when Sonny Liston lunged in with a jab, which doubled the impact of Ali's punch. Ali was a scientific fighter. ua-cam.com/video/qFA3DFFavwk/v-deo.html
U are clueless, sit down.
It was a DIVE.
The sheeple will all regurgitate that “Liston took a dive”.
Listen definitely took a dive. He had a great chin. No way he was legitimately knocked out by that punch.
George is so right about the Liston dive (1st round)! I remember "ad nauseum " the numbers of sports casters calling the "dive" a real deal knockdown. I remember other pro atheletes of that time period swearing up and down that the Liston knockout was authentic and Ali's back-away right did the job. First place is that Liston was an "awesome", big, and tough fighter. Getting knock down, much less knocked out was something that had "NEVER" happened to this monster heavyweight, former heavyweight champ. He got hit with rights from power-puncher Cleveland Williams and barely blinked. No, Liston laid down in fight number 2 for sure. I believe the reason he did was that he realized from the first Ali fight that he wasn't going to win. Rather than take the beating that was surely going to happen, Liston took the easy way out and laid down from a punch that was not hard at all early in the fight. I will never forget that awesome fighter falling down from a light right to the head and watch him roll over like he had been hit with a sledge hammer. Fake knock out, not taking nothing from Ali's win, but that fight stunk to high heaven. Liston was not the champion that his predecessor (Floyd Patterson) was. Patterson went out fighting Liston, but he went out like the champion he was! Liston disgraced himself by his lay-down!
Sonny laid down ?He was on his feet fighting when the ref stopped the fight .It was the ref 's screw up not the fighters but as usual Sonny got blamed .
not only did liston take a dive, he didn't make it look very good either...getting up one knee and then rolling over back down...someone should have schooled him to make it look better, and you can see how upset ali was when sonny went down...he was upset because he knew it was a dive too....a very bad black eye for boxing on that night.
Liston wanted people to know it was a dive.
Legit hate people that talk as if they were there that night. It's legit laughable. Stfu. Stop acting like y'all know shit bcuz u saw someone state an opinion bcuz u don't handle opposite opinions.
Liston got rocked by Ali’s counter right over listons running or lunging jab. The rest was up to Liston in his head with his hands on the canvas to catch his fall. You clowns can regurgitate what you want. Liston got rocked. POW 💥
We been conned. They made Ali into a star by getting Liston to throw two fights to him! Crooked!
Well said
Ali. Ali. Ali was tbe greatest world icon
Chuvello threw his two fights with Ali also to make Ali look great.
The mob ruled the fight game back in the 60's, so no doubt it is true. Chuvalo has said that the mob ordered him and his manager , Irv Ungerman, to throw his fight vs Ernie Terrell at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1965. Chuvalo refused, but lost the decision.
Same with that overrated slugger Rocky Marciano, fought in an era where the mob was ruling the streets, underworld, bookkeepers etc... nobody dared to win against marciano, they feered the mob.
@@osmang7401 Marciano was hurt a few times in fights. The great Archie Moore dropped Marciano in his last fight. Ezzard Charles definitely tried his best in both their fights. The second time they fought was a classic. Marciano fought in an era where there were no great big heavyweights, so he looked better than he was. If he had fought in the 60's and 70's, he would have been barely a top 6 or 7 guy.
George chuvalo was an almost great fighter,group aa.the body shots he put on ali in the first bout really did damage.george would have made an excellent hbo boxing color guy, if given the opportunity.
He fought every body
Something was going on but Ali did catch Sonny with a good short punch, right on the button. Sonny stayed down because of a threat to him by someone.
*OR* maybe he quit because he was going to take another beating from a younger, faster fighter, and why not just take the money and run.
Thanks for telling the absolute truth Sonny R.I. POWER took a dive he was way to deep in the mob.
Sonny was on his feet fighting when the fight was stopped by the official .Sonny just got knocked down & got up ,their was no dive Sonny did nothing wrong .Jersey Joe (ref) just screwed up and as usual Sonny got blamed .He was on his feet fighting how thats a dive is beyond the beyond's.Sonny also continued fighting after this he fought right up until his death winning all but 1.
If sonny had not taken a dive and beat clay...clay would probably have never gotten the fame he got...very strange how things work
I’ve always said Liston took a dive,.. look at him wen he was down, similar to Jack Johnson,..
