[74], Writer Gilbert Rogin assessed Liston's style and physique after his win over Zora Folley. "But they'll have to swing along until somebody comes to beat me.". Cassius Clay was just 22-years-old when he beat the world champion in a seven round TKO. The second round saw Liston continue to pursue Clay. He talked of a fight with Joe Frazier, claiming, "It'd be like shooting fish in a barrel." (35.6 x 21.6 cm) Description [42], Liston's run-ins with the police had continued in Philadelphia. Childhood & Early Life. [94], On January 1, Liston's wife, Geraldine, called Johnny Tocco and said she had not heard from her husband in three days and was worried. The year 1959 was a banner one for Liston: after knocking out contender Mike DeJohn in six rounds he faced Cleveland Williams, a fast-handed fighter who was billed as the hardest-hitting heavyweight in the world against whom he showed durability, power and skill, nullifying Williams' best work before stopping him in the third round. Liston said he quit because of a shoulder injury. Convention Center, Winchester, Nevada, U.S. Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Municipal Auditorium, Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Midwest Gymnasium, Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Pittsburgh Gardens, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. New Masonic Temple, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Motor City Arena, Detroit, Michigan, U.S. Sources vary on his reach, with some listing it as 80in, Reputations: Sonny Liston: The Champion Nobody Wanted (2001), 50 min, BBC Documentary, Mailer: A Biography By Mary V. Dearborn, page 186. He was still a world-ranked boxer when he died in mysterious circumstances in 1970. Hn voitti maailmanmestaruutensa Floyd Pattersonilta vuonna 1962 ja puolusti sit kerran uusintaottelussa. Mike DeJohn was the highest paid boxer at $15,000 while James Dickey received $20,000. Police determined he died from a. [67] Some felt the knockdown was real but the knockout was fake. It was 55 years ago that the world's attention focused on Lewiston, Maine, for a world heavyweight boxing title fight. Facebook gives. One of the victories was over Amos Johnson, Liston's former sparring partner, who had recently defeated British champion Henry Cooper. Overall, Liston earned around $500,000 during his career. Cassius Clay is embraced by his handlers after he won the world heavyweight championship on a TKO over Sonny Liston in the 7th round. Muhammad Ali Signed 16x20 Sonny Liston Photo Framed MINT Autograph Steiner COA. He was paroled after serving six months of a nine-month sentence, and was not prohibited from boxing during 1957. [45][46] A clearly angered Liston rallied at the end of the round when Clay seemed tired, delivering punishing body shots. Former champions Jim Braddock (Cinderella Man), Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Rocky Marciano, and Ingemar Johansson all picked Patterson to win. In remembrance of Muhammed Ali, NPR looks back at Robert Siegel's conversation with filmmaker Gary Robinov, director of Raising Ali, about the . Liston was a heavy favorite. [17] The athletic director at Missouri State Penitentiary, Rev. "Sonnyboyliston | Race Record & Form | Racing Post", "Moonfire (1972), a film by Michael Parkhurst -Theiapolis", NYSAC World Heavyweight Champion - BoxRec, Lyrics to a song about Liston by Mark Knopfler, FBI Records: The Vault - Charles Sonny Liston, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sonny_Liston&oldid=1137950795, International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees, 20th-century African-American sportspeople, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2016, Pages with login required references or sources, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Hackman, Timothy. He found a quarter-ounce of heroin in a balloon in the kitchen, and a half-ounce of marijuana in Liston's pants pocket, but no syringes or needles. In these feckless clinches he only managed to tie up one of Liston's arms. Sonny was probably born in 1929, but no one knows for sure. The bout was stopped after the ninth round due to cuts over both of Wepner's eyes. Fifty years later, the mystery still remains. Liston knocked out Hermann Schreibauer of West Germany at 2:16 of the first round. Liston won 14 consecutive bouts, 13 by knockout, before fighting third-ranked Leotis Martin, previously beaten by Clark, in December 1969. But by the sixth round his sight had cleared, and a clearly enraged Clay fought a blisteringly aggressive round landing numerous combination punches. Emily Post would probably recommend a ticker-tape parade. Sonny Liston, once the heavyweight champ, died at the age of who-knows-what some days before Dec. 30, 1970. After repeated overnight detention by the St. Louis police and a thinly veiled threat to his life, Liston left for Philadelphia. Liston, with a 25-pound weight advantage, 214lb (97kg) to 189lb (86kg), knocked out Patterson at 2:06 of the first round, putting him down for the count with a powerful left hook to the jaw. He then left the fighters to go over to McDonough. Both fights were in Summerlin's hometown of Detroit.