"I'll kill him" - the match that put Muhammad Ali on the map of the greats

In 1963, Muhammad Ali began to pose a real threat to the status quo in the heavyweight division of professional boxing. Still competing under the name Cassius Clay, Ali already has 17 wins to his credit, but more and more people are complaining and criticizing the boxer for his way of expressing himself and the mean comments he makes towards his opponents. Of course, most who complained about this were beaten by Ali in the ring, including Archie Moore, who threatened to show the youngster how to show more respect. Ali wins their fight in 4 rounds.

The fight that we can safely say put Ali definitively on the card with the biggest names in boxing at the time was on March 13th, 1963. It was then that he faced for the first time a man who was also in the prime of his forces, and is also considered one of the future champions in the category - Doug Jones. Their duel definitely lives up to expectations, but it is not without scandals.

Jones, who is ranked No. 3 at the time, is confident he can stop Cassius Clay, and the first round between the two proves just that. He took advantage of Ali's style of stepping back with his guard down and within the first minute landed a heavy left hook followed by a right hook - problems for Ali in the first minute. The fans at Madison Square Garden in New York, Jones' hometown, are ecstatic, and everyone is wondering if the favorite will even survive.

Clay still managed to withstand the onslaught in the first round, then methodically win on points for most of the rounds that followed. However, the fans are convinced – Doug Jones is the winner. The judges show otherwise - they disagree with the fans and give a unanimous decision in favor of Ali. The fans booed this decision, starting to throw all sorts of objects at the referee's table.

An interesting fact is that 13 of the 25 journalists of major American media who covered the fight at ringside also believed that Jones should be the winner of the match. The judge's decision remained unchanged, and then-world champion Sonny Liston was terse on national air: "Clay showed me that I would end up in jail if we ever met." By these words he meant that he would kill Muhammad Ali if they met in the ring.

Subsequently, this fight took place and Liston was soundly defeated by Ali. In 1966, in a "friendly match", Doug Jones entered the ring against Ali, hoping to impress enough to get a rematch from the then already champion. Although friendly in nature, Ali crushed Jones out of the fight, with the one-time talent landing almost no punches in the one-of-a-kind duel. Logically, he does not get an official chance to try again in the ring against Ali, considered the greatest in history today.

.