Dempsey Picks Ali to Win

May 19, 1965 - Jack Dempsey is picking Muhammad Ali to retain the heavyweight boxing crown in his title defense against Sonny Liston next Tuesday night, but the Manassa Mauler doesn’t think much of either the champion or the challenger.

“Just guessing,” Dempsey said, “but I would pick the younger fellow to win. He’s the champ, and you always stick with the champ.

“The older a fellow gets, the harder it is for him to keep in shape naturally. I don’t think Liston has been keeping in the shape he needs to be in.

“Of course, I haven’t been up to their training camps. It might turn out that Liston is in better shape than I believe.”

Dempsey, who doesn’t intend to go to the bout in Lewiston, Maine, thinks that Ali and Liston are representatives of the sad state into which the sport has fallen.

“If any fighter in the old days had quit the way Liston did in that last fight, the crowd would have torn the house apart,” he said, reminiscing about the days when he learned his trade by taking on all comers in Western saloons and toughening his face with beef brine.

In Chicopee, Mass., Ali went through a light workout today and entertained the light-heavyweight champion, José Torres, and a former heavyweight contender, Tom McNeeley.

Torres picked Ali to win next Tuesday’s bout, and McNeeley predicted Ali would knock Liston out in the 10th round.

Drew (Bundini) Brown, the champion’s trainer and sidekick was also quick to predict an Ali victory. 

“The cake is done,” he said. “We just want to put a little icing on it and then blow out the candles for Liston in Lewiston.”

When Brown was asked to predict the round Ali would stop Liston, he replied: “Wouldn’t you like to know? Next Tuesday, you’ll find out, and Sonny will be out.”

Dr. Ralph Turgeon examined Liston at Poland Springs, Maine, today, and called the challenger “the fittest man I have ever examined.”

The challenger’s reaction was much briefer. When asked how he felt, Liston replied, “Good.”

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