IMO Liston did get legitimately knocked down because he went down immediately the moment he got hit, no time to pretend to be hurt and fall down, the controversy was more of what he did while he was down, what looked fake was how he got to one knee and fell over, he probably wanted to be sure he was down for a 10 count, but he wasn't that hurt, look how he ducked Ali's punches, no one seriously hurt gets up and ducks punches that well. Yeah he threw the fight, he had death threats if he wouldn't.
The sheeple regurgitate and call it a “dive”.
I believe him.
World not "Wold"
Love George, but I disagree....
How about this turdwipe....go crawl back into the toilet you came from.
He is right.
@@michaeltrumph121 Send me footage please
*The 1st Ali vs Chavulo fight along with their 2nd fight proves that a prime 88' Iron Mike Tyson would have put a whoopin on this prime 66' Ali! Chavulo only had 17 days to prepare since Ernie Tyrell back out of their fight. If Chavulo had a sufficent ammount of time to prepare then we can only imagine how much better Chavulo would have been. If Chavulo could pound on prime Ali like this then prime 88' Iron Mike Tyson would have put a can of whoop ass on him! Chavulo stayed in front of Ali too much watching him to much be a spectator at times....Tyson would not have! Ali would NOT be able to keep his distance from a prime 88' Tyson like he was able to do at times vs Chavulo. Heck...If Chavulo had Tyson's power than Ali would have been KO'd in both fights! Ali is lucky to be alive, Tyson KO's Ali in 5!*
Chavulo had never been knocked down in his career . Tyson had many fight with 19-30 days in between. Tyson really never beat anybody that Ali did. Liston twice, Frazier twice, Foreman. I think Ali had tougher competition. Boxing hasn't been the same since Ali was champ, just not the same level of boxers
steven brown LISTEN CLOSELY.........*JUST BECAUSE ALI'S COMPETITION WAS TOUGHER DOESN'T MEAN THAT TYSON COULDN'T HAVE BEATEN THEM!!!!!! IF U FEEL TYSON WITH HIS HEAD SCREWED ON RIGHT WHEN HE HAD CUS & ROONEY IN HIS CORNER COULDN'T HAVE BEATEN ALI'S COMPETITION THEN UR JUST BEING RIDICULOUS!*
KJRawX no foreman, Frazier would of gave him a go. Foreman would win. Ali beat boxers just like Tyson and Ali wouldn't loose to a sad Buster Douglas in his prime at 24. When Tyson was losing to buster, Ali was beating people like Sonny Liston. No comparison. Holyfeld man handled Tyson, way more than he man handled a 45 year old Foreman. Imagine Forman at 40-0. With easy wins over Norton and Frazier. Tyson would have been a warm up for Foreman in those days. In 97, at 31, Tyson only beat McNeillly, Douglas, and Frank Bruno, to get the title back, then 2 loses to Holyfeild. 4 years prime is so short, compared to Ali's 15 year reign, with real champion's. Tyson beats Ali in 5? He beat Liston twice and Tyson never beat anyone as close as Patterson
KJRawX You are out of your mind. Explain Ali vs. Frazier (any of them) and Ali vs. Foreman. Ali would've not underestimated Tyson the way he did Chuvalo.
You wrote "Heck...If Chavulo had Tyson's power than Ali would have been KO'd in both fights!" I say, heck... if I had Tyson's power I probably would've KO'd Ali. Ridiculous, right?
+hfontanez98 This just may be the most idiotic comment I have ever read in my entire life! Congratz! rollin eyes
Chuvalo one to talk. Two chances against Ali. Without Ali there would no Chuvalo that anyone would care about. Liston took the dive. But had Liston not took it in the first round does anyone question what the outcome would have been anyway? Ali had nothing to do with the dive. But Chuvalo 's claim to fame is Muhammed Ali. Back to lockdown Canada
George fought all the greats in his era not only Ali. LOL.....Ali knew the dive was on and so did Sonny! it was a mob fix!
A badly beaten, humiliated and exhausted sonny Liston retires on his stool.
Rematch, Liston retires on the canvas after being clocked by Ali’s counter right over Liston lunging jab. Liston basically ran right into it.
No one blames Liston for not wanting to continue both matches. Especially the rematch after being rocked early in the first round. Ali would have murdered Liston that night. 💥
Gorge chvolo says what he want he lost both fights with ali
what fool? LOL
Chuvello always jealous of Ali’s ability, toughness and boxing intellect.