In Lewiston on May 25, 1965, Muhammad Ali beat Sonny Liston in a rematch for the world heavyweight boxing championship. The fight bordered on farce: Singer Robert Goulet forgot the words to the national anthem, the referee bungled the count when Liston went down, and the national press belittled the city. Jimmy Breslin called Lewiston "a dreadful little Maine backtree town." (Source: The Wild, Wild East: Unusual Tales of Maine History, by William Lemke. Camden: Yankee Books, 1990)