Word: knockouts
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Nobody can deny that Cassius Marcellus Clay, 23, has an affinity for fantasy. Last week in Lewiston, Me., Cassius fought a fight that did not seem to be a fight, threw a punch that did not look like a punch, scored a knockout that the referee did not realize was a knockout, and set a record that turned out to be no record. In the process, Cassius clearly established himself as the heavyweight champion of the world and a consummate actor-in the theater of the absurd...
Official time for the knockout was given as one minute flat, but several announcers who had checked the time was closer to 1 minute 40 seconds. One of them declared on the air that the timekeeper needed a new watch...
Another enigma surrounding the swiftest knockout ever in a heavyweight title fight was Clay's failure to go to a neutral corner immediately. After the knockdown Clay hovered over Liston and hollered a few vilifications at him. As I've always understood the rule, a fighter must retire to a neutral corner before the countdown begins. If Clay had thought the knockdown were legitimate, he wouldn't have jeopardized his chances for a first-round victory by carrying on a little social chat with his prostrate victim before going to a corner...
...recapturing Goldie: someone urged that he be brought to earth with a tranquilizing dart; another thought up an elaborate scheme to float a balloon filled with anesthetic gas and baited with thin pieces of meat so that the eagle's talons would prick the bubble, causing a knockout drop. Still others saw a profit in Goldie's exploits. Britain's wideawake malted-milk firm rushed out advertisements urging "Give Goldie Horlick's!" One of its biggest oil companies took a half-page ad to declare...
...tickets. Closed-circuit TV carried the fight to 51 cities across the U.S. and Canada-with Clay doing the between-rounds commentary (at a fee of $10,000). Odds makers favored Patterson at 7 to 5, but Cassius left no doubt where his money was riding: "Chuvalo by a knockout in five," he predicted...