While the jive talking and patter eventually came to be part of the Muhammad Ali legend, at the time Cassius Clay started telling the world how he was going to defeat Liston in Miami most people thought he was simply mad. Liston was the most feared boxer on the planet, his prison time and mafia links adding further shadows to his already dark reputation as an unforgiving fighter.

Clay had been constantly goading Liston in the run up to the fight, his outrageous selfconfidence in stark contrast to poor performances in his previous fights and the 1/7 odds being offered on him. At the weigh-in on the morning of the fight, Clay appeared to have gone over the edge. He chanted various mantras at Liston, including the newly-coined "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, " had to be held back from indulging in some fisticuffs and his pulse and blood pressure were recorded as extraordinarily high. The general perception taken was that Clay's crazed behaviour was that of someone scared, and there were even rumours circulating before the actual fight started that Clay had gone to the airport to buy a ticket and escape.

But when the fight finally started those fears seemed misplaced. The supremelyathletic 22-year-old was as hard to hit as smoke and by the end of the third round had opened up a gash on Liston's cheekbone and was totally in command.

Controversy though, not for the first or last time in fights between these two, was about to rear its head. Clay fought a good portion of the fourth and fifth rounds with impaired vision, claiming that his eyes were burning. Joe Pollino, one of Liston's cornermen, admitted years later to 'juicing up' Liston's gloves, but Clay survived and unleashed an onslaught on the champion in the sixth round.

Liston chose not to answer the bell at the start of the seventh (sparking suggestions that the mafia had forced him to throw the fight) and the rank outsider has stunned the boxing fraternity and introduced himself to the world at large. After that, the name changed, but the legend grew.

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