This Day in Black Sports History: February 25, 1964

“I don’t have a mark on my face and I upset Sonny Liston and I just turned 22 years old; I must be the greatest!”

Those were the immortal words uttered by Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. on Feb. 25, 1964 in Miami, Fla., fresh off upsetting a heavily favored Sonny Liston to win the World Heavyweight Championship of professional boxing.

By dethroning the reigning champion, Clay became the youngest man to win the heavyweight title, a distinction he would own for over twenty years until Mike Tyson burst onto the scene.

Four years removed from winning a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome as a light heavyweight, Clay became the top contender to Liston’s title by amassing a record of 19-0 with 15 knockouts.

Light on his feet and quick with his hands, Clay was an unconventional heavyweight who brimmed with confidence even after being knocked down in his two fights prior to facing Liston, whose penchant for early-round knockouts had already become legendary.

However, the Louisville, Ky. native defied most boxing experts by confounding the lumbering champion with a dazzling array of blinding combinations and fancy footwork.

By the end of the sixth round, Liston’s right eye was severely swollen and his left eye was significantly compromised due to a cut.

Complaining of a shoulder injury, Liston shockingly failed to answer the bell for the seventh round, giving Clay the victory by technical knockout (TKO), and ushering in a new era in boxing.

The week after the fight, Clay, who had joined the Nation of Islam, would change his name to Muhammad Ali and go on to achieve international superstardom for standing tall in the ring and standing up for what he believed out of it.

After defeating Liston in a rematch via second-round TKO in 1965 and subsequently defending the Heavyweight Championship eight times, Ali was stripped of the title and had his boxing license suspended in 1967 for refusing to serve in the United States Army during the Vietnam War due to his religious beliefs.

Ali’s refusal to serve in the Army resulted in a jury finding him guilty of a felony that was punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000.

For this stance, Ali would lose three prime years of his professional boxing career as the appeals process was being litigated.

However, during this period sentiment against the Vietnam War and support for Ali increased proportionately.

With the help of a Georgia senator, Ali was allowed to resume his career in 1970, and it was in this second stage of his career that Ali cemented his status as one of greatest fighters in boxing history.

Ali’s trilogy of fights with Joe Frazier, more specifically, the first dubbed "The Fight of the Century" and the last named "The Thrilla in Manila", as well as his upset victory over George Foreman in a bout famously known as "The Rumble in the Jungle", reestablished Ali’s technical brilliance and transformed him into a global icon who transcended the sport.

When Ali retired in 1981, he had defeated every top heavyweight boxer of his era and was one of the most recognizable athletes in the world.

Ali walked away from the squared circle with a career record of 56-5, with 37 of those victories coming by way of knockout.

And despite being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1984, Ali has remained an active and beloved public figure to this day.

Forty-six years ago, Ali boldly declared he was the greatest when he defeated Sonny Liston after many had doubted he could even go the distance with the feared brawler.

Now Ali and the nickname "The Greatest" are completely and unequivocally synonymous with one another.

Click here to read the original article at Examiner.com.

This Day In Black Sports History: Februrary 16th, 2011

As the only American boxer to emerge from the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games with a gold medal, Joseph William Frazier had an extremely bright future ahead of him.

After the Olympics, a group of local businessmen invested in Frazier’s professional career so that he could train full-time. When he made his professional debut in 1965, Frazier, a hungry, young southpaw from Beaufort, S.C., did not disappoint, defeating Woody Goss via technical knockout (TKO) in the first round. This would become a recurring theme throughout the first half of Frazier’s career.

In his first 24 fights, Frazier, appropriately nicknamed “Smokin’ Joe”, registered 21 knockouts, with the majority of those victories occurring within four rounds.

Nevertheless, despite Frazier’s rapid ascension, there was a cavernous void in the heavyweight division left by Muhammad Ali, who was stripped of the World Heavyweight Title for his refusal to be inducted into the United States Army during the Vietnam War. To add insult to injury, Ali had his boxing license suspended by the New York State Athletic Commission.

Although the top-ranked contender at the time, Frazier boycotted the 1967 World Boxing Association (WBA) Heavyweight Championship elimination tournament in support of Ali’s controversial stance.

