Consign Your Best Items with Lelands. We Also Pay Cash on the Spot! Learn More Here.
Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston Miami Beach Poster
This remarkable and riveting fight poster for the 1st Clay-Liston heavyweight title bout in Miami on February 25, 1964 -- perhaps the only one of its kind to have survived the decades since that leviathan event -- returns us to sports' greatest one-act drama, a seeming fable that had all the elements of Greek mythology and tragedy. Now, as then, our imaginations are ignited by the collision of a brash young challenger and the "unbeatable" champ who could pulverize a man into mush. This was more than a fight; it was the clash of old and new cultures, which is why the drama reached such a fever pitch even before the bout. Clay spouted poetry, taunted Liston as an "ugly bear" and predicted victory, while Liston just glared. We know the rest: Clay dazzling and dazing Liston yet nearly quitting when liniment in his eyes blinded him, then being pushed back out by Angelo Dundee, and finally Liston quitting on his stool before round 7 -- and the aftermath when the rechristened Muhammad Ali became "the greatest" and a cause celebre for anti-war and racial causes. One cannot help but "feel" all the drama, and smell the cigar smoke that rose in the Miami Beach Convention Hall, in this vivid yellow and red poster boasting b&w images of Clay & Liston somewhat obscured by 2 red sashes with their names across the middle. At the top it reads "The Greatest Fight in History" in black and "Tues. Feb 25th" at the bottom in red. 14x22" poster has been slightly restored and shows no major damage and only slight wrinkling along the right border. EX all the way and the perfect memorabilia item from the night Cassius Clay "shook up the world".
Past Sports Card, Memorabilia, Non-Sports Card and Collecitble Auction Items
Other past auction items that may be of interest to you.
1966 Muhammad Ali-Cleveland Williams Fight Poster
Dempsey and Firpo Lithograph by George Bellows (1923-24)
John C. Heenan Presentation "Heenan v Sayers" Scrimshaw Shell (1860)
1926 Tunney vs. Dempsey Fight Program.
1887 John L. Sullivan Lorillard Card
Joe Louis WWII Mini Poster (7x10”)
Muhammad Ali Memorabilia & Autograph Collection (15)
