When he moved to town here he Felix later said Clay was seconds from being disqualified. Sports Illustrated writer Gilbert Rogin wrote that "that final left hook crashed into Patterson's cheek like a diesel rig going downhill, no brakes." The victim sought out the executioner." Wepner, who also fought George Foreman and Muhammad Ali, said after his career was over that Liston was the hardest puncher he faced. Liston injured his shoulder early in the 1964. On May 7, backers of the rematch ended the court battle by pulling the fight out of Boston. Name: Sonny Liston Birth Year: 1932 Birth date: May 8, 1932 Birth State: Arkansas Birth City: St Francis County Birth Country: United States Gender: Male Best Known For: Sonny Liston was. 1 contender by 1960, but the handlers of the heavyweight champ at the time, Floyd Patterson, refused to give him a shot at the title because of Liston's links to the mob. 9, 1 March 2018, p. 8, New York Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions, "Photographic image of 'Tale of the Tape', "Sonny Liston vs. Floyd Patterson (Tale of the tape)", "From THE RING: The greatest heavyweight of all time", "25 Greatest Fighters of All Time (Heavyweight)", "ESPN Classic - Liston was trouble in and out of ring", "Jacob's Beach by Kevin Mitchell: review", "Hard Times, Good Times: Charles "Sonny" Liston - Boxing.com", "Dismayed D'Amato Is Expecting To Get Back Manager's License", "Esquire covers commemorate boxing's prime", "Cassius Clay-Sonny Liston I: 50 Years Later", "Sonny Liston vs. Cassius Clay (1st meeting) - BoxRec", "1964 Clay vs. Liston Judges' Scorecards from Miami Beach Bout. | Lot #80073 | Heritage Auctions", "Muhammad Ali's Toughest Fight Wasn't Against Joe Frazier", "Fifty Years Later: The Mystery of Muhammad Ali's 'Phantom Punch', "I WAS THERE: George Chuvalo Watches Sonny Liston Take a Dive - YouTube", "Fifty Years Later: The Mystery of Muhammad Ali's 'Phantom Punch' | Boxing News", "Daytona Beach Morning Journal - Google News Archive Search", "Sonny Liston the most talented Heavyweight in history", "George Foreman Discusses Friendship With Sonny Liston", "Sonny Liston: Say Goodnight to the Bad Guy Boxing News", "LOTIERZO'S LOWDOWN Sonny Liston: The Most Underrated Heavyweight Champ In History", "The Most Feared Fighter in Boxing History: Charles 'Sonny' Liston remembered", "Liston KO'd Popular Patterson for Title", "O Unlucky Man: Fortune never smiled on Sonny Liston", "Sonny Liston Meets the Press - Boxing.com", "Like Fights Against Ali, Liston Death a Mystery", "December 30, 1970: Mysterious Death of Sonny Liston", "19 YEARS LATER: Liston Death Remains Mystery to His Friends". So that means his reach was practically a . Patterson wanted a chance to redeem himself, so they met again on July 22, 1963, in Las Vegas. Walcott then rushed back to the fighters, who had resumed boxing, and stopped the fightawarding Ali a first-round knockout victory. ", This page was last edited on 7 February 2023, at 06:36. Official date of death put as December 30. The Devil and Sonny Liston is a biography of world heavyweight champion boxer Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches. "[57] Those findings were confirmed in a formal investigation immediately after the fight by Florida State Attorney Richard Gerstein, who also noted that there was little doubt that Liston went into the fight with a sore or lame shoulder. Daniel (Dan) Liston is Professor of Education in the Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice (EFPP) program and in the Curriculum and Instruction (C&I) program. The bout was stopped after the ninth round due to cuts over both of Wepner's eyes. I wasn't hit. The grave's headstone reads Sonny Liston: A Man. (12) 7.3 1 h 29 min 2019 18+. Sonny Liston existed, and, Ali bouts or no Ali bouts, he was one of the greatest fighters to ever lace on a glove. Others have said he may have been murdered in some sort of mob killing. Death April 29, 2016 - Carrhubane Beg, Limerick, Ireland. During these same years Sonny Liston was on the comeback trail as well. View the profiles of people named Daniel 'Sonny' Liston. ", During an era when white journalists still described black athletes in stereotypes, Liston had long been a target of racially charged slurs; he was called a "gorilla" and "a jungle beast" in print. In 2013 the son of a deceased