He died on December 30, 1970 at the age of 38 years. [51], Liston failed to answer the bell for the seventh round, and Clay was declared the winner by technical knockout. [citation needed] At this time, the head coach of the St. Louis Golden Gloves team, Tony Anderson, stated that Liston was the strongest fighter he had seen. In his own words in Thomas Hauser's 1991 biography: "The punch jarred him. "Yes, it was good and honest". Three days before the fight, Ali needed emergency surgery for a strangulated hernia. [12], Liston never complained about prison, saying he was guaranteed three meals every day. Sonny Liston existed, and, Ali bouts or no Ali bouts, he was one of the greatest fighters to ever lace on a glove. . [15] In 1946, Helen Baskin, along with some of her children, moved to St. Louis to seek factory work. As the years passed and Liston's financial situation worsened, he got angry and told the mob he'd go public with the story unless they gave him the money. Rogin called Liston's physique "awesomearms like fence posts, thighs like silos." A stoic Liston finished the fight, but lost in an eight-round split decision. Ali biographer Wilfrid Sheed wrote, in his Muhammad Ali: A Portrait in Words and Photographs, that Liston planned to throw the fight for reasons unknown and used the legitimate first-round knockdown for that end. School of Education. "[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. What are you doing? The Devil and Sonny Liston. Born in Forrest City, Arkansas, sometime in the late 1920s and early. Odds makers gave Liston 71 to win. [60] The extent to which Liston's heavy drinking and possible drug use may have contributed to his surprisingly poor performances against Ali is not known.[15]. For confetti we can use torn-up arrest warrants." Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (c. 1930 - c. December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. Last thing I will say about a heavyweight champ who was an ex-con and a leg-breaker for the mob He was deathly afraid of needles. 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. [62] The promoters needed a new location quickly, whatever the size, to rescue their closed-circuit television commitment around the country. Eight years later, he died but his friends questioned the cause of his death. Dave Anderson of the New York Times said Liston "looked awful" in his last workout before the fight. Childhood & Early Life. It was a good punch, but I didn't think I hit him so hard that he couldn't have gotten up. In The Devil and Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches, published in 2000, when many of Liston's former acquaintances were still alive, Tosches posits that Liston's idol Joe Louis introduced him to heroin, and that he ultimately overdosed. The inaugural WBC world heavyweight champion cemented himself in. In his 1965 rematch with Ali, Liston suffered an unexpected first-round knockout that led to unresolved suspicions of a fix. He was not the tear-shedding type.. Ali initially stood over his fallen opponent, gesturing and yelling at him, "Get up and fight, sucker!" Liston went down at 1:44, got up at 1:56, and Walcott stopped the fight at 2:12. As Liston pursued his target Clay retreated, using his foot speed to slip away into open space in the ring, largely circling to the left and away from the threat of a Liston left hook. Fifty years later, the mystery still remains. Overcoming the seemingly insurmountable odds that life threw his way, Liston became the heavyweight champion of the world when he knocked out Floyd Patterson in 1962. There were some, however, who believed the fight was legitimate. Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it was "no phantom punch." (, Shaun Assael. "[18] The only backers willing to put up the necessary money for him to turn professional were close to underworld figures, and Liston supplemented his income by working for racketeers as an intimidator-enforcer. He rounded out the year by stopping Nino Valdez and Willi Besmanoff. 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]. In the sixth round, he carried it at belt level so that it was of no help in warding off the right crosses with which Clay probed at the cut under his left eye." Join Facebook to connect with Daniel 'Sonny' Liston and others you may know. [30], Liston became the No. [8], Liston turned to crime and led a gang of thugs who committed muggings and armed robberies. [66], Former champions Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Floyd Patterson and Gene Tunney, as well as contender George Chuvalo all declared they considered the fight to be a fake. He was a gentle man. [17] The athletic director at Missouri State Penitentiary, Rev. The bout would need to be delayed by six months. "I didn't know what the heck was going on", Angelo Dundee, Clay's trainer, recalled on an NBC special 25 years later. [19], On June 23, 1953, a team consisting of ten recent St. Louis Golden Gloves champions of all weight classes, with Liston on top as the heavyweight, was gathered to represent the United States in an International Golden Gloves (USA vs. West Europe) competition at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Liston's wife also recalled that her husband would refuse basic medical care for common colds because of his dislike of needles. Roy Harris, who had gone 13 rounds with Floyd Patterson in a title match, was crushed in one round by Liston. Sonny Liston, once the heavyweight champ, died at the age of who-knows-what some days before Dec. 30, 1970. Charles "Sonny" Liston was an enigma that, by way of testimonial, put fear in the hearts of men all throughout the 1960s. I know it", Liston said afterward. Clearly, it was time to turn pro. Two more arrestsfor disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and another for impersonating a copled to Liston being suspended by the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission on July 14, 1961. [38], Patterson finally signed to meet Liston for the world title on September 25, 1962, in Comiskey Park in Chicago. After repeated overnight detention by the St. Louis police and a thinly veiled threat to his life, Liston left for Philadelphia. When he moved to town here he Felix later said Clay was seconds from being disqualified. "[35], U.S. President John F. Kennedy also did not want Patterson to fight Liston. 