06/19/1964 - Muhammed Ali Stripped Of The WBA

The World Boxing Association ( WBA formally NBA)  Strip Ali of their Heavyweight Championship for violating their rules regarding rematches and rematch clauses.

Shortly after Ali Vs Liston 1 it was discovered that the two fighters attempted to hide a rematch by having a separate contract. This is how they tried to get around it:

Many argued that Liston had more to gain financially from losing the bout and fighting a rematch than he did from winning. The contract gave Inter-Continental Promotions, Inc., a firm organized to promote Liston’s fights, the right to promote Ali’s first fight as champion—if he should beat Liston—and pick his opponent (Liston, of course). This was in a second contract, kept secret and not part of the main fight contract. It was phrased as it was because the World Boxing Association did not allow fight contracts with rematch clauses. Gordon B. Davidson, an attorney for the group sponsoring Ali, said, “We felt we would be better advised not to have a guaranteed rematch clause. We felt this was more in the spirit of the WBA rules than a direct rematch which was clearly outlawed.” He agreed that it was “subterfuge.” then Ali and Liston signed to fight a rematch, the WBA voted unanimously to strip Ali of the title and drop Liston from its rankings. However, the World Boxing Council, the New York State Athletic Commission and The Ring magazine continued to recognize Ali as champion.