mafia hitman published a book claiming that his father confessed to murdering Liston via forced drug overdose. Boxer Sonny Liston ducks and covers up as Cassius Clay aims a right at him during their title fight. "[75], Future world heavyweight champion George Foreman, who sparred with Liston after Foreman's amateur career, assessed Liston's jab as the most formidable he faced and Liston as the strongest man he encountered in the ring, describing Liston as having the most natural talent and skill. Two of the three official scorers, or judges, awarded the round to Liston, and the other scored the round even. He is seen in the far left part of the row, wearing a white and gold robe, standing beside the original-look Beatle wax figures. [10][11] It has been suggested Liston himself may not have known what year he was born, as he was not precise on the matter. "There is power in both his left and his right, even though the fists move with the languor of motoring royalty or as if passing through a gaseous envelope more dense than air." He said they found Liston lying on his bed with a needle sticking out of his arm. 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. Liston has been referenced in many songs by artists such as Curtis Eller, Sun Kil Moon, the Animals, Tom Petty, Mark Knopfler, Phil Ochs, Morrissey, Freddy Blohm, Chuck E. Weiss, This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, the Roots, Wu-Tang Clan, Gone Jackals, Billy Joel, the Mountain Goats, Lil Wayne, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and the Killers. SONNY LISTON FOUND DEAD IN 1971 Few tears are being shed for Charles (Sonny) Liston, heavyweight champion of the world, Sept. 25, 1962 to Feb. 25, 1964. The Murder of Sonny Liston: A Story of Fame, Heroin, Boxing & Las Vegas. O n January 5, 1971, Sonny Liston, the former heavyweight champion of the world, was found dead in his home in Las Vegas. He was paroled after serving six months of a nine-month sentence, and was not prohibited from boxing during 1957. Larry Merchant, then a writer with the Philadelphia Daily News, wrote: "A celebration for Philadelphia's first heavyweight champ is now in order. But by the sixth round his sight had cleared, and a clearly enraged Clay fought a blisteringly aggressive round landing numerous combination punches. Charles L. "Sonny" Liston, fdd omkring 1930 i Sand Slough i St. Francis County, Arkansas, dd 30 december 1970 i Las Vegas, Nevada, var en amerikansk professionell boxare som var vrldsmstare i tungvikt 1962-1964.. Liston vann titeln i september 1962 genom att besegra Floyd Patterson p knockout i frsta ronden och frlorade den sedan i februari 1964 i en match mot Cassius Clay . [31] While Liston began working into shape with hopes for a heavyweight title shot, he also continued his criminal behavior. Sonny is an old-school guy; not much fanfare. The film starred Ving Rhames as Liston and was produced by Rhames, Hassain Zaidi and Marek Posival. He had been deliberately snubbed. Cleveland Williams was the last person to defeat Liston and made $100,000 for his efforts. He also took his gun. 2023 Barstool Sports. Liston went from being a big-shouldered street thief with no education to heavyweight champ of the world and household name. The Real Story behind the Ali-Liston Fights. [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. I want to prove to the world there's dirty work afoot.' "[82] Johnny Tocco, a trainer who worked with George Foreman and Mike Tyson as well as Liston, said Liston was the hardest hitter of the three. He was born in Sand Slough, Arkansas, U.S. on May 8, 1932. [17] The athletic director at Missouri State Penitentiary, Rev. [103], Sonny Liston was featured in a novel "Girl Fighter" with a brief reference to his early life, his rise to WBC heavyweight champion and his eventual losses to Clay/Ali.[104]. "[35] Although largely illiterate through lack of schooling, Liston was a more complex and interesting individual than has often been acknowledged. He rounded out the year by stopping Nino Valdez and Willi Besmanoff. Tosches' intended title was "Night Train" after one of Liston's favorite songs. [27][28], Liston's streak of nine straight knockout victories ended when he won a unanimous twelve-round decision against Eddie Machen on September 7, 1960. Patterson defended against Liston in Comiskey Park, Chicago, on September 25, 1962, and the rest is history. For confetti we can use torn-up arrest warrants." [35] There are several theories as to why: (1) publicist Harold Conrad and others believed Liston had been deeply involved as a bill collector of a loansharking ring in Las Vegas. "He was afraid of needles," echoed Father Edward Murphy. His eyes swept the whole scene. 