Featured Exhibit

As newspaper after newspaper scrutinized what they dubbed the "phantom punch", Muhammad Ali maintained that it was a legitimate win--at least on his side of things. Ali stated that he yelled at Liston to get up for a reason, he told the New York Post on May 27:

"Didn't you hear the people hollering 'fix'? Didn't you hear them hollering 'fake' as soon as he hit the floor? I wanted the world to know I wasn't satisfied with him falling. I wanted the world to know I had nothing to do with them thinking it was a fix."

The Maine State Athletic Commission inevitably opened an investigation into the validity of the fight, but never found anything suggesting it was a fix. The fight was considered fair, and Muhammad Ali was still the Heavyweight Champion in the eyes of The Ring Magazine and most boxing fans and experts. In spite of this vindication, the legitimacy of the fight would continue to be questioned for decades to come, and Ali's image would only continue to be tarnished by the media. It was not long after his second victory over Sonny Liston that the young champion agreed to fight Floyd Patterson, another former heavyweight champion. Patterson was immediately touted as the "great black hope" that would take the title away from the Nation of Islam and bring it back to a "true" champion. 

Cassius Only Wants His 'Day' - The New York Post, May 27, 1965