Art by Tim Carroll

It is February, 1964.  The world awaits what they believe will be a quick knockout in a heavyweight title boxing match.  Sonny Liston, the champion, was a boxer that was feared by his opponents.  His challenger, 22 year-old Cassius Clay, was a loud-mouthed kid from Louisville, KY that had previously been knocked down in two fights to lesser opponents.  The betting odds were 7-1 in favor of Liston.  Most sportswriters around the country were only paying attention to the fight to see how fast Liston would knock Clay out.  All of the hype surrounding Liston did not derail Clay from verbally assaulting him in the days before the fight.  On the day before the fight, Clay announced that he was going to:  "Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.......cause your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see."  Liston hardly responded to the boastful claims, basically lettingt he world know he was going to talk in the ring.  The following day, it took 6 rounds before Liston decided not to even come out to fight anymore.  Clay ran around the ring screaming, "I am the greatest!" 

Less than 2 weeks later, Cassius Clay completed his conversion to Islam, and changed his name to Muhammad Ali.  In a heavweight title rematch 15 months later, Ali took the ring against Liston in Lewiston, Maine.  Int he middle of the first round, Ali connected with a quick right that sent Liston tot he canvas.  The knockout cemented Ali's claim that he was the greatest heavyweight champion in the world.  The photo that was taken during that first round of Ali standing over Liston yelling, "Get up and fight, sucker," is an iconic image of not only boxing - but of American sports in general.  After an amzing career in which he had a 56-5 record, Muhammad Ali retired in 1981.  He has been claimed by many experts to be the greatest heavyweight boxer that ever lived.  In 1999, Sports Illustrated named Ali as "Sportsman of the Century".

 

I decided to use the image of Ali standing over Liston in the rematch for this one.  I wanted Ali to continue to "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee." 

 

 

So, I used rubbers stamps and a pad of black ink, and a piece of archival Canson paper (20" x 27").

 

 

 

 

 

 

Float like a butterfly in Round one........................

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sting like a bee in Round two......................

 

 

 

 

 

 

More butterflies in Round 3......................

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Round 4, I was mixing it up (a float here, a sting there):

 

 

 

 

 

 

On to Round 5, where I was giving that Canson paper a flurry of left hooks (butterflies) and right jabs (bees)..........

 

 

 

 

 

 

In round 6, I decided to go for the knockout................

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I saw I was finished, I stood over the art telling it to get up:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some detail of the work in progress:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going for the body shots..............

 

 

 

 

 

 

Light butterflies, dark butterflies.................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One final view:

 

 

 

 

This was one of those pieces where the process of making it was just as important as the product itself.  Completed in 3.5 hours..........November 7, 2009.