LEWISTON – When Sports Illustrated published the book, “The Century’s Greatest Sports Photos,” the cover photograph was shot in Lewiston.
Renowned photographer Neil Leifer, who took the famous photo of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston in their heavyweight championship fight in Lewiston on May 25, 1965, will revisit the Colisee as part of a year-long special assignment for Sports Illustrated.
Leifer will reshoot the site on the 40th anniversary of the Ali-Liston bout.
His visit to Lewiston will be documented by HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” for a future telecast. Correspondent Frank Deford will tape an interview with Leifer during his Lewiston visit.
“Neil coming here is a big deal,” said Phil Nadeau, Lewiston’s assistant city administrator. “And having Real Sports’ and Frank Deford involved makes it an even bigger deal.”
One of two photographers assigned to cover the Ali-Liston fight for SI, Leifer found himself in the perfect spot when Ali floored Liston with a short right in the first round. With referee Jersey Joe Walcott slow to move in and send Ali to a neutral corner, Leifer snapped the famous photo that shows Ali menacingly standing over the prone Liston.
Several individuals have called the picture the greatest sports photo of the 20th century.
Leifer’s work has been featured in countless magazines and have graced more than 200 covers.
Sports Illustrated has Leifer working on a year-long assignment documenting the major sporting events. Leifer, for example, is at the Kentucky Derby this weekend. His visit to Lewiston is one of the only stops that is not centered around an actual sporting event.
Nadeau said he is coordinating the photo shoot for Leifer to replicate the interior of the Colisee as is looked 40 years ago. The plan includes placing 1,000 chairs around a boxing ring and lighting the building to resemble the original setup. The public will not be allowed to watch Leifer’s actual photo shoot.
“I’ll set it up as close as I can to how the facility looked,” Nadeau said.
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