Join Rainy Day Boxing for an in depth career tribute to the most feared heavyweight boxer of the 1950's, the 'Big Cat’, Cleveland Williams. Rainy Day Boxing Patreon / rainydayboxing
Sonny Liston was unable to read or write because he was older and huge: the kids in his class ridiculed him. Not saying it was right, but he was driven to crime and developed the reputation of being a cop basher. Consequently, he was picked up and harassed by the cops even when he moved to a different city. He had a menacing look on his face at all times. He did not communicate at all with the media because they hated him and he hated them. Yet, those who were close to Liston swear that he was very intelligent and that he was just great with kids and older people: neither kids nor older folk presented him a threat! Big George Foreman, who sparred for Liston, says that Liston was a father figure to him, always advising him the right things. his 'muscles on his eyelids' quip, and the one he made about Clay (Ali) 'he should be locked up for impersonating a fighter' show us just how observant and witty he could be! It is wrong that he was never given a chance to redeem himself even after he became the Heavyweight Champion... I am sure he would have shed the mob and been a great champion if he had got the second chance he craved! When he found that he would always be the 'bad man', he decided that that was what he would give the public, that was what the public deserved! I wish people realize that Sonny Liston was one of the Top Five Heavyweights of all time!
When people talk about the great comebacks in boxing history they usually mention Foreman and Braddock but Cleveland Willaims coming back from being shot should get spoken about more, it's still hard to believe someone could do that.
@@noplanband3302 The cop claims he pulled him over for speeding also believing Willaims was DUI. Presumably Williams wasn't too happy about it and a scuffle ensued with the officer and he was shot. Williams did have priors, he was arrested in 1959 for domestic violence after attacking his girlfriend with a meat cleaver, she was hospitalised but didn't press charges so he never served time in jail. Because of it being the early 60s in the deep south as well as the conflicting accounts of Williams and the cop, it's been speculated that the incident was racially motivated but we don't really know either way. Years later the officer actually wished Williams good luck before his fight with Ali and they both said they had no hard feelings towards each other, so I personally think the racial angle is unlikely.
I'm glad that the truth about Cleveland Williams finally came out. This is a very good video. People don't know what Williams went through before his fight with Ali.
Thank you... Hes one of the most (KNOWN) underrated boxers of all time. The guy does not get any recognition, and is always overlooked in fantasy-match ups. He would in fact dominate any Heavyweight era.
Ali fought more hardest hitters than any other boxer ever. Cleveland Williams, Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Earnie Shavers, Mac Foster, Ron Lyle, Joe Frazier and Archie Moore. Cleveland Williams was named by Foreman and Liston as the hardest puncher.
Yeah but you couldn't land a punch on a pre-ban Ali. I believe the Earnie Shavers fight gave Ali his illness. Shavers landed some thunderous shots in that fight. You could hear the thuds on those old camera mics. Imagine the sound ring side.
@stevenstubby8632 Henry Cooper sure did. If it werent for Dundee and smelling salts, Ali woulda lost that fight. Ali himself said it was the greatest punch he ever received. This was in 1963......
Did you even watch the video. Cleveland Williams when facing Ali came back from a gunshot which drastically took away a lot of his strength, speed, and athleticism
Cleveland Williams record prior to getting shot was 65-5-2 with 56 KO's. He had been stopped three times, but one of the KO losses to Bob Satterfield was on only 24 hours notice.
2 losses to Sonny Liston, 1 lost to bob satterfield, and another from Ernie Terrell which I believe that fight was a robbery, and he lost his 0 to Sylvester Jones.
@@MrGG1959 I was just asking yeah I agree. Would’ve loved to see that. If Ali put on the same performance he did against Williams I still don’t think anyone could’ve beaten him that night. He fought so good it kinda made big cat infamous for the wrong reason.
Now I am amazed to see anyone talk about The Big Cat Cleveland Williams. Thank you for making this video. I would like to see a video,even if it would be a shorter one, about Sandy Saddler.
Cleveland Williams looks like a top rate body builder. Incredible physique. I’ve watched his two fights with Liston and I knew he gave Liston a bloody nose but I didn’t know he broke Liston’s rib. How did Liston fight on and KO Williams with a broken rib? That’s pretty impressive. Sonny must’ve been in a lot of pain.
Great video. Very few people know about Cleveland Williams and when big George Foreman and Sonny Liston say you hit hard, then you know that Williams has thunder in both hands. He died 3 times on the operating table and still returned to box at an elite level. A true testament of the man's strength, courage and endurance.
Cleveland Williams career, besides having to make a huge comeback, kinda reminds me of a guy like David Tua. In many eras Williams is a champ but his time was so stacked someone had to be left out.
@@AXL664 I know it was Cus calling the shots. Patterson would likely have fought a prime Folley, Machen and Williams if he had a say, and that is likely why he cut ties with him in later years.
I knew about Cleveland Williams from highlights of when he fought Ali, then known as Cassius Clay. The praise he received from an in his prime Sonny Liston validates him, in my opinion, as a top tier heavyweight for the ages. Very sad what happened to him on that police stop. His career and potential to be a Champion were stolen from him that night. RIP Big Cat.