[23]. Liston had a noticeably more muscular left arm, but fought orthodox Meaning his power hand was out front, so he had this crushing left jab and powerful left hook. ", Chuck Wepner on Liston's intimidating appearance. Some found it suspicious that authorities could not locate any drug paraphernalia that Liston presumably would have needed to inject the fatal dose, such as a spoon to cook the heroin or a tourniquet to wrap around his arm. The inaugural WBC world heavyweight champion cemented himself in. His death was, too. I forgot about the rules." Liston was knocked down in the first round, but came back to control the next two rounds and had Griffin hanging on at the end. Muhammad Ali (at the time a rising contender named Cassius Clay), however, predicted a knockout by Liston in the first five rounds. As the famous photo portrays, Ali taunted the fallen Liston, calling on him to get up. He is a relatively elementary, one-track fighter.". That got him killed. "Get up and fight, sucker," is the famous quote. "He had a deadly fear of needles," said Davey Pearl, a boxing referee and friend of Liston's. Elizabeth Bear wrote the short story "Sonny Liston Takes the Fall", published in The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy in 2008. [62] The promoters needed a new location quickly, whatever the size, to rescue their closed-circuit television commitment around the country. The official time of the stoppage was announced as 1:00 into the first round, which was wrong. February 25, 1964. [34] Many African-Americans disdained Liston. "[78] While much has been written about the effectiveness of his left jab, others have commented favorably on Liston's wide range of boxing skills. based on 17 ratings | 6,556 views This sermon from The Exchanged Life perspective attempts to assist the believer in coming to a point of trust in Christ as Savior, Lord and Life through suffering thus ultimately being set free from Self. After Liston arose, Walcott wiped off his gloves. (4) Liston was supposed to take a dive when he fought Chuck Wepner six months earlier, and killing him was payback for his failure to do so. However, there were again rumors of alcohol abuse in training. ", Ali clearly did not think he knocked Liston out. There are a ton of other dubious deaths and (hopefully) little-known facts about Vegas in this week's episode. [49], Clay later said that in round five he could only see a faint shadow of Liston during most of the round, but by circling and moving frantically he managed to avoid Liston and somehow survive. 15 months earlier, they'd accused him of pulling over a woman around 3 a.m. and impersonating a police officer. [citation needed], The fight turned out to be a mismatch. [64] Strict interpretation of the knockdown/count rule states it is the referee's count and not the timekeeper's that is the official count. John F. Kennedy also did not want Patterson to fight Liston. Liston won his final fight, a tough but one-sided match against future world title challenger Chuck Wepner in June 1970. Boston: Little, Brown. [99] (3) The mob promised Liston some money to throw the second Ali fight, but they never paid him. And yet, outside of boxing, L [22], Early in his career, Liston faced capable opponents. [50] You can listen to it at your leisure, or read about it now. [20], Liston signed a contract in September 1953, proclaiming: "Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do. To this day, I'm convinced that's what the coroner saw in his examthat hospital needle mark. "A blues song just for fighters: The legend of Sonny Liston. Theories regarding the circumstance of Liston's death. Born in Forrest City, Arkansas, sometime in the late 1920s and early. Sonny Liston existed, and, Ali bouts or no Ali bouts, he was one of the greatest fighters to ever lace on a glove. Rogin discounted speculation that Patterson had thrown the fight, writing: "The genesis of all this wide-eyed theorizing and downright baloney was the fact that many spectators failed to see the knockout blows. C'mon now, this is for the title, this is the big apple. Name: Sonny Liston Birth Name: Charles L. Liston Hometown: Saint Louis, Missouri, USA Birthplace: Johnson Township, Arkansas, USA Died: 1970-12-30 (Age:40) Stance: Orthodox Height: 185cm Reach: 213cm Referee: Record Pro Boxer: Record Amateur Boxer: Record Managers: Jack Nilon, Joe (Pep) Barone, Eddie Polino, George Katz, Frank Mitchell, Dick Sadler Liston returned to the United States and won seven fights, all by knockout, in 1968, increasing his string to eleven. He walks to the ring with his gloves on the shoulders of his manager, Eddie Polino. [37] Frustrated, Liston changed his management in 1961 and applied pressure through the media by remarking that Patterson, who had faced mostly white challengers since becoming champion, was drawing the color line against his own race. The second fight lasted only four seconds longer than Part I's first-round KO, but Liston's victory was still loudly booed. Underworld connections and his unrecorded dates of birth and death added to the enigma. He also cited medical evidence: "A team of eight doctors inspected Liston's arm at St. Francis Hospital in Miami Beach and agreed that it was too badly damaged for Liston to continue fighting. [11][12][10][13][14] One writer concluded that Liston's most plausible date of birth was July 22, 1930, citing census records and statements from his mother during her lifetime. Gary Beckwith said, "It wasn't uncommon for family members in these cases to go through and tidy up to save