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On This Day: Cassius Clay TKO's Sonny 'The Bear' Liston

On Feb. 25, 1964, Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) stunned the boxing world with a TKO of Sonny "the Bear" Liston, winning the world heavyweight championship.

By UPI Staff
On February 25, 1964, Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) stunned the boxing world with a TKO of Sonny "the Bear" Liston, winning the world heavyweight championship. UPI File Photo
1 of 4 | On February 25, 1964, Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) stunned the boxing world with a TKO of Sonny "the Bear" Liston, winning the world heavyweight championship. UPI File Photo | License Photo

Feb. 25 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1791, the First Bank of the U.S. at Philadelphia became the first national bank chartered by Congress.

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In 1836, Samuel Colt patented a "revolving gun," the first of the six-shooters.

In 1870, Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Miss., was sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first African American to sit in Congress.

File Photo by Library of Congress/UPI

In 1901, the United States Steel Corp. was founded by J.P. Morgan.

In 1951, the inaugural Pan American Games began in Buenos Aires.

In 1964, brash underdog Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) stunned the boxing world with a TKO of Sonny "the Bear" Liston, winning the world heavyweight championship.

In 1984, a gasoline pipeline burst, spewing thousands of gallons of fuel that ignited and engulfed an illegal shanty town near Sao Paulo, Brazil, killing hundreds of people.

In 1986, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos left his Manila palace for Hawaii, ending 20 years in power.

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In 1990, Violeta Chamorro, the U.S.-backed candidate for the presidency of Nicaragua, scored an upset victory over President Daniel Ortega, leader of the leftist Sandinista Liberation Front.

File Photo by George Wong/UPI

In 1991, the Warsaw Pact nations signed an agreement to dissolve the alliance after 36 years.

In 1994, 32 Muslim worshippers were killed by a Jewish settler who opened fire with an automatic weapon in the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank town of Hebron. The settler was overpowered and beaten to death.

In 2005, authorities arrested Dennis Rader, a municipal employee and church leader, for the so-called BTK (blind, torture, kill) serial killings that terrorized Wichita, Kan. Rader was convicted and sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms.

In 2010, Viktor Yanukovych was sworn in as president of Ukraine. He was ousted in 2014.

In 2012, Yemen's new president, Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi, was sworn in with a promise to continue fighting al-Qaida, calling it "a religious and national duty." He was run out of the country by Houthi rebels in 2015.

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In 2013, the Roman Catholic Church announced that Cardinal Keith O'Brien, 74, the church's most senior cleric in Britain, resigned amid allegations of committing "inappropriate acts" years earlier in his relations with certain priests.

In 2017, the Democratic National Committee elected Tom Perez as its new chairman.

File Photo by Pete Marovich/UPI

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