Word: liston
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Clay opened Round Three with a damaging flurry of punches which opened a deep gash under the champ's left eye. Fully aroused by Clay's audacity and perhaps remembering that this was the round he had chosen for the KO, Liston tore fato Clay with a vicious array of blows. Sonny landed a left and a right to the body, a hard left to the jaw and followed this with a rare right uppercut. The third round was the only one in which Liston displayed the lethal effectiveness of his Patterson triumphs. That he did not lay Cassius...
Those of us who were expecting Sonny to flatten Clay in four were rudely surprised when a vigorous and confident Cassius answered the fourth round bell. Advancing against Liston for the first time in the fight, Cassius began to dominate the action with stinging left jabs thrown from every angle. Liston delivered a solid left and right to the jaw, but the punches dented neither Clay's jaw nor his confidence. Liston was plodding by the end of the round; Clay was faster than ever. Round to Clay...
Round Five may always remain a questionmark. An apparently sightless Clay, who has alternately claimed that he was gouged by the champion's thumb and blinded by liniment on Sonny's gloves, managed to hold off the lumbering Liston with no more protection than a stiff left arm. Liston landed ponderous hooks to Clay's body and head but their lack of visible effect made the spectators wonder for the first time whether there was indeed something wrong with the champ. Clay seemed to recover his sight late in the round, but the round was Liston...
...bell sounded for Round Six. Clay was now stalking Liston. The challenger was moving in and out at will, snapping solid blows to body and head. Clay's shots were annoying Liston more than hurting him, but without his left, the big gun in Sonny's arsenal, the Liston attack was limited to a few weak jabs and an occasional right. Clay won the sixth practically by default...
...bell rang for the seventh the crowd was treated to the sight of Cassius dancing to the center of the ring in a comic display of shadow-boxing. Liston sat sullenly in his corner as doctors and trainers hovered over him. For a moment it was not clear what had happened. Then, suddenly, Cassius leaped into the air, arms raised, screaming like a madman, "I won, I won, I won, I am the greatest, greatest, greatest." Jack Nilon, Liston's manager, had stopped the fight. Nilon later explained that the injury to Liston's left shoulder in the first round...