When we talk about different era’s, there’s always the biggest names that defined that era, and then there are those guys who for whatever reason, we’re forgotten over time, whom all things considered, could have and maybe even were right there with the biggest names. Cleveland was that fighter during a time where the heavyweight division of boxing was figuratively and literally the biggest thing going in the sport.
The surgeon who operated on Williams, after his gunshot wound, said that he had never seen a finer human physical specimen. Can‘t remember the exact dimensions, but Williams had something like 2.5 inch abdominal wall, whereas the average man would have an eight of an inch. It was that abdominal wall of steel which saved his life.
@@RainyDayBoxing Thanks you for the informative doco's on past legends. I wouldn't have even got as far as Sonny Liston if it wasn't for you. That Sonny Liston documentary actually rocked me, I had no idea about any great fighters even existing before Ali, Tyson, Foreman. The quality of these, I'd expect to see them on TV.
Great video, especially exposing his power against Sonny Liston. Interesting how George Foreman recognized Williams’s power, even in the late 60s. Notice that Cleveland Williams and Mike Tyson were both born June 30th ( fun trivia).
I swear, even returning to boxing after such surviving is a modern miracle by itself. No matter how stupid it sounds, but nobody can tell me that people back then were the same material as us. Like the difference between steel and hardened steel. Still the same, yet so different.
Holy crap , Did you see what he was doing to Sonny Liston , wow ! Excellent video, and I appreciate that these men get acknowledged. Of the far too many tragic boxer stories the Cleveland Williams story is one of the saddest. It is a story that needs to be told.
Happy birthday Nico! 🥳 I hope the vid made your special day a little bit better! I hope I did justice to Cleveland's story in the eyes of his biggest fan. Thank you for all your help making material of him accessible to the world! 🥊
Big Cat was a badddd man!! The left hook combo reminds me of Roy Jones. In the end, he was another star croased man who deserved better. RDB, youre the best! ✌👊
With how he threw and moved he definitely built himself a cut above the rest. It took a .357 magnum to weaken his strength but still he was a good fighter with that setback. A remarkable boxer
Actually crazy how jealous people would get, so much so, that a cop would shoot the bloke. Same happened to Liston, suffered police harassment, though he probably gave cause.
Great video as usual bro! Do you think you could make a short documentary on Roberto Duran or ? (A lower weight class fighter) please. Keep up the good work 👊🏾
I've heard of cleveland williams before, though only as a passing remark in the history of ali. all I knew was that williams was a shadow of his former self after being shot. Seeing that footage of him I see what they meant.
Another great video mate 👊🏻. Williams was a beast, gave a prime Liston two short but tough fights and had him hurt in both fights. Very underrated fighter, thats Listons best ever wins imo. Would love to see a Tommy Morrison, Larry Holmes, Klitchko brothers and a Jim Jeffries video in the future buddy 👌🏻.
Happy to be able to finally share my take of Cleveland's story with you! Sorry it took a while. Thank you for the support and motivation to get it done!
Great video and thank you. It is annoying that Cleveland Williams’ name wasn’t mentioned on your video while you are giving tribute to this boxer. This video would disappear in a year on RU-vid search engine in the future. Sometimes I don’t understand how people work hard to create a great video and post post it and the video disappears quickly because of the way they labeled and indexed the athlete.
So sad…. Thanks for making this video. I love all of em! Course I had heard of Cleveland Williams, and now I recall the story of him being shot, but I didn’t realize how close he was to be a world champion! He had modern day muscles! Looked like he was on steroids without steroids! Now I’d like to know more why a struggle ensued with that police officer. I can only assume he was giving Cleveland a hard time. There was a time in my life where I was 205 pounds and dropped to 154 pounds. You feel as weak as a kitten. And I wasn’t shot with a 357 magnum! What a tragedy.
I have to say, no boxing channel on RU-vid could surpass RainyDayBoxing. In my opinion the two best boxing channels on RU-vid are RainyDayBoxing and Joseph Vincent. Keep up the great work! You guys will reach that 1million subs in no time. Just waiting for Muhammad Ali's documentary and a reupload or a redo Mike Tyson's.
Thank you for the very kind words, I really appreciate the support! I plan right now is for an Ali doc to be the finale of the heavyweight series 🥊 I hope to redo the Mike Tyson doc one day too, It was such a large doc though so it'll take a while!
We in the boxing community appreciate these goats but there's also another channel by the name Rich The Fighting historian, there's so much gem in there, give him your attention.
@@jawbreaker8363 Foreman only sparred liston a bit. and the times he did he said liston held back. the one time he didn't was when george tried to get one over on liston, and liston told him "no" and hit him with a right hand... a right hand that foreman didn't ever wanna be hit with again.
@@meeknuggets4860 Foreman sparred with Liston the same way he sparred with Williams. Williams and Liston fought in the same era same time and started the same year. Williams being the dangerous puncher he was took it easy on young George.
3:50 … No doubts Ali respected/feared many of his opponents but he would talk the talk about them too. I know it’s only a short clip and I could be taking out of context, but no joking around from Ali here. Respectful and seems genuinely wary of Big Cat’s threat.
