Word: ring
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...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...
Meanwhile, back in the ring, Cassius was extolling his greatness to a still disbelieving world. "Eat your words," Clay howled at the shaken sportswriters. "Liston is in the hospital and here I am, still pretty as can be. That big bear was an amateur. He was scared of me. He couldn't even hit me when I was half blind. If he wants to fight me he will have to work his way up. I can beat any fighter in the world. I am the greatest. I am the prettiest...
Cocky as he seems outside the ring, Cassius knows the odds and will rely on speed to keep away from Liston in the early rounds. According to the Clay strategy, if Cassius can survive the first half of the fight he will face a tiring and frustrated champ, vulnerable to quick jabs, sharp combinations and perhaps to the Clay favorite, a left uppercut...
Cassius steps into the ring tonight with one asset, speed, and one equalizer, size. On Sonny's side of the ledger are strength, reach, experience, offensive power, defensive skill, and if he even needs it, the psychological edge of the invincible...
There are enough holes in this strategy to sink a small destroyer and more than enough to sink Cassius Clay. For one thing, Liston is not going to stand in the center of the ring for seven rounds and watch Cassius dance around him, nor will he madly chase a fleeting shadow. Sonny stalks his prey with the relentless drive of a Sherman tank. Anyone who saw the second Liston-Patterson travesty noticed that Sonny is not slow; slower than Clay, yes, but certainly agile and savvy enough to catch Cassius in a corner...