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History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at IntoHistory.com. Let's do something odd for a podcast.

Talk about photographs.

But these are likely ones you've seen in the past.

So try to imagine them with me remembering.

Here's the first one.

It's a boxing match.

In black and white, we see one corner of the ring in the background and the canvas stretched out before us. On that canvas, seemingly

knocked flat on his back, is one boxer, his gloved hands thrown above his head, one limp on the mat,

the other just barely reaching upward. That boxer is Sonny Liston, the reigning heavyweight champion of the mat, the other just barely reaching upward. That boxer is Sunny Liston,

the reigning heavyweight champion of the world at the time. Above him is another boxer,

snarling, sneering, goading Liston to get up and fight, sucker. His stance is wide, his right

arm cocked as if it just landed the knockout blow. This boxer is Mohamed Ali, and the picture I'm describing is one of the all-time greats in sports photography.

There's another famous photo of Ali. This one is in color, with Ali in familiar boxing shorts, white with black stripes down the sides.

He stands, hands behind his

back as if they're bound, his head thrown back, his mouth agape, his eyes fixed on some

distant horizon, and he is riddled with arrows, bleeding. One of the most celebrated magazine

cover shots of all time.

This photograph for Esquire shows Ali as Saint Sebastian,

a martyr who was shot through with arrows for his Christian faith and who later became known as a patron saint of sports.

Ali, of course, was not a Christian, but he had faith, and he was punished for it.

...