Muhammad Ali KOs Sonny Liston in their 2nd fight, May 25 1965
1964 called, they'd like their conspiracy theory back.
We always fall into the fallacy of thinking just because someone hasn't been beaten, they can't be beaten.
The parallels are actually interesting. Clay (Ali) was so lightly regarded going into their first fight that Liston didn't train for a long fight, figuring he was going to knock him out in the first few rounds anyway.
Much like Anderson Silva took Weidman's striking so unseriously that he chose to break out the Matrix-like clowning.
Liston didn't come out for the 7th (behind heavily on the cards and getting beaten up badly). He later blamed a shoulder injury he claimed he suffered early in the 1st.
All his fans either A) blamed the injury or B ) said the fix was in. Most agreed an "in shape and motivated" Liston would wipe the floor with Ali.
Prepare yourself for the deluge of "Anderson didn't take him seriously, he's going to kill Weidman the 2nd time" threads
When they met for the 2nd time, Ali KO'd Liston early in the first (a shot that became known as the "Phantom punch", feel free to read up on it) and some people to this day cling to the belief that the fight was fixed, even though replays show the punch landing square on the jaw of an off-balance Liston who stepped right into the shot.
I expect, just like Ali-Liston, Shogun-Machida, and Edgar-Maynard, the result to be even more definitive the 2nd time.
