HEROIN DEPRIVED SONNY LISTON OF HIS HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING TITLE

Muhammad Ali the greatest of all? ..... far, far, far from it!

By Howie Katz

Ali takes full advantage of Liston's heroin high

Boxing writers and his fans have credited Muhammad Ali as the greatest fighter of all time.  Let's give Ali the credit he is due.  Ali was truly a great fighter, but the greatest of all?  Far, far, far from it!

 

Under-reported or just plain ignored by the boxing writers was the fact that heroin robbed Sonny Liston of his heavyweight boxing title.  Early on, Ali sustained such a beating from Liston that at the end of a round he begged his handler Angelo Dundee to stop the fight.  Dundee refused to stop the fight and heroin took control of Liston, depriving him of his championship. 

 

Ali miht well have gone on to win the World Heavyweight Championship, but not against a drug-free Liston who is suspected of dying from a heroin overdose in 1970.

 

Ali was a really great rhymer.  His best known rhyme: "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

 

But there were a number of other heavyweights that would have made the rhyme sound more like: "Float like a rock, sting like a butterfly."

 

Beside a sober Liston, there was undefeated Rocky Marciano, the great Joe Louis, a Jersey Joe Walcott in his prime, Jack Dempsey and now marijuana manufacturer Mike Tyson, all of whom could have sent Ali packing off to a life of poetry.

 

Comparing fighters is a relative thing because it does not take into consideration differences in weight.   For instance, had the great Sugar Ray Robinson been a heavyweight, he would hae given Ali the boxing lesson of his life before knocking him outt cold.

 

Then there was Featherweight Champion Sandy Saddler .  

 

 Saddler (left) vs. Willie Pepe in one of their epic four bouts

Saddler pound for pound was probably the hardest puncher in boxing history.  Saddler was also a polished boxer.  Had he been a heavyweight, Saddler would have made Ali listen to the birds tweet.

 

Among others was Stanly Ketchel, the Michigan Assassin.

 

The great middleweight Stanley Ketchel

David vs. Goliath: Outweighed 49 pounds, Stanley Ketchel floors Jack Johnson in the 12th round

Stanley Ketchel was a fearsome and fearless middleweight who would take on all comers no matter how much they outweighed him.  He even fought the great heavyweight champion Jack Johnson.  Although outweighed 49 pounds, the Michigan Assassin managed to knock the Galveston Giant off his feet in the 12th round before Johnson got up off the floor to flatten the challenger.  Can you imagine what would have happened to Ali had he fought a heavyweight Ketchel?  The Michigan Assassin would have sent Ali rushing to the dustbin of boxing history.

 

But that was then and this is now.  Boxing is no longer politically correct!  We are now in the Obama era of peacemaking where we appease our enemies to avoid a fight at any cost.