Clay’s brashness did not endear him to white Americans, and, in fact, even made Liston a more sympathetic character. In The New Republic, the editor Murray Kempton wrote, “Liston used to be a hoodlum; now he is our cop; he was the big Negro we pay to keep sassy Negroes in line.”
It has been widely stated that Clay’s antics were a deliberate form of psychological warfare designed to unsettle Liston by stoking his anger, encouraging his overconfidence and even fueling uncertainty about Clay’s sanity. As Clay himself said, “If Liston wasn’t thinking nothing but killing me, he wasn’t thinking fighting. You got to think to fight.” Former World Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis said, “Liston is an angry man, and he can’t afford to be angry fighting Clay.” Clay’s outbursts also fed Liston’s belief that Clay was terrified….which was something Clay’s camp did little to disavow. Clay said later, “I knew that Liston, overconfident that he was, was never going to train to fight more than two rounds. He couldn’t see nothing to me at all but mouth.”  In contrast, Clay prepared hard for the fight, studying films of Liston’s prior bouts and even detecting that Liston telegraphed his punches with eye movement.Â
Sometimes, especially in sport, a picture is indeed worth a thousand words…..as this 2.5 minute video provides proof enough as to the fact that Clay / Ali beat many of his opponents with “psychological warfare” long before he demolished them in the ring….as seen in this video herewith….for this is CLASSIC!