The birth of Trashtalk! Saturday marks the 59th anniversary of the youngest boxing world champion Cassius Clay flying like a butterfly and stinging like a bee

Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, became the youngest heavyweight boxing champion of the world on February 25, 1964. That night, he flew like a butterfly and stung like a bee. It was one of the most terrifying heavyweights in boxing history, Sonny Liston.

A bike thief gave birth to a legend

He was more than just a boxing world champion. Muhammad Ali is known as one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century, and for the black community in particular, he became more than just an athlete.

Cassius Clay was a young black boy living in Louisville, Kentucky during a difficult time of racial segregation. At the age of 12, he made a decision that would prove to be his undoing and make him the biggest star in boxing history. After his bicycle was stolen, he went to the gym and began to train boxing.

It only took six years for Clay to achieve 100 wins in amateur boxing, a slew of individual awards and even a Gold Medal in the welterweight division at the 1960 Rome Olympics. The unknown thief of his bike created a true legend. But it wasn’t until professional boxing that he really shone.

In his duel with the fearsome Liston, no one gave the brash Clay a chance

One of the scariest men in boxing history reigned supreme, with many historians claiming he was even scarier than the fearsome Mike Tyson. The then 31-year-old Sonny Liston terrified his opponents with just a look and had the aura of a boxer with the hardest punch.

That was tasted by the legendary Floyd Patterson, who in both WBC world heavyweight title fights did not even look past Liston in the second round. So when his title fight with Cassie Clay was announced for February 25, 1964, no one gave the skinny youngster the slightest chance.

Clay gave the ideas for their fight by defeating the legendary Archie Moore, whom he said could be his grandfather, and knocking him out in the fourth round. As promised, he delivered. This intrigued Liston enough to give the nod for a fight with the young Clay.

The 22-year-old Clay’s confidence was sky-high, and he set the stage for today’s shaky fight with his grandiose declarations. The media loved him, but few took him seriously. Liston had the aura of an unbeatable boxer, a criminal with ties to the mob, and it was hard to imagine that Clay could ever threaten him.

After a shakeup in Liston’s direction, the entire public turned against him

Clay stormed into Sonny Liston’s gym one day, where he put on a big show for the media, and fisticuffs almost ensued. A memorable press conference then changed the public’s view of the young braggart.

“He’s not knocking me out. If he does, I’ll announce it to the world that I’ll kiss his feet in the ring, get down on my knees and tell him he’s the best and fly out of the country on the first plane out of the country,” Clay shouted in his typically convincing manner. This was the first time all the media turned against him and Liston became the man everyone wanted to win.

Then, before the fight, he answered the question of how he would cope with the power of the ‘unbeatable’ Liston with a quote that has gone down in boxing history. “I will fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee. His hands can’t hit what he can’t even see.”

Clay flew like a butterfly and stung like a bee in the ring

And once again, as promised, he delivered. From the first seconds of the match, Liston pounced on the brash challenger, looking to end the match as soon as possible. However, Clay danced around the ring and dodged his opponent’s hard bombs so quickly that the champion looked almost embarrassed at the punches that flew through the air. Towards the end of the round, Clay then landed a hard combination and shocked everyone involved.

Liston did take the reins of the fight in the second round and took the round for himself, but Clay dominated the third again. He landed so hard early in the round that Liston’s knees buckled and for the first time in his career he got a gash near his eye. Then at the end of the fourth round Clay came to the corner with his eyes burning excruciatingly and his vision only blurry.

There was speculation that Liston’s corner had intentionally used an unidentified product to cause Clay’s problem. The speculation was later confirmed by Liston’s former opponents, who were also reportedly experiencing the same problem. Liston’s ties to the mob then only supported the potential charges.

Thus, for the fifth round, Clay practically ran away from his opponent and later revealed that he had only seen the outlines of his opponent. Before the sixth round, Clay’s corner then devoted the entire intermission to flushing out his charge’s eyes. By the sixth round Clay was in complete control and visibly shook his opponent several times.

At just 22 years old, he became the youngest heavyweight boxing champion of the world

He then refused to go into the seventh round, making Clay the youngest heavyweight boxing world champion up to that point. His victory dance, which was called the ‘Ali shuffle’, then went around the world.

“I’m the champion, I’m the best that ever lived. I don’t have a mark on my face and I just beat Sonny Liston. And I’m only 22 years old. “I rocked the world, ” he shouted into the microphone immediately after the fight.

His monologue then continued at the post-fight press conference, where the reporters present were not actually given a chance to ask questions. A legend was created that night. That night, everyone started to respect him!

Source: Cassius Clay – documentary (1970), Wikipedia