It was about three in the morning and Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston was in a deep sleep, when he was violently awakened by someone pounding ferociously on his front door.
Startled, Liston jumped out of bed and ran to the door, still half asleep.
When Liston opened the door, he was blinded by the bright lights of a TV news crew as someone screamed at him to “get out the champ’s house!”
As his eyes focused, Liston saw Bundini Brown, (of “Float like a butterfly, sting like bee” fame.) ranting and raving that Liston had no right to be in the champ’s house and insisting that he vacate it immediately.
As Liston looked past Brown, he was able to see the culprit that was behind this bizarre scene, standing on his front lawn, grinning.
His name, at the time, was Cassius Marcellus Clay. He was the brash, 22 year old challenger Liston was scheduled to face on February 25th, 1964 at the Miami Convention Center.
This was unheard of in boxing. The Heavyweight Champion of the World was being shown absolutely no respect by Clay, and Liston was furious.
Just like Clay wanted him to be.
Clay, a 7-1 underdog, continued to torment Liston, or as Clay referred to him, “the ugly old bear,” throughout the days leading up to the fight. So much so, that Clay was fined $1500 for causing a scene at the weigh in when he lunged at Liston ranting that Sonny Liston would fall in eight.
Sonny Liston became increasingly frustrated and infuriated as the days went on, and he couldn’t wait to get Clay in the ring.
On hindsight, one can see that Cassius Clay was playing Sonny Liston like Itzhak Perlman would play a Stradivarius.
It was such a foregone conclusion that Clay would lose to Liston, that on the night of the fight, the Miami Convention Center was barely half full.
It was a wild night, with Clay fighting one round basically blind after Liston allegedly rubbed astringent in the young challenger’s eyes, but after six rounds, Liston, claiming a shoulder injury, refused to come out for the seventh round.
As Clay screamed, “I shook up the world,” a new champion was crowned, and a new era for boxing had begun.
And that night also witnessed the symbolic death of Cassius Marcellus Clay, and the birth of a man who would go through many trials and tribulations on his journey to become one of the most respected men to ever compete in this, or any other sport, Muhammad Ali.
“That All You Got George?”
In 1967, after refusing to be inducted into the army, Muhammad Ali was stripped of his title and suspended from boxing.
It was a legal battle that went on for over three years and went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in Ali’s favor, and exonerated him.
In 1970 Ali regained his license, and set his sights on recapturing the title he felt was rightfully his from the reigning Heavyweight Champion, Joe Frazier. Ali insisted that Frazier had no right to call himself the champion since he had never beaten Ali.
After two quick victories over Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena, the stage was set for “The Fight of The Century,” between Ali and Frazier.
Frazier soundly defeated the trash talking Ali, and the ‘Louisville Lip’ was silenced.
It would be three more years before Ali would work his way back to another shot at the title. Only this time the man Ali would have to beat destroyed the only two men to have defeated Ali, Joe Frazier and Ken Norton. To regain his title, Ali would have to beat the man known at the time as the hardest puncher in boxing, Big George Foreman.
Promoted by a wild haired newcomer named Don King, who had somehow convinced the president of Zaire, Mobutu Sésé Seko, to put up the money and host the fight in his country, the “The Rumble in the Jungle,” as dubbed by King, quickly took on a life of its own.
Ali, in his typical fashion, took great pleasure in taunting Foreman throughout the days leading up to the fight, as did the citizens of Zaire, who did not care for Foreman. Cries of "Ali bomaye!" resonated throughout the land. Translated it means "Ali, kill him!"
According to legend, Ali had found out that Foreman was superstitious, and he played on those superstitions by showing up at Foreman’s training facility with a witch doctor who quickly, and with much fanfare, cast a spell on the brooding Foreman.
Afterwards, Foreman who had never been cut was cut during training, and Foreman was convinced that the spell had worked and wanted out of Zaire.
Don King, the legend continues, in an attempt to stop Foreman from leaving the country, showed up at Foreman’s hotel room with his own witch doctor, who ceremoniously countered the spell Ali’s witch doctor had put on Big George.
Well, Foreman stayed in Zaire, and on October 30, 1974, broadcast via satellite worldwide, Ali finally met Foreman in the ring.
Much to everyone’s surprise, Ali took to lying on the ropes for the better part of eight rounds, absorbing tremendous punishment in the process. And, unbelievably, he continued to taunt Foreman. So much so, that at one point, he literally grabbed George around his neck and violently pulled him toward him.
Ali mocked Foreman. “That all you got George? They told me you could punch George, and that’s all you got?”
