This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 12/10/2001.
After countless delays, on May 25, 1965, the Muhammad Ali-Sonny Liston rematch was held in the Dominican Arena in the tiny town of Lewiston, Maine, and appropriately, the fight ended in controversy when Ali decked Liston in the first round with a short punch nobody seemed to see. This decidedly rare program from the fight by the Central Maine Youth Center is an interesting timepiece. Bizarrely, the cover includes the veteran black actor Stepin Fetchit, whose shuffling act had become anathema in the black community but who was taken in by Ali as a "secret strategist" and is seen on the cover gyrating next to lyrics from a song called "The Mellow Champion's Dance" (which includes the immortal chorus "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee"). The photo-filled program is filled with collages of Ali, who is hailed as "boy-man-God" while Liston rates only one page. The 12-page program is in near mint condition and presents images of a time when Muhammad Ali was just taking flight and about to change history.