family embarrassment. It burned like hell. Also, McDonough did not bang on the canvas or motion a number count with his fingers. [12], Liston never complained about prison, saying he was guaranteed three meals every day. "[68], While Liston publicly denied taking a dive, Sports Illustrated writer Mark Kram said that years later Liston told him, "That guy [Ali] was crazy. Stevens organized a sparring session with a professional heavyweight named Thurman Wilson to showcase Liston's potential. There are no official records of his birth His home state of Arkansas did not make birth certificates mandatory until 1965, but people believe he was born sometime around 1930-1932. However, Liston settled on May 8, 1932, as his official birth date. Liston's wife also recalled that her husband would refuse basic medical care for common colds because of his dislike of needles. Charles "Sonny" Liston was born c. 1930 into a sharecropping family that farmed the poor land of Morledge Plantation near Johnson Township, St. Francis County, Arkansas. (. Also in 1970, Liston appeared on an episode of the TV series Love, American Style and in a television commercial for Braniff Airlines with Andy Warhol.[12][102]. Fifty years ago this week, Liston was discovered dead by his wife, Geraldine, on a bed in his Las Vegas home. Listons last fight as a professional was against Chuck The Bayonne Bleeder Wepner He was given that nickname because his eye would open up during the National Anthem. Was Pariah boxing legend Sonny Listons OD really a mob murder? Wepner, who also fought George Foreman and Muhammad Ali, said after his career was over that Liston was the hardest puncher he faced. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform. In the 2020 film One Night in Miami, Liston is played by Aaron D. Alexander. and hit him with hooks and uppercuts when Frazier tried to get in. He was 6ft 1in (1.85m), and had an exceptionally powerful physique, with a disproportionately long reach at 84 inches (2.13m). Geraldine remembered her husband as "Great with me, great with the kids. [105] The story speculates that Liston threw the Ali match for the good of society. When Patterson met with the president in January 1962, Kennedy suggested that Patterson avoid Liston, citing Justice Department concerns over Liston's ties to organized crime. [94], Liston was buried at Paradise Memorial Gardens in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band He is seen in the far left of the first row, wearing a white and gold robe. The fight quickly descended into chaos. The connections to organized crime were an advantage early in his career but were later used against him. daniel weiss sonny liston by | posted on 10 septiembre, 2021 | 0 Comments On May 5, 1956, a policeman confronted Liston and a friend about a cab parked near Liston's home. Cleveland Williams was the last person to defeat Liston and made $100,000 for his efforts. Birth 1935 - County Limerick, Ireland. "But can he hit!" And that guy did come along and beat him Twice And it was Muhammad Ali. [8], Liston turned to crime and led a gang of thugs who committed muggings and armed robberies. A lot of his life was mysterious and messy. On September 7, 1954, Liston suffered defeat for the first time in his eighth professional fight, losing to Marty Marshall, a journeyman with an awkward style. Gallender claimed, "A lot of officers knew Sonny was dead before Geraldine returned home on January 5, but they chose to let him rot. Liston decked Martin with a left hook in the fourth round and dominated most of the fight, but Martin came back and knocked Liston out cold in the ninth round. Dave Anderson of the New York Times said Liston "looked awful" in his last workout before the fight. [71] Credence to the latter theory is provided by the fact that Liston, immediately after his fight with Chuck Wepner, seemed more concerned about supporting the proposed Ali-Frazier bout and Ali's claims to be champion than promoting his own career. Arthur Daley of the New York Times wrote that Liston's handlers knew he "didn't have it anymore,"[65] and allegedly they had secretly paid sparring partner Amos Lincoln an extra $100 to take it easy on him -[citation needed] - the same man, incidentally, that Liston dismissed in less than two rounds a full three years later. It's a terrible matchup. This was his first visit. His father was 30 years older than his mother. This Day in History: Young Muhammad Ali Knocks out Sonny Liston for First World Title. At one point in this attack, Liston was rocked as he was driven to the ropes. Liston made his professional boxing debut at the age of 21 on September 2, 1953. Rough N' Rowdy 20 LIVE From The Charleston Coliseum | Friday 8PM ET, Barstool Sportsbook has arrived in PA, MI, IL, IN, CO, VA, NJ, TN, AZ, IA, WV, LA, KS, MD, OH, Best Influencer Marketplace for Advertisers, Best Influencer Marketplace for Influencers & Creators, Best Influencer Marketplace for Agents & Agencies, Frank Pepe Pizzeria Naploetana - Chestnut Hill. "[35] However, in 1963 in the aftermath of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Liston broke off a European boxing exhibition tour to return home and was quoted as saying he was "ashamed to be in America. During the fourth round Liston appeared dominant as Clay coasted, keeping his distance. 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