Ali vs. Liston Posters

Born in 1942, Muhammad Ali is undoubtedly one of the greatest boxers of all time. He was an incredibly talented and colorful boxer that never ceased to win the admiration of the wider public. But, he was also known to be very proud and boastful of himself. He was once reputed as saying that he could  "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee" when describing his boxing skills.

Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Clay, Jr. in Louisville, Kentucky. He began boxing at a very young age. In the 1960 Olympics, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division.  After returning from the Olympic games, he turned professional. His first professional fight was against Tunney Hunsaker, which he won. Having won 19 professional fights by 1964 Ali was in a position to challenge the heavyweight champion, Sonny Liston.

But Ali was only 22 years old, and many considered the fight against Sonny Liston one impossible for him to win. Ali predicted that he would knock out Liston by the eighth round. In reality he needed less time. His techniques were so good that by the seventh round, Liston refused to come out of the corner to start fighting. Ali was crowned champion and declared himself "The Greatest".

The posters above show the Ali vs. Liston fight. In these posters, made available by Art.com, Ali is seen to have knocked Liston to the ground in just the first round. The strength displayed by Ali was phenomenal and almost unbelievable. Starting as the underdog he rose and defeated Liston who was then seen as a great champion. This fight which took place on the 25th of March. 1965 propelled Ali into a wider stage. One of his most memorable fights took place in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) on the 29th of October, 1964 in which Ali defeated George Foreman. This fight came to be known as the "Rumble in the Jungle."

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