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LISTON DEMOLISHES NOVA,
SECURES 1ST PLACE IN GROUP TWO
Saturday 31 August 2002
Missouri-born slugger Sonny Liston ended stage one of the Heavyweight Boxing Federation's World Championship tournament with a bang tonight, scoring a dominant 3rd round TKO victory over Oakland's Lou Nova at Madison Square Garden. Liston was fighting at the famous venue for the first time in his career and gave the crowd a fantastic show, pounding Nova throughout the contest's three rounds. Chopping lefts and rights had the Californian off balance and staggered on a dozen occasions before referee Richard Steele stepped in to halt the carnage 2:15 into round three.
Even though Nova somehow managed to stay on his feet up to the moment of the stoppage it was clear from the way he'd presented at the previous day's weigh-in that he never seriously considered himself a chance to win. At 232 pounds, he was fifteen heavier than for last month's bout against Charley Retzlaff. The extra pounds showed in an unflattering manner around his waist and on his chest and would have been a disappointing sight to those who had hoped for an even contest. Nova's lack of preparation was understandable from one perspective: he had already qualified for stage two (unexpectedly at that) so why bother trying to beat the biggest puncher in the federation? Perhaps understandable, but hardly the mark of a true competitor.
Liston outlanded his opponent by a crazy ratio of more than 4:1, connecting with 110 of 219 shots (50.2%) while Nova found the mark with just 25 of 40 (62.5%). The World Championship tournament's #2 seed wore his allegiance to his adopted homeland of Scotland into the ring, his white robe featuring the Scottish flag across the back and also in a much smaller version on the left breast. His knee-length trunks were blue with white trim, boots blue with white laces.
(to be continued)
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