Sixty years later, Neil Leifer still can’t believe his photo is considered one for the ages.

On May 25, 1965, Leifer snapped a photo of Muhammad Ali knocking out Sonny Liston in a rematch of a world heavyweight title bout at the Central Maine Youth Center in Lewiston, which today is known as The Colisée.

The career-defining photo would later be recognized as one of the most iconic images in American sports history.

“In my wildest dreams, I’d never think we’d be talking about (this) photo 60 years later,” said Leifer, who is now 82 and lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The bout’s controversial ending has been widely discussed for decades. In the first round, Ali appeared to hit Liston with a right-hand punch, knocking the former champion to his back. Both fighters were facing Leifer, who quickly snapped the 23-year-old Ali standing over Liston, taunting him.

Leifer and Associated Press photographer John Rooney, who had a similar shot, came away with the fight’s best images.

“I did a lot of great boxing photography (in my career), but the reason (for my notoriety) has been that picture,” said Leifer. “The picture that I’m always going to be remembered for is that photograph. It happens with writers, it happens with artists, and it happens to photographers. Don’t underestimate the word ‘luck.’ On that night, I was very, very lucky in Lewiston, Maine.

“I can’t put it any more bluntly: There was no (shooting) strategy (entering the Lewiston fight), zero,” he added. “It was just another fight, and it wasn’t going to be anything special. But this was 1965. In the ’60s, the heavyweight championship fight was huge. There was no Super Bowl (at the time), most college football was still bigger than the NFL. … As far as the position (at ringside), the major magazines always had ringside seats. By 1965, Sports Illustrated was a hugely successful magazine, and Life magazine had two photographers ringside. There was nothing unusual about it. I was (shooting) a heavyweight championship fight and thrilled to be doing it.”

Leifer was one of several photographers assigned to shoot the fight. Just 22 at the time, he was already a veteran photographer for Sports Illustrated, securing his first cover photo at 19. At 16, he shot an iconic photograph of the “Greatest Game Ever Played,” the 1958 National Football League championship game between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants — the first playoff game in league history to be settled by sudden-death overtime.

Leifer shot the first Ali-Liston fight a year earlier in Miami. In that fight, Ali — then boxing under his birth name of Cassius Clay — was an underdog and Liston was the world champion. Ali won the fight and the title when Liston failed to answer the bell for the seventh round.

“(By 1965), I was a fan of Ali already,” said Leifer. “But I had photographed Sonny Liston twice before that fight (in Miami). Nobody in his right mind thought Ali could win that fight, are you kidding? Ali was a great amateur (fighter) and had turned into a very promising professional. But even in his fight against Doug Jones (in March 1963, won by Ali by decision in 10 rounds) … it was a mediocre fight. Ali didn’t look great, he certainly didn’t look invincible. Sonny Liston, on the other hand, had not seen the second round in years (before the fight).”

The second Ali-Liston fight was originally scheduled for the Boston Garden on Nov. 16, 1964. It was moved to Maine in part because Suffolk County District Attorney Garrett Byrne sought an injunction blocking the fight, as it was being promoted without a Massachusetts license.

Then-Maine Gov. John H. Reed stepped forward, offering Lewiston as an alternative site. The bout was then pushed to May 25, 1965.

The title fight was also significant in that it was the first time Cassius Clay (and then Cassius X) fought under his new name — Muhammad Ali.

After the Miami fight, Ali changed his name at the suggestion of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad.

Ali entered the second fight with a 20-0 record, including 16 wins by knockout, but Liston was still the heavy favorite. Leifer, though, was convinced Ali would prevail in Lewiston.

“Based on the first fight in Miami, Sonny (then 33 years old) was now an old man, and Ali had beaten the daylights out of him in Miami, it wasn’t even close,” he said.

The rematch was over in 2 minutes, 12 seconds. Skeptics insisted Ali never actually hit Liston, and that the “phantom punch” was part of a match fix (there had also been allegations of match fixing for the fight in Miami). Leifer disagreed.

“I don’t think Ali landed more than two punches the whole fight,” Leifer said. “All the old writers went to their grave insisting there was no (knockout) punch. I don’t believe that … I do think Ali landed the punch. But did I see it? Of course not, I had 10 other things on my mind when I’m photographing.

“(The photo) was on the fourth page of a four-page color section (in Sports Illustrated),” Leifer continued. “I don’t even remember anyone congratulating me on it, I think a couple people said, ‘Nice knockout picture, Neil, you were obviously in the lucky (spot).'”

Leifer’s iconic photo from the fight didn’t win any awards at first, but things changed in the foll0wing years and decades.

Time Magazine said it was the greatest photo ever taken of Ali, who died in 2016, and perhaps the greatest sports photo of the century. In 1999, the photo finally got proper placement in Sports Illustrated, the cover of the magazine’s “Century’s Greatest Sports Photos” edition.

“The picture grew as Ali’s importance grew,” Leifer said. “It’s the way people wanted to remember him. He was a handsome devil. He was movie-star good looking. He was a great athlete, a great personality. He was a great man. He was one of a kind. I’ve covered a lot of stars in every other sport you can name, but there’s never been anyone like Ali, as far as I’m concerned.”

Leifer would go on to shoot more heavyweight title fights. He said the Ali-Liston photo is not his favorite. His favorite photo is of Ali in a 1966 title fight against Cleveland Williams at the Astrodome in Houston. Leifer positioned his camera high above the rin, to get a photo of a knocked-down Williams on the canvas.

Leifer shot primarily for Sports Illustrated and Time over 60 years. His work has also been featured in Life, People, the Saturday Evening Post, Look and Newsweek. On top of his boxing work, he’s shot 16 Olympic Games, four FIFA World Cups, 15 Kentucky Derbies and the first 12 Super Bowls. He has published 17 books, nine of which are collections of his photographs.

He was the recipient of the Lucie Award for Achievement in Sports Photography. In 2008, he received the Britton Hadden Lifetime Achievement Award from Time, Inc. And in 2014, Leifer became the first photographer to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

“I was competitive (as a photographer). I was passionate, and I was a huge sports fan,” he said. “The combination (was key). I came from a very poor family from the lower east side of Manhattan. I never dreamed of having the good luck that I had. And it’s funny, using the word luck, it’s always mixed up with modesty. I’m not a modest photographer, I have a very healthy ego. But (in those photos), you had to be in the lucky seat. I was assigned ringside for Lewiston, but so was (fellow Sports Illustrated photographer) Herb Sharfman … the only photo he was able to take away from Lewiston was Ali’s rear end.”

Even at 82, Leifer still hasn’t put the camera down. His latest published work, “Neil Leifer. Boxing. 60 Years of Fights and Fighters” was released in 2020, a collection of photos from his 60 years of boxing coverage.

And much of his success can be traced to Lewiston 60 years ago.

“I certainly, in a million years, didn’t expect that this would be the one picture that people would remember me by,” Leifer said. “I was just thrilled to be covering a heavyweight championship fight, I didn’t care that it was in a small town.”

“The difference between a good sports photographer and a great one, is when you get lucky (in a moment), you don’t miss (the shot). That night in Lewiston, I didn’t miss.”