Sonny Liston, prior to this first round knockout of Roy Harris was well into his campaign for a shot at the World Heavyweight title and in his most recent outing had stopped "Big Cat" Cleveland Williams by 2nd round TKO in a furious heavy hitting brawl. Liston has also stopped Howard King, Nino Valdes, Mike DeJohn and durable Wayne Bethea making him the most dominating heavyweight of the late 1950's. His record was very similar to Roy Harris in the fact he had a 28-1 record however 19 of his 28 wins were by way of KO.
Roy Harris was a promising boxer during the 1950's, known for his technical skill more than punching power. Prior to turning pro he was a four-time state Golden Gloves champion and won the Joe Louis Sportsmanship Award in 1954. Harris turned pro in 1955 as a light heavyweight but immediately gained weight so he could compete as a heavyweight. A small heavyweight, but a heavyweight nonetheless. Within 7 months he had won the vacant USA Texas State Heavyweight title and in 1956 he won the Heavyweight Championship of the South from Oscar Pharo. Roy went undefeated in his first 23 fights with 1957 being his standout year as he beat serious contenders of the area in Bob Baker, Willie Pastrano, and Willi Besmanoff to earn a shot at World Heavyweight Champion, Floyd Patterson. Harris gave a good account of himself in the fight with Patterson which included dropping the champ for a 4 count early on, but Patterson rallied strongly and ended up scoring multiple knockdowns of his own but was still unable to keep Harris down. Harris' corner had seen enough after 12 brutal rounds however and threw in the towel. Harris would bounce back by successfully defending his USA Texas State Heavyweight title against USA Texas State Light Heavyweight champion, Donnie Fleeman. He did again in 1959 during a rematch. Harris also beat former NFL star Charley Powell and former Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion, Joe Bygraves in 1959. In his most recent fight, Harris won..
