Phantom Punch: The Story Behind Boxing's Most Controversial Bout

In this intriguing, exhaustively researched chronicle, sport historian and Down East Magazine editor Sneddon examines the infamous "phantom punch" that ended the second Ali-Liston bout in May of 1965. The controversy that followed Cassius Clay's 1964 upset of the menacing Sonny Liston in their first bout was multiplied a thousand fold when Clay pledged allegiance to the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. White America couldn't decide which black man it hated and feared more: the former criminal with mob ties, or the adherent to Islam. Against a backdrop of political assassinations and the rising turmoil of the '60s, one venue after another rejected the chance to present the rematch, leaving Lewiston, Maine, to claim the spotlight. While Sneddon's ostensible subject is the phantom punch%E2%80%94a seemingly innocuous blow that K.O.'d Liston in the first round%E2%80%94he is equally concerned with New England characters such as promoters Sam Michael and "Suitcase" Sam Silverman. Diligent historical research allows Sneddon to convincingly evoke the surreal marriage of a heavyweight title bout with an economically struggling city. Sneddon doesn't solve the mystery behind the punch (and dismisses any claim of a fix), but he vividly recreates the social upheavals that brought the most glamorous contest in boxing to the northeastern hinterlands of the nation. (Oct.)