Mad Men Discuss Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston

In a recent episode of the Emmy award winning best television show Mad Men, which takes place in the vintage world of the good old days of New York advertising, the top advertising executives were all discussing the biggest fight of the year and that was the Muhammad Ali-Sonny Liston fight.

The younger advertising executives were siding with Ali saying he was young, and in his prime and that Liston was too old and had too long of a layoff.

The star of the show, the older more mature advertising legend and womanizing playboy Don Draper sided with Sonny Liston stating that he had the experience and intelligence to defeat Ali.

Later on in the episode Don Draper complains that Ali was too cocky and had too loud of a big mouth. Draper thought if Ali really was the greatest then he would not have to say it. Don Draper unlike Ali is a man of minimal words. He is very calm, smooth, and speaks only when absolutely needed.

Don then bets $200 on Sonny Liston to defeat Muhammad Ali, which back in the day is a lot of money even for an advertising executive.

During the fight Don is at a bar listening to the radio broadcast (way before there was HBO pay-per-view). He is furious to hear that the now famous "phantom punch" landed on the chin of Liston knocking him out in the first round.

It is now evident that Mad Men is referencing "Ali vs. Liston II," where Ali knocked Liston out with ease in the first round with the official time of 2:12.

Don then screams that he just lost $200 in two minutes. Don and the guys at the bar complain that the fight must have been fixed for no one gets knocked out like that.

This iconic image of Ali knocking out Liston with the phantom punch is, without a doubt, the most famous image of a boxing match in all of history. I personally have a huge framed picture of this knockout hanging above my couch in my living room, and when you see a collection of the most iconic images of recent history this is definitely one that is often included.

As legendary as this knockout was, many often still debate whether it was indeed a legit knockout or if it was fixed and Liston took a dive.

Personally after watching it dozens of times over and over again I have come to the conclusion that it was indeed a legit knockout. I will not get into all of the specifics of my decision but anyone knows that the worst, most destructive punches are the ones that you do not see coming. This punch was a power punch and it was thrown so fast that you have to really focus on it to see it.

Liston did not see it coming and he was left wide open chasing Ali all around the ring. Liston thought Ali would just dance the round off and so he was not even considering that Ali would even throw anything that big or even land cleanly on him.

Also if you noticed when Liston falls down after the phantom punch he struggles to get up and is left staggering much like a total drunk and not even able to pick himself up off the ground to stand up straight. The referee Jersey Joe Walcott is tied up and distracted by Ali being too overly excited to notice that Liston was on the canvas well over his 10-second count limit.

So if Liston did take a dive then why didn't he just stay on the ground? Why did he even get up at all? Especially since referee Walcott never even counted him out?

For those of you who need to refresh your memory of this iconic, legendary knockout to make your own conclusion, let's take a look shall we?