Ali vs. Liston II. May 25th, 1965. Lewiston, Maine.
By this point Ali had already done the impossible: Olympic gold in Rome, shocked the world taking the title from Liston the first time, changed his name, stood by his beliefs. He didnโt just fight, he meant something. This was him at his absolute peak.
2,434 spectators. 1 minute and 44 seconds. One right hand. Liston on the canvas.
A 22-year-old Neil Leifer was shooting from what he considered the worse side of the ring, the better spot had already been taken. But when Ali stood over Liston and screamed โ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ!โ Leifer didnโt miss.
โ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ต, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด.โ
~ ๐๐ฆ๐ช๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ
Now it lives forever.
๐ธ neilleiferphotography #ChoiceofChampions