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.

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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.