Ali VS Liston

About the image

25 May 1965, St. Dominic's Arena, Lewiston, Maine, USA. Muhammad Ali stands over Sonny Liston, taunting the opponent he has just floored in the first round of a world heavyweight title fight.

Ali VS Liston's account

"I understood early on that the right position makes the right picture. This one proves it.

At the exact moment of the knockout — after just one minute and forty-two seconds — I was directly facing Ali, with Liston stretched out at his feet. Straight across from the lion brought down by the hunter. Between Ali's legs you can clearly make out Herbie Scharfman, my colleague at Sports Illustrated. He's crestfallen; there's nothing he can do. Ali has his back to him. Scharfman was a fine photographer — he'd made superb pictures of Rocky Marciano — but that day he was out of it, badly placed, powerless."

Jean-Denis chose it

This is the most celebrated photograph in the history of sports photography — the Mona Lisa of the genre.

What more is there to say? It tells you everything about Ali, and about an era in which he was untouchable. Sure of himself and of his gift, and relentlessly provocative.

He looks furious, and he is. He believes his opponent went down too easily, from a glancing blow. It would go down in history as the "phantom punch," and Ali — who wanted more than victory — screamed at him: "Get up and fight, sucker. You're stealing my glory." The picture says a great deal about the man, and that is why it became famous.

Neil Leifer always said a good photograph comes down to where you're standing. He was certainly better placed than the photographers opposite. Chance? Instinct? Experience? Luck? A little of each. But that would be to forget that a great photograph is above all the ability to seize the decisive moment — and the great photographers do it more often than the rest. He wasn't alone on his side of the ring. Yet his is the only picture that endured.