In the blistering heat, Foreman spent all his energy trying to take Ali out, but he failed, and as the eighth round was drawing to a close, Ali suddenly sprang off the ropes and began pummeling Foreman. It ended with an overhand right that toppled the mighty Foreman. At 2:58 of the eighth round Ali was once again the Heavyweight Champion of the world, and a technique know as “rope-a-dope” had been born.
“The Next Sugar Ray Leonard.”
It was 1986, and life was good for Donald Curry.
Having defeated Jun-Suk Hwang on February 13th, 1983, Curry had claimed the vacant WBA Welterweight title.
Then, on February 4th, 1984, Curry met Marlon Starling for the WBC and IBF versions of that crown. Curry had beaten Starling once before by split decision, and in the second fight, Curry beat him again, this time by unanimous decision, thus becoming the undisputed Welterweight Champion of the World.
After beating Starling, Curry had seven successful title defenses under his belt when he inked a very lucrative multi-fight contract with Showtime and was scheduled to face Lloyd Honeyghan in his first fight under the Showtime agreement.
Honeyghan, a European champion, had done little to convince anyone that he stood a chance against a Champion with the pedigree of Donald Curry.
But Honeyghan, who had traveled to America to face Curry, had no intention of becoming Curry’s next victim. And on September 27th, 1986, Lloyd Honeyghan showed Curry and everyone else that he had come to fight.
After an uneventful “feeling out” first round, Honeyghan rocked Curry in the second, and although Curry tried hard to mount an offense in the next few rounds, Honeyghan would not be denied.
By the end of the sixth round, Donald Curry, his lip split open, a nasty cut over his left eye, and a broken nose, returned to his corner shaking his head.
There would be no seventh round for Donald Curry.
Jay Larkin, the former Senior Vice President for Sports and Event programming for Showtime Networks, and the man who signed the multi-fight contract with Curry, remembers the night well.
"Donald Curry,” Larkin recalled, “was being touted as the next Sugar Ray Leonard. He was a slick boxer/puncher with a great personality, and he was coming into his prime in a very exciting, now legendary era that had Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Mugabi, Duran and others all circling around 145 to 160 in mega matchups. We had only gotten into boxing a few months prior to Curry/Honeyghan which was only our first or second live fight, the first fight being a delayed broadcast of Hagler/Mugabi PPV.
“We were babies in the boxing business,” Larkin continued, “and it was my first fight as the guy in charge of boxing for the network. We were ecstatic that we had signed boxings hottest prospect to a multi-fight contract and did it under the nose of mighty HBO. But, a few rounds in, even a newbie like me could see that our new star was getting pummeled and had no answer for Honeyghan.”
“The next day,” Larkin said laughing, “in the steam room at Caesars Atlantic City, as I was contemplating my career going down with Curry, out of the fog came a cackle of laughter, and a voice with a heavy cockney accent said, ‘not only did we beat Curry, but I beat Bob Arum too.’ It was Honeyghan’s manager/promoter, the legendary Mickey Duff.”
“Thus began a string of upsets that earned us the title, the network of upsets.”
“Vernon Who?”
It was January 26th, 2002 when Vernon Forrest, know as “The Viper” stepped through the ropes at Madison Square Garden in New York City to face the WBC Welterweight Champion of the world, a man, who at 38 - 0 was considered by many to be the best fighter pound for pound in the world, “Sugar” Shane Mosley.
Not many people gave Forrest, a little known fighter at the time, any chance at all against Mosley. However, one bit of information made some boxing analysts wonder if Forrest knew something about Mosley that no one else had been able to figure out, because Vernon had stopped Shane, considered the best pound for pound amateur at the time, from going to the Olympics in 1992, by beating him in the Olympic trials.
So, the big question was, would Mosley avenge his only loss, or suffer another defeat at the hands of “The Viper?”
As the first round unfolded, Mosley took control of the fight and he hurt Forrest with a crushing right hand. “Sugar” Shane seemed to have Forrest figured out, and he easily took the first round.
But, in the second round, things took a wildly different turn. As the second round began, a clash of heads left Mosley with a cut along his hairline. Although it didn’t seem to threaten his vision, it was the first time that Mosley had been cut in his career, and it clearly bothered and distracted him.
Forrest continued to press Mosley, and caught him with some solid shots as he backed the “Sugar” man into the corner. With Mosley pinned in the corner, Forrest unleashed and landed a devastating right uppercut and Mosley literally crumbled to the canvas. Showing a champions heart, Mosley struggled to his feet, but he was in a world of trouble as Forrest came in for the kill. Landing almost at will, Forrest dropped Mosley again. Amazingly, Mosley survived the round.