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. He got out of prison in 52, won the Golden Gloves in Chicago, and went pro after less than a year Unfortunately, the only financial backers willing to put up the necessary money for him to turn professional were local mobsters, and Liston supplemented his income by working for the local mob as an intimidator-enforcer. 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. "A blues song just for fighters: The legend of Sonny Liston. Many did not see the punch land, and some who did questioned that it was powerful enough to knock Liston out. University of Colorado Boulder. "[35], Patterson and Liston had a rematch clause in their contract. All of us encounter trouble from time to time in our lives. and hit him with hooks and uppercuts when Frazier tried to get in. Listons body was discovered by his wife who was returning home from a two-week trip. Referee Jersey Joe Walcott, a former world heavyweight champion, had a hard time getting Ali to go to a neutral corner. Clay countered in verse, "If you want to lose your money, then bet on Sonny! Liston was supremely confident of easily beating Clay, trained minimally for the fight and went ahead with it despite an injury to his left shoulder.[44]. A dominant contender of his era, he became the world heavyweight champion in 1962 after knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round, repeating the knockout the following year in defense of the title; in the latter fight he also became the inaugural WBC heavyweight . Sonny couldnt read or write because his father worked him in the fields from the time he could walk Years later, he got his wife to teach him how to sign his name just so he could give it to kids who asked him for it his autograph. The official time of the stoppage was announced as 1:00 into the first round, which was wrong. Liston's noticeably more muscular left arm, crushing left jab and powerful left hook lent credence to the widely held belief that he was left-handed, although he fought in an orthodox stance. 2023 Barstool Sports. Ali's impressive start to his career earned him a shot at Sonny Liston for the Won WBA, WBC, The Ring, and lineal heavyweight titles in his 20th career fight in February 1964. $2,499.99. Gallender claimed, "A lot of officers knew Sonny was dead before Geraldine returned home on January 5, but they chose to let him rot. (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. The former heavyweight champion is perhaps best known for being laid out on the canvas by Muhammad Ali in one of the sports most iconic bouts. Sonny Liston's story began with a lonely bus ride in 1944. Sonny Liston FBI Files. C'mon now, this is for the title, this is the big apple. After some run-ins with the law near St Louis, Liston moved to Philly and picked up a new manager in 1958: another mafia guy named Joseph "Pep" Barone, who was a front man for mobsters Frankie Carbo and Frank "Blinky" Palermo. Banker later learned that the police told Liston the same thing to his face. There was something caustic in both eyes." Thom Jones titled his 2000 collection of short stories Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine. "The public is not with me. Cassius Clay is embraced by his handlers after he won the world heavyweight championship on a TKO over Sonny Liston in the 7th round. "But they'll have to swing along until somebody comes to beat me.". Because of that, Cage may have thought Sonny was an informant and shot him with a hot dose as retribution. Pan, 2017. Death April 29, 2016 - Carrhubane Beg, Limerick, Ireland. Furthermore, that count cannot be started until the fighter scoring the knockdown goes to and remains in a neutral corner. Patterson finally agreed to meet Liston for the world title on September 25, 1962, in Comiskey Park in Chicago And everyone had Patterson. ", Still, some found it hard to believe that the punch could have floored a man like Liston. In that same book Liston was quoted two years after the fight: "Ali knocked me down with a sharp punch. "[35] Although largely illiterate through lack of schooling, Liston was a more complex and interesting individual than has often been acknowledged. Byrne sought an injunction blocking the fight in Boston because Inter-Continental Promotions was promoting the fight without a Massachusetts license. ", Chuck Wepner on Liston's intimidating appearance. [31] While Liston began working into shape with hopes for a heavyweight title shot, he also continued his criminal behavior. [84], Liston married Geraldine Chambers in St. Louis, Missouri, on September 3, 1957. The fight lasted four seconds longer than the first one. He rolled over, got to his right knee and then fell on his back again. This was his first visit. On May 5, 1956, a policeman confronted Liston and a friend about a cab parked near Liston's home. ", It was later theorized that a substance used on Liston's cuts by Joe Pollino, his cut man, may have caused the irritation. I forgot about the rules." BOXING legend Sonny Liston was murdered by the MAFIA in a death staged to look like an overdose, a new documentary has claimed. Ali did neither. "[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. Patterson defended against Liston in Comiskey Park, Chicago, on September 25, 1962, and the rest is history. We had a return bout clause with Clay, but if you say your guy just quit, who is gonna get a return bout? After demolishing these top-ranked fighters in the heavyweight division, Liston was regarded as the top-contender champion-in-waiting. He was still a world-ranked boxer when he died in mysterious circumstances in 1970. So that means his reach was practically a . Although the opening round saw Clay largely on the defensive, it was soon established