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This was one of the most controversial fights of all time. Watch the one-round fight on youtube.com, and you’ll see why: Ali won the fight, despite landing only two punches. It doesn’t seem possible. Where was the knockout punch? This is the famous “phantom” punch that Ali called his “anchor” punch. He would later explain that his punch was so fast, people couldn’t see it. That a magazine had timed the punch at 4/100 of a second.

Here’s the suspicious part. Ali stood over Liston, waving for him to get up. Referee Jersey Joe Walcott didn’t start his count because Ali was running around and not in his corner. As Walcott went to check with the timekeeper, Liston appeared to get up slightly, before falling back. When Liston got up and it appeared that the fight would resume, the fight was stopped as Walcott was told that the timekeeper had reached ten seconds with Liston on the canvas.

Sugar quotes Ali in The Sweet Science Goes Sour: “Once he went down, I got excited and forgot the rules. I know I should have gone to a neutral corner. I was having fun.”

Come on. Ali was in the ring with an intimidating boxer. Despite being only twenty-three years old, he knew the rules regarding knockouts. Even if he wanted to give people their money’s worth, in light of the fact that everyone thought the first fight was fixed, he should have gone to a neutral corner.Walcott, the referee, always maintained that it was no phantom punch, but a short right to the chin. Was the punch capable of ending the bout? That is something that Liston took to the grave.

My opinion is that there had to be a conspiracy. There is no other rational explanation. One popular reason is that Liston over-trained for the aborted rematch. Norman Mailer explained in his 1971 Life magazine article:

The second time Liston trained, he aged as a fighter. He had a sparring partner, Amos Lincoln, who was one of the better heavyweights in the country. They had wars with one another every afternoon in the gym. By the day before the fight, Liston was as relaxed and sleepy and dopey as a man in a steam bath. He had fought his heart out in training.... And their fight created a scandal, for Liston ran into a short punch in the first round and was counted out, unable to hear the count. The ref and timekeeper missed signals with one another while Clay stood over the fallen Liston screaming, “Get up and fight!”

Well, now, I haven’t seen a phantom punch (or a glancing blow) pack that much strength outside of a Bugs Bunny cartoon, but here are what the conspiracy theorists say about that second fight. One popular theory is that Liston owed a ton of money to organized crime figures, so he bet against himself,and didn’t want to risk landing a lucky punch. Another popular theory is that Liston was afraid of the Black Muslims. Torres wrote that Liston, in his estimation, quit in both fights. In the first, because he was completely frustrated; in the second, it was his subconscious mind. Deep down, wrote Torres, “Liston feared Muhammad Ali. And, even more, he feared the Black Muslims.”

Many of the greatest boxers of all time believe that at least the second of the two fights was not on the level. Liston’s widow believes the second fight was fixed, and that Sonny took that secret to his grave. One thing that’s for sure is that the two boxers took different directions in their lives after Walcott raised Ali’s hands in Lewiston. Ali’s draft status changed, and he became a symbol for a generation. In time, Muhammad Ali would become one of the most famous athletes and beloved figures in the world. Sonny Liston, on the other hand, boxed for a few more years, and then, in the final days of 1970, he was found dead in his home at the age of thirty-eight, in mysterious circumstances. The investigation couldn’t prove much, and many people claimed it was an overdose. But others believe that Liston was murdered. The man had many underworld contacts, so it wouldn’t have been a total shock if that was the case.