As the third round began, it was easy to see that Mosley was drowning in the deep water as Forrest continued to come forward, landing power shot after power shot. It was becoming increasingly clear that short of something bordering on miraculous, Mosley was not going to win this fight, and after twelve grueling rounds, Vernon Forrest was the new WBC Welterweight Champion of the world.
“Instant Karma Gonna Get You”
Six months after taking Shane Mosley’s title, Vernon Forrest successfully defended it against Mosley in the rematch, taking a unanimous decision by a wide margin.
During the same time, a Nicaraguan fighter named, Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga walked into Don King’s office and asked King to give him a bunch of blank contracts to sign. When King laughed and asked him who he wanted to fight, Mayorga replied, “It doesn’t matter, just fill them in.”
Mayorga was relatively unknown at the time, but he was quite a character, and much was made of the fact that he smoked cigarettes and drank beer during training. He was the exact polar opposite of Vernon Forrest, who was known as a quiet man who took his training very seriously.
Well, Don King filled in one of those contracts, and on January 25th, 2003, almost a year to the day that Forrest annihilated Mosley, “El Matador” met “The Viper” in the ring at the Pechanga Entertainment Center in Temecula, California.
When the bell rang for round one, Mayorga charged Forrest like an enraged lion, winging wide round house punches from every conceivable angle.
Forrest couldn’t keep Mayorga off and seemed overwhelmed by Mayorga’s attack. When Forrest finally landed a solid shot, Mayorga dropped his hands to his sides, stuck out his chin and invited Forrest to hit him again, and again, and yet again, to no avail.
After hitting Mayorga with three solid unanswered shots that had no affect, Forrest looked at Mayorga in stunned disbelief. Mayorga smirked, moved in, and pinned Forrest against the ropes. Landing shot after shot, Mayorga dropped Forrest like a sack of potatoes.
Forrest would survive the round and would also survive the second round. But the third round would be all she wrote for “The Viper.” Dropped again by Mayorga, and getting up on very wobbly legs, referee Marty Denkin mercifully stopped the fight at 2:08 of the third round.
When the new Champ returned to his corner, Larry Merchant handed him a cigarette, which Mayorga smoked during the post fight interview, and then presumably went off for some brewskies.
“The Grand Daddy of Them All”
It has been spoken about and debated since the day it happened, so it has lost its luster to a certain degree, but for those of us who witnessed it, it was as unbelievable as watching a guy with a slingshot drop a giant named Goliath.
Mike Tyson had gone through the heavyweight division like a Category 5 hurricane, with the same disastrous result for anyone unfortunate enough to step through the ropes to challenge him. He had taken the title from Michael Spinks in 91 seconds of the first round, becoming the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World.
He hit so hard, that many of his opponents would stumble around the ring in a state of semi consciousness as they struggled to get to their feet, only to fall again.
Enter James “Buster” Douglas.
Douglas, a relatively unknown journeyman fighter, traveled to Tokyo to face this “Iron” man, as a 41 to 1 underdog.
It was a ridiculous match-up, and you couldn’t find anyone who thought that Douglas stood a chance against Tyson.
But Douglas did something that no one else had ever really done with Tyson, he fought back. Unlike so many others, he didn’t seem afraid, and he refused to be bullied. He kept Tyson on the end of his jab, and nailed him with uppercuts every time Tyson tried to bull his way in.
The constant barrage of punches from Douglas seemed to confuse Tyson, and as Tyson’s eyes began to swell, it was obvious that they were also taking their toll.
But Tyson’s power made him a constant danger, and in the eighth round he caught Douglas against the ropes and dropped him. Many have argued that Douglas was given a long count, but be that as it may, according to referee Octavio Meyran, whose opinion was the only one that mattered, Douglas beat the count.
Then in the tenth round, the impossible happened. With Tyson desperately trying to press Douglas back to the ropes, one of Douglas’ uppercuts rocked Tyson back on his heels, almost out on his feet. Douglas seized the opportunity and pummeled a seemingly defenseless Tyson with a five punch combination, that culminated with an overhand right that sent this Zeus of the boxing world to the canvas, flat on his back.
As a totally disoriented Tyson crawled on the floor grabbing at his mouthpiece, it was obvious that he wasn’t going to make it, and that James “Buster” Douglas, of all people, was about to be crowned, the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World.
And “Iron” Mike Tyson would never be the same fighter again.
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