that Clay could reverse roles quickly and take to the offensive with a remarkably fast series of combinations delivered to Liston's head. (. The commotion was not lost on referee Barney Felix, who was walking toward Clay's corner. Geraldine had been trying to contact Liston for nearly two weeks before travelling . Although Liston was widely regarded as unbeatable, he lost the title in 1964 to Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay), who entered as a 71 underdog. He had a whiplash, so they took him to the hospital," said boxing trainer Johnny Tocco. "[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. Rogin wrote. [58] Despite Liston carrying an injury and being undertrained, Clay stated in 1975 that the first fight with Liston was the toughest of his career. You've seen him before but probably didn't realize it because the most famous photo ever taken of Sonny was not at his best angle More on that in a second. In the third round, Clay began to take control of the fight. It was the third-fastest knockout in a world heavyweight title fight, and the first time the defending champion had been knocked out in round one. Several reports say Liston had fresh needle marks on his arms when he died. Wepner needed 72 stitches and suffered a broken cheekbone and nose And the ref needed a new shirt. He served brief prison terms and on one occasion was introduced to boxing by a prison chaplain. The fight quickly descended into chaos. The NAACP had urged Patterson not to fight Liston, fearing that a Liston victory would hurt the civil rights movement. And, while Patterson was growing as a fighter, Sonny was taking on mostly journeyman and starting to age. 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. Skeptics called the knockout blow "the phantom punch." [48] The challenger, his arms held high in surrender, was demanding that the fight be stopped and Dundee, fearing the fight might indeed be halted, gave his charge a one-word order: "Run! It's widely accepted that Liston, a former heavyweight boxing champ, died from an accidental heroin overdose in 1970. The bout was stopped after the ninth round due to cuts over both of Wepner's eyes. February 25, 1964. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. [89], Following an investigation, Las Vegas police concluded there were no signs of foul play and declared Liston's death a heroin overdose. ", Hutchison, Phillip J. Boston: Little, Brown. When he tried to muscle in for a bigger share, Conrad thinks his employers got him very drunk, took him home and stuck him with a needle. 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. [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. At age 12, after selling a bag of pecans for bus fare, he left for St. Louis, betting on a brighter future. 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 ending of the fight remains one of the most controversial in boxing history. [97], "The month before he died, some guy ran into Sonny while he was making a left turn. After Liston arose, Walcott wiped off his gloves. Boston: Little, Brown. Patterson wanted a chance to redeem himself, so they met again on July 22, 1963, in Las Vegas. His father, Tobe Liston, was in his mid 40s when he and his wife, Helen Baskin, who was almost 30 years younger than Tobe, moved to Arkansas from Mississippi in 1916. You've probably seen it a thousand times, but you may not have known who the poor bastard on the ground was until now. [8] Convicted and sentenced to five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary, Liston started his prison time on June 1, 1950. Sonny is an old-school guy; not much fanfare. It's been 43 years since Sonny passed. 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. Former champions Jim Braddock (Cinderella Man), Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Rocky Marciano, and Ingemar Johansson all picked Patterson to win. Sonny Liston Born to an Arkansas tenant farmer named Tobe Liston and his second wife, Helen, Charles L. Liston was one of twenty-five children. The second round saw Liston continue to pursue Clay. Liston's death four decades ago was. "[69] The fact that Liston did not complain about the clear breach of boxing rules (being declared knocked out without a count) and Ali's obvious state of bewilderment, shouting at Liston "Nobody will believe this" and asking his handlers "Did I hit him? [93] Liston had been hospitalized in early December, complaining of chest pains. He was also seeking to prove himself after his two embarrassing and suspicious losses to Ali. "He had a deadly fear of needles," said Davey Pearl, a boxing referee and friend of Liston's. [72], "I was an 'intimidator' until I fought Sonny Liston. 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. He was more angry about that shot than he was about the car wreck. He had the whole package. [22], Early in his career, Liston faced capable opponents. The rematch between . Meaning Sonny was number 24 out of 25 kids. Midway through the first round, Liston threw a left jab and Ali went over it with a fast right, knocking the former champion down. 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. The date of death listed on his death certificate is December 30, 1970,[90] which police estimated by judging the number of milk bottles and newspapers around the front door of the property. The Real Story behind the Ali-Liston Fights. Writer Jack McKinney said, "I watched Sonny. [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. Shaun Assael. Emily Post would probably recommend a ticker-tape parade. The heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali stood over Sonny Liston in the first round of their title fight in Lewiston, Me., on May 25, 1965, and was heard to say, "Get up and fight, sucker!" John . His fists measured 15 inches around, which was the largest of any heavyweight champion. [52][53] It was the first time since 1919when Jack Dempsey defeated Jess Willardthat a world heavyweight champion had quit on his stool. 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