Cassius Clay, a brash 7-to-1 underdog, defeated reigning champion Sonny Liston when Liston refused to answer the bell for the seventh round, citing a shoulder injury. Clay's victory, punctuated by his taunt 'I am the greatest,' announced the arrival of one of the most transformative athletes of the twentieth century.
Sonny Liston was widely considered nearly unbeatable, a granite-fisted former convict who had demolished former champion Floyd Patterson twice in a single round each. Cassius Clay, by contrast, was seen by much of the press as a loudmouth who talked far better than he fought, and oddsmakers made him one of the largest underdogs in heavyweight title history.
Clay's strategy relied on speed and movement rather than raw power, circling the slower Liston, snapping quick jabs, and avoiding the champion's brutal hooks. A scary moment arrived in the fourth round when a substance, possibly liniment from Liston's gloves, got into Clay's eyes and briefly blinded him; his trainer Angelo Dundee refused to let him quit, pushing him back out to survive the round mostly on instinct.
By the seventh round, Liston, exhausted and demoralized, simply stayed on his stool, later blaming a torn shoulder muscle. Clay leapt around the ring screaming his famous boast to ringside reporters. Days later he confirmed he had joined the Nation of Islam and would soon take the name Muhammad Ali, beginning a decades-long collision between sports, politics, race, and religion that redefined celebrity in America.