4. Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) WRTD6 Sonny Liston. February 1964, Miami, Florida.
Seen as invincible, defending champion Liston was expected by practically everyone to make short, violent work of the upstart, highly vocal (some said scared) challenger. Instead Clay, soon to be known as Muhammad Ali, boxed rings around the ponderous champion and made a mess of Liston’s face whilst doing so. The sight of the feared terror quitting on his stool at the conclusion of the sixth-round was as shocking as it was puzzling – so much so that talk of the fight being fixed continues to this day.
Tyson Fury’s uncle and trainer Peter said shortly after Tyson’s upset over Klitschko, how his nephew’s win was the biggest and best heavyweight win since Ali stunned Liston. There are certainly similarities.
