Posts for: jburlinson
May 22, 2021 08:15:05 #
This is a fascinating example of "storytelling" by picture. But what is the story being told? Without familiarity with the specific circumstances of this fight, the story appears to be that of a superb athlete glorying in his supremacy in a physical contest at the highest level of sport. That story turns out to be false.
Ali is actually screaming at Liston, "Get up and fight, sucker!”, and he yelled "Nobody will believe this" as he was forced back to his corner by the ref. As he left the arena, Ali himself asked his retinue, "Did I hit him?" Liston went down in the first two minutes of the first round, and nearly everyone in the audience, including yours truly, glued to my TV set, was convinced it was a fake. Liston admitted it was phony years later, stating: "That guy [Ali] was crazy. I didn't want anything to do with him. And the Muslims were coming up. Who needed that? So I went down. I wasn't hit."
So the "real" story being told is nearly the opposite of what appears to be happening. The "decisive moment" is not the knockout. There was no knockout. If there is a "decisive moment" it is a moment of rage on the part of Ali that he has unwittingly become part of a con job. At the time, he was universally viewed as a cocky upstart, and he was desperate to prove himself to the world as "the greatest". He was mortified about the result.
I believe that's the reason it took a while before this image assumed its iconic status. Opinions changed as Ali began to achieve heroic status, while Liston transitioned from ultra-frightening thug to has-been pug pretty much overnight. As the event receded into the more and more remote past, it became possible to misread this image as the proverbial "thrill of victory, agony of defeat", when it was more appropriate to consider it the "agony of victory and the thrill of paycheck".
Ali is actually screaming at Liston, "Get up and fight, sucker!”, and he yelled "Nobody will believe this" as he was forced back to his corner by the ref. As he left the arena, Ali himself asked his retinue, "Did I hit him?" Liston went down in the first two minutes of the first round, and nearly everyone in the audience, including yours truly, glued to my TV set, was convinced it was a fake. Liston admitted it was phony years later, stating: "That guy [Ali] was crazy. I didn't want anything to do with him. And the Muslims were coming up. Who needed that? So I went down. I wasn't hit."
So the "real" story being told is nearly the opposite of what appears to be happening. The "decisive moment" is not the knockout. There was no knockout. If there is a "decisive moment" it is a moment of rage on the part of Ali that he has unwittingly become part of a con job. At the time, he was universally viewed as a cocky upstart, and he was desperate to prove himself to the world as "the greatest". He was mortified about the result.
I believe that's the reason it took a while before this image assumed its iconic status. Opinions changed as Ali began to achieve heroic status, while Liston transitioned from ultra-frightening thug to has-been pug pretty much overnight. As the event receded into the more and more remote past, it became possible to misread this image as the proverbial "thrill of victory, agony of defeat", when it was more appropriate to consider it the "agony of victory and the thrill of paycheck".
May 18, 2021 06:37:59 #
Thanks for sharing with us.
May 14, 2021 09:17:32 #
May 11, 2021 07:00:51 #
Thanks for letting us work on your image.
May 7, 2021 07:16:35 #
May 4, 2021 06:33:02 #
Nice subject. Thanks.
Apr 28, 2021 07:10:54 #
Beautiful scene. Thanks.
Apr 24, 2021 07:27:18 #
Apr 20, 2021 06:55:36 #
Nice scene. Thanks.
Apr 13, 2021 06:27:46 #
Nice shot. Thanks for sharing.
Apr 9, 2021 07:12:32 #
Apr 7, 2021 06:46:57 #
Interesting image to work with. Thanks for sharing.
Apr 3, 2021 06:27:52 #
Mar 30, 2021 05:55:11 #
Fun shot -- thanks for sharing.
Mar 27, 2021 08:17:45 #