MYTHICAL MATCHUP: SONNY LISTON VS. MIKE TYSON
Goossen: “If you live long enough, you get to see anything and everything. That was the fastest, hardest-hitting thing in the ring I ever saw, and Liston aged before our eyes tonight with that knockdown. He was hurt, BAD!” Sugar: “Marty Marshall claimed he floored Liston in their second fight, but the records do not show that. He was the one floored multiple times. This is Liston’s first trip to the canvas.” Fernandez: “Like Schmeling said about Louis, I see something, and what I always saw with Liston was that Sonny was wide open on the attack and drops his hands thinking he is invulnerable. With Tyson, that is flirting with disaster. I’m thinking now Gerald McClellan vs. Julian Jackson, Rubin Carter vs. Emile Griffith and Foreman vs. Frazier – tables turned on big punchers and legends.” ROUND 2 Liston is trying to exchange with Tyson, working his way in behind his long, hard jab, but again Tyson slips under it and avoids the follow-up uppercut. He explodes with vicious combinations to the head and body, knocking Sonny off-balance and hurting him. A short, crunching, over-the-top right hand on the side of the jaw almost tears Liston’s head off and makes his knees sag. He falls back into the ropes, taking a fusillade of lightning-fast combinations, all landing solid as he sinks to the canvas and is counted out. The commentators are stunned. The crowd is frozen in disbelief and Liston’s corner is numb with shock as they, along with the ringside doctor, administer to Liston. In Tyson’s corner, D’Amato, his chest heaving with excitement, has tears of joy and redemption streaming down his face as he hugs Mike. Tyson looks him in the eyes and says, “I told you I’d get him for
despite the collective gasp from the crowd, the follow-up shots do no serious damage. Tyson is dazed but pops back up, and on muscle memory alone avoids a series of power jabs and clubbing rights, drawing on hundreds of hours of practice on D’Amato’s pendulum-like slip bag back in their Catskills gym. Two intense minutes go by without either heavyweight landing a punch, but to the bemusement of Liston, the audience and both corners, Tyson has holstered his arsenal in favor of his underrated defensive prowess. Despite the lack of action, the atmosphere is electric and fans are on the edge of their seats. Tyson watches every punch, calculating the perfect counter offense based on D’Amato’s number system. D’Amato’s unblinking eyes are fixed on Tyson, willing him to follow the words he mutters under his breath: “You got this, Mike. Believe.” With 30 seconds left in the round, Liston feints with a jab and attempts to land a vicious hook. Tyson slips it, pivots like lightning in a semicircle and blasts Liston with a short, powerful left hook on the jaw – Liston moves forward into the punch while standing straight up and catches the full power on the chin. As he starts to sag, he gets hit with a crunching right hand high on the side of the head; the sound is like a leather bomb, and down goes Liston. The Garden is in a riotous state of bedlam, fans screaming as the impossible has just happened. Mike fails to go to a neutral corner and is admonished by Cortez, but finally, after wasting some precious time in his excited state, does indeed run to a neutral corner. The alternate referee, Wayne Kelly, calls out the count on his microphone: “... three … four …” Cortez is down on one knee in front of Liston’s face as he picks up the count. “Five … six … seven.” Liston is up on shaky legs. “Eight.” Cortez wipes Liston’s gloves and motions for him to take a step forward, then lets the fight continue. THE BELL ENDS THE FIRST ROUND. 10-8 Tyson.
