The Punchline: Composition in Neil Leifer’s “Phantom Punch”
At Saint Dominic’s arena in Lewiston, Maine on May 25, 1965 World heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali fought Sonny Liston, the man he had won the title from the previous year. A long awaited rematch as it was set to happen November of the previous year. Before the match, photographer Neil Leifer had rigged special flash units over the ring which meant his strobes needed time to recharge between exposures on his Rolleiflex loaded with Kodak’s Ektachrome film. The multitude of other photographers could shoot and shoot and shoot. Leifer captured this shot on right after Sonny Liston fell to the mat after the famed phantom punch. Leifer’s photograph of this match between Ali and Liston called “Phantom Punch” uses composition and contrast to express the importance of this event.
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The focus of this image is the two men in the center of the ring, Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston. More specifically, the focus is on Ali with his gloved right hand bent up in front of his left shoulder. Ali’s hand is in this position as the image was captured milliseconds after he delivered the famous phantom punch which knocked Liston down to the mat. In the technical sense, some focus is on the middle ground (the location of the photographers shooting the event and official looking men watching) but the focus is mainly on the two boxers to show their importance. These photographers in the middle ground exhibit the popularity and historical significance of this fight as it was the first time Ali and Liston fought since Ali took the title of World Heavyweight Champion from Liston the year before. Other photographers there took similar photos but this one is the one people remember because of how the composition emphasizes the hand that delivered the phantom punch that took Liston