However, the New York State Athletic Commission, the same organization that suspended Ali’s license the previous year, recognized Frazier as the “World Champion” following his 11th round knockout of Buster Mathis in March of 1968.

Less than two years later, on Feb. 16, 1970, Frazier brought some legitimacy back to the Heavyweight Title by knocking out Jimmy Ellis, the winner of the aforementioned WBA elimination tournament, in five rounds at Madison Square Garden.

After dispatching with Light-Heavyweight kingpin Bob Foster in two short rounds, Frazier would immerse himself in a rivalry that would define the rest of his career.

Within a five-year span, Ali and Frazier fought a total of 41 grueling rounds over three fights. The first two bouts went the distance, while the third and final bout mercifully ended with Frazier on his stool, virtually blind in one eye.

Their first encounter, dubbed the "Fight of the Century", set the tone for how fiercely Ali and Frazier would compete in the ring, and how they would come to loathe one another outside it.

“Smokin’ Joe” successfully defended the undisputed Heavyweight Championship via a 15-round unanimous decision, which was punctuated by a thunderous left hook that floored Ali in the final round.

But, similar to the pre-fight hype, Ali would continue to disrespect his heated rival, repeatedly calling Frazier an “Uncle Tom” for stating he would have fought in the Vietnam War if he was drafted.

Not surprisingly, Frazier felt betrayed because he had attended numerous tribunals, hearings and public relations functions in support of Ali throughout his exile from boxing.

Frazier was also a staunch supporter in efforts to have Ali’s license restored, and provided some financial support during the lean times Ali experienced when he was unable to ply his trade.

Ali would later assert that his vicious verbal attacks on Frazier were merely an attempt to promote the fights and increase the gate.

All the vitriol did, though, was drive a deep wedge between two African-American professional boxing superstars who could have accomplished as much, united in social activism, as they did in creating magic on opposite sides of a boxing ring.

Click here to read the original article at Examiner.com.

This Day in Black Sports History: February 14, 1951

It goes without saying that Valentine’s Day is an annual commemoration, celebrating love and affection between intimate companions.

However, sixty years ago, love and affection would be the last words used to characterize how Sugar Ray Robinson treated Jake LaMotta in the Chicago Stadium on Feb. 14, 1951.

After going professional in 1940, Robinson campaigned as a welterweight. However, he moved up to the middleweight division due an increasing difficulty with making the 147 lb. welterweight limit.

Prior to making his mark in a new weight class, Robinson had already established himself as the greatest welterweight to ever lace up a pair of boxing gloves, losing only once in 123 professional fights.

Coincidentally, LaMotta, nicknamed “The Bronx Bull” and “The Raging Bull”, was the one man responsible for the lone blemish on Robinson’s otherwise spotless record as they prepared to do battle for the sixth and final time.

Within a three-year span, LaMotta and Robinson became heated rivals, fighting five times between 1942 and 1945. Robinson won four of those contests via decision. LaMotta’s only victory in the series was an unanimous ten-round decision in their second fight at Detroit’s Olympia Stadium in 1943.

The much heavier LaMotta charged Robinson at every opportunity with bull-like rushes. Robinson tried to outbox his shorter opponent but had difficulty keeping him at bay.

LaMotta knocked Robinson through the ropes in the eighth round with a right to the head and a left to the body. The incident was the first knockdown of Robinson's career, and only the bell saved Robinson from suffering the first knockout of his legendary career as well.

Three weeks later, LaMotta would knock down Robinson again in their third fight, but would end up on the short end of a highly disputed unanimous decision.

Following two more bouts in 1945, both decision victories for Robinson, the two gladiators went their separate ways until fistic karma brought them back together again.

During the course of the next five years, Robinson won the welterweight title in 1946, defending the crown until he ran out of challengers, and by 1949 began his ascent up the ranks for a shot at the undisputed middleweight championship.

Meanwhile, LaMotta cleaned out the middleweight division, and finally captured the title in 1949 with a 10th round knockout of Frenchman Marcel Cerdan.

By the end of 1950, Robinson (still the welterweight champion) was the number one contender for LaMotta’s crown.

