Boxing · 1964 · Miami Beach, USA
I Shook Up the World
A 22-year-old challenger at 7-to-1 against takes the heavyweight title when Sonny Liston stays on his stool for the seventh round.
Clay def. Liston, TKO round 7
Result
7-1 against Clay
Betting odds
22
Age
Sonny Liston was among the most intimidating heavyweight champions there had been, a bruising puncher who had taken the former champion Floyd Patterson apart twice, inside a round each time. Cassius Clay, the 22-year-old former Olympic gold medallist who challenged him on 25 February 1964, was rated so unlikely to win that oddsmakers priced him at 7-to-1 against.
Clay used speed and movement to stay out of range of Liston's power through the early rounds, opened cuts around Liston's eye and built a clear lead on the scorecards. After the sixth, Liston, his shoulder injured and unable to continue effectively, stayed on his stool and did not answer the bell for the seventh, handing Clay a technical knockout.
Clay leaned over the ropes shouting 'I am the greatest! I shook up the world!' at a press corps that had almost unanimously picked him to lose. Within days he announced his conversion to Islam and the adoption of the name Muhammad Ali.
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