“In the red corner, hailing originally from Brooklyn, New York, and now out of Catskill, New York, wearing the all-black trunks and weighing in at 218 pounds, with an undefeated record of 35-0 with 31 KOs, Iron Mike Tyson!” The applause for Tyson is deafening, as if all of Brooklyn is in the house. “Introducing from the blue corner, wearing the white trunks with black trim, weighing in at 212 pounds, hailing now from Las Vegas, Nevada, with a record of 35 wins, one loss and 25 wins by way of knockout, Charles ‘Sonny’ Liston!” The Garden erupts with equal fervor for Sonny. Cortez calls the fighters and their chief seconds to the center of the ring: “I’ve given you the instructions in the dressing room. Obey my commands at all times. I’ve told you what I expect of both of you. No misconduct will be tolerated. And remember, I’m fair but I’m firm. Touch gloves and come out fighting at the bell.” Tyson’s corner: D’Amato leans in to hug Mike and says, “Mike, you are like a son to me. I believe in you. You can beat any man that ever lived. Now get him for me.” Jacobs, hearing what Cus said, looks Mike deep in the eyes and nods in agreement. He gives Mike a loving hug and kiss on the cheek. Mike says to them both, “It’s in the bag.” ROUND 1 Tyson bolts out of his corner, gloves pinned to his chin, knees bent, head low in a Dempsey-esque crouch, but he’s instantly stunned by a long, hammer- like jab that lands to his forehead before he can close the distance. Stopped in his tracks and momentarily off-balance, Tyson instinctively dips even lower, the seat of his trunks nearly touching canvas, to avoid a short hook and sweeping right from Liston. The punches graze the right side of Tyson’s head and left shoulder, violently rocking his body to either side, but
The Garden dims and the spotlight is on the aisle leading from Tyson’s dressing room. Here he comes now. The Garden explodes in a roar. Tyson comes down the aisle wearing no robe, just a cut-out towel and black boxing shoes. He is led to the ring by Kevin Rooney, D’Amato, Jacobs and Jacob “Stitch” Duran. Tyson has a good sweat going and is walking briskly and confidently to the ring, no background music whatsoever. He’s all business. He bounds up the stairs and starts furiously shadowboxing in the ring, weaving and throwing combinations that cut through the air with incredible speed and menace as sweat is popping off of him. The crowd is already applauding and screaming his name, in awe of what they know he is capable of. Tyson’s face is frozen in a controlled state of impending violence, his eyes glinting with vicious intentions, his body language foreclosing on any communication. He has come to fight. All can clearly see that he is on a search- and-destroy mission, and the excitement is a contagion that is spreading like wildfire through the crowd. “Jesus, he looks like a damn time bomb ready to explode,” says Goossen. Liston is next, and he also enters without any music, bound in a heavy, white hooded terry cloth robe with “Sonny” and a sun embroidered on the back. His shoulders are packed with a towel, making him look even bigger than he is. He is led by Reddish, Milt Bailey and Joe Polino. He reaches the ring and climbs the stairs as Reddish holds the ropes. He rubs his shoes on the canvas, testing it out with his head down, no shadowboxing. He looks big, hulking and dangerous as he paces like a bull waiting to be turned loose. It goes to Michael Buffer: “Ladies and gentleman, LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE! The main event, 12 rounds of boxing for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. The judges are Harold Lederman, Steve Weisfeld and John McKaie. Our referee is championship veteran Joe Cortez.
you. You never let me down, and I will never let you down either. Same with Jimmy. Thanks for all you have meant to me, forgiving me for anything wrong I have done and believing in me. You gave me hope when I needed it and a family when I needed it more.” Buffer: “The time, 2:06 of the second round, and the winner by knockout and now the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, Iron Mike Tyson!” Liston has refused any interview. Goossen is up in the ring with Tyson: “Mike, congratulations. What are your thoughts now?” “Thanks, Joe. Everyone told me I would be knocked out in the first round
and that Liston could not be hurt. I was a 15-to-1 underdog on planet Earth and the whole boxing world, but love is a powerful thing. Cus and Jimmy Jacobs believed in me, and their love and faith gave me great power to do this tonight. I believe in myself, but when someone loves you and believes in you, too, it’s a magic that works. Tonight we proved all the haters and critics wrong. All respect to Sonny, and I hope he is OK.” Ron Lipton is a former fighter, a boxing historian and former pro boxing referee. He was inducted into the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame in 2020 and the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014.
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