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. Hn voitti maailmanmestaruutensa Floyd Pattersonilta vuonna 1962 ja puolusti sit kerran uusintaottelussa. His father was 30 years older than his mother. He would not close in until the accumulated inside damage and Liston's own frustration had sapped the challenger's strength and will." interview with Alex Haley in Muhammad Ali by Thomas Hauser. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. After repeated overnight detention by the St. Louis police and a thinly veiled threat to his life, Liston left for Philadelphia. Young Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, knocked out opponent Sonny Liston for his first world title in boxing on this day in history, Feb. 25, 1964. "He told me in the strictest confidence, but it was like he wanted to get it off his chest." said Liston's Philadelphia dentist, Dr. Nick Ragni. A wax model of Liston appears in the front row of the iconic sleeve cover of the Beatles' Sgt. Because of the shirt he wore during robberies, the St. Louis police called Liston the "Yellow Shirt Bandit." Muhammad Ali vs Sonny Liston, 1965 Source: AFP. For those too young to remember, Sonny The Big Bear Liston was a legendary heavyweight boxer. In these feckless clinches he only managed to tie up one of Liston's arms. Liston believed his date of birth to be May 8, 1932, and used this for official purposes[11] but by the time he won the world title an aged appearance added credence to rumors that he was actually several years older. Skeptics called the knockout blow "the phantom punch." JustinvR Brown Belt. [108] The book suggests that Sonny Liston may have been murdered and a possibility that the crime was never investigated. However, there were again rumors of alcohol abuse in training. However, David Remnick, for his book King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero, interviewed one of Liston's cornermen, who told him that Liston could have continued: "[The shoulder] was all BS. He claimed the officer used racial slurs. Born to a large and impoverished sharecropping family, Charles 'Sonny' Liston probably came into the world four years before his official 1932 birthdate, and his struggle to fashion a real identity would remain with him his whole life. He had a whiplash, so they took him to the hospital," said boxing trainer Johnny Tocco. After demolishing these top-ranked fighters in the heavyweight division, Liston was regarded as the top-contender champion-in-waiting. [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. It's been 43 years since Sonny passed. Liston would keep Frazier out of range with that monster of a jab which was better than Foreman's! Sonny Liston was a ferocious fighter, the heavyweight champion of the world and the man Cassius Clay beat to win the title for the first time, igniting his own legend. January 5, 2017. He said that Liston was not quick with his hand or footwork, that he relied too much on his ability to take a punch, and that he could be vulnerable to an opponent with more hand speed. A couple weeks later, he was still complainin' about that needle mark. The connections to organized crime were an advantage early in his career but were later used against him. The ending of the fight remains one of the most controversial in boxing history. In 2013 the son of a deceased mafia hitman published a book claiming that his father confessed to murdering Liston via forced drug overdose. His fists measured 15 inches around, which was the largest of any heavyweight champion. Walcott never did pick up the count. Machen's mobility enabled him to go the distance but he was clearly outpointed despite Liston being penalised for a low blow in the 11th round. 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. Geraldine remembered her husband as "Great with me, great with the kids. 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. 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