So in front of 15,000 fans at the Chicago Stadium, and millions watching on free network television, LaMotta and Robinson met for the first time with a title on the line.

Although both fighters were past their prime, Robinson was still able to conjure up flashes of his brilliant past while LaMotta exhibited the determination, heart, and grit that made him such a crowd favorite.

Nevertheless, the wear and tear from LaMotta’s previous ring wars was evident as he appeared to grow tired by the sixth round of a 15-round bout.

Throughout the fight, Robinson, nicknamed “The Harlem Dandy”, punished LaMotta with sharp jabs and damaging counterpunches, playing the matador to LaMotta’s “Raging Bull”.

Unlike their previous encounters, LaMotta seemed content to head hunt rather than invest in the punishing body work that had become his trademark. In addition, LaMotta was a step slower and his work rate was significantly lower than it had been in the past.

In spite of this, LaMotta would remain competitive for ten grueling rounds, even bloodying Robinson’s nose and mouth with a thunderous left hook to the jaw in the sixth. However, his struggle to make the 160-pound weight limit had left him completely exhausted.

In a last ditch effort, LaMotta summoned whatever reserves he had left and went for a knockout in the eleventh round, pinning Robinson against the ropes and throwing punches from all possible angles.

But when Robinson survived the onslaught, LaMotta found himself in more serious trouble by the end of the round as Robinson began to bludgeon him with vicious combinations to the head and the body.

For next round and a half, Robinson would butcher a virtually defenseless LaMotta, unleashing a plethora of uppercuts, right cuts, and left hooks, with only LaMotta’s immense will keeping him on his feet.

Mercifully, the fight would be stopped at 2:04 of the 13th round as LaMotta lay helpless against the ropes, his first legitimate knockout loss in 95 professional fights.

Dubbed the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, the bout would go down as one of the most memorable fights in Robinson’s Hall of Fame career, in which he became the first boxer to win a divisional world championship five times.

Click here to read the original article at Examiner.com.

This Day in Black Sports History: February 11, 1990

When James “Buster” Douglas signed on to challenge Mike Tyson, the youngest man to win the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) Heavyweight Titles, the Mirage Casino, the only Las Vegas casino to offer odds on the fight, had the challenger as a 42 to 1 underdog.

In essence, the 30-year-old Douglas, who had amassed an unimpressive 29-4-1 record up to that point, was widely regarded as a tune-up for Tyson, nicknamed “The Baddest Man on the Planet”, prior to a future super fight with undefeated cruiserweight champion Evander Holyfield.

But although his mother, Lula Pearl, passed away just 23 days before the fight, Douglas entered the ring in the best physical condition of his career.

With nine successful title defenses and 33 knockouts in 37 fights on his ledger, the unbeaten Tyson was supremely confident that Douglas would become yet another stepping stone on his path toward becoming the greatest heavyweight champion in boxing history.

In fact, it’s highly likely that the only people who truly believed Douglas would walk out of the Tokyo Dome as the undisputed heavyweight champion were Douglas himself and the men working his corner.

So when Douglas got off to a fast start in the bout, dominating the early rounds with an effective jab, stinging right hands and brilliant footwork, the sentiment among those in attendance was they were witnessing an aberration, a tantalizing prelude to Tyson’s seventh consecutive knockout.

However, as ‘Iron’ Mike repeatedly neglected to move his head while seeking a one-punch knockout, Douglas continued to pepper him with jabs and right hands, leading to severe swelling in Tyson’s left eye.

Although his left eye was swollen completely shut by the eighth round, Tyson unleashed a trademark right uppercut that floored Douglas, putting his questionable will to the ultimate test.

Douglas would leave absolutely no doubt this time, as he rose to his feet at the count of eight to survive the round, and withstood a Tyson onslaught at the beginning of the ninth round to retake control of the bout.

Prior to the conclusion of the ninth round, Douglas unleashed a vicious combination that staggered Tyson along the ropes, virtually tearing a page out of the book of the most feared man in boxing.

Douglas would place the finishing touches on his virtuoso performance with a huge right uppercut, followed by a rapid combination, to deal Tyson the first knockdown, knockout and loss of his career in arguably the biggest upset in the history of professional sports.

Click here to read the original article at Examiner.com.