Liston was not a one-trick-pony either, as his jab was very active and precise. So long as he was winning he was useful; after Lewiston, he became increasingly dispensable. After winning a series of prison bouts in spectacular knockout fashion there is little doubt what Sonny Liston will be perusing once he gets out of jail. [8], Liston turned to crime and led a gang of thugs who committed muggings and armed robberies. "[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. A couple weeks later, he was still complainin' about that needle mark. The Ring magazine ranks Liston as the tenth greatest heavyweight of all time,[4] while boxing writer Herb Goldman ranked him second and Richard O'Brien, Senior Editor of Sports Illustrated, placed him third. (2) Professional gambler Lem Banker insists that Liston was murdered by drug dealers with whom he'd become involved. I forgot about the rules." Charles "Sonny" Liston was born in a place called Sand Slough, Arkansas. The irritant works but Liston nevertheless gives up the fight. 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]. 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. Something was bothering Ali at the top of round five, and Liston could smell blood. "[40][41], Upon winning the world heavyweight title, Liston had a speech prepared for the crowd that friends had assured him would meet him at the Philadelphia airport. Larry Merchant, then a writer with the Philadelphia Daily News, wrote: "A celebration for Philadelphia's first heavyweight champ is now in order. That got him killed. [87], Liston was found dead by his wife