AP Sells Out And Spin Doctors "ICONIC" Ali-Liston Moment

50 years ago today...Muhammad Ali threw a "phantom punch" that many ringsiders said "couldn't have crushed a very old and tired egg."

In other words, Sonny Liston took a dive. The theory was that Liston was scared shitless of the newly-renamed Ali's Muslim pals. Let's remember that this was 1965, and "Black Muslims" were openly talking about killing the white devils, and they weren't too happy with slave-name Negroes like Liston.

Malcolm X, a very scary figure in these violent times, had been murdered in February of 1965 by warring Muslim factions, so Liston had every reason to worry on a night in May of that year.

But ALL this is ignored by AP in promoting a photo they are selling!

That's the disgusting media.

They spin the news to self-promote an ICONIC picture that happens to be ICONIC because THEY own it.

They only faintly acknowledge that a photographer for Sports Illustrated, sitting next to the AP guy, took almost the same image, and in color. But it's not ICONIC because they aren't SELLING IT.

Note the copy that goes with this pussy of an article.

There's nothing about Liston taking a dive, nothing about the Muslims, and very selective quotes from Ali and Liston. Ali would at times name that short, almost impossible to see shot the "anchor punch" and Liston, once in a while, would hint that he wished he had not blown his chance to silence his rival.

What you have here, is revisionist history. It's an ad masquerading as an article. It's a respected company being caught being spin doctors and shills, and twisting the truth.

If you go to the usual suspects and watch this very short fight, it looks like Liston is waiting for the first punch to land anywhere near his face. His fall to the canvas isn't too convincing. This is a man who had NEVER been knocked out before.

See that Ali's awkward counter punch does not seem to have much on it. Yet Liston goes down and then lies on his back like he's resting. Without looking dazed, and without his legs betraying any sign of his equilibrium being off, Liston conveniently gets up just after being counted out.

For a little added peculiar fun, the ref allows the fight to continue for a little while, apparently while trying to determine if his count matched up to an official at ringside. Oh, we agree, the count of ten was reached? Fight over.

Liston, not looking the least bit hurt, accepts the decision. Most fighters would've been throwing a fit if they didn't get a fair chance to continue.

Ultimately, the truth does stare at you from the ICONIC photograph. It's an enraged Ali demanding that Liston get up and stop shamming. Ali wanted to really put a beating on Liston.

Now, all he could do was invent some story about a special "punch." What was the alternative? Soil the sport and his reputation by declaring Liston took a dive? Not when the dive was most likely done because Black Muslims scared Sonny with their death threats.

Nick Tosches, a rock writer who moved from a bio of Jerry Lee Lewis to one on Liston, described Liston's reaction to the shot as: "The halting, unnatural, and awkward choreography of a man who is performing a fall rather than the sundering spontaneity of a man knocked down unawares. The fight was not merely a fix...it was a flaunted fix."

Let's remember that Ali nearly quit during the first fight with Liston, because Liston had shoved a liniment-coated glove into Ali's eyes. Nearly blinded, "Cassius Clay," as he was called back then, had to be pushed back into center ring by his trainer. He stayed away from the hulking Liston till his sight cleared. Though he went on to batter Liston into quitting, he wanted the full satisfaction of beating the shit out of Sonny and knocking him cold, and doing it under his new name, Muhammad Ali. Sonny took a dive instead.

But AP does not go into the controversy around this fight, or the two most prevalent theories...that he didn't go down on a significant punch, but instead took a dive in order to a) make some Las Vegas betting money with organized crime or b) avoid death by Black Muslims. As to the latter, well, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was disgusted when Cassius Clay joined the Black Muslims and changed his name: "When Cassius Clay joined the Black Muslims...he became a champion of racial segregation. And that's what we are fighting against."

The ICONIC photo is Ali furious at being cheated. It's also for sale by AP, who cheat history by giving a selectively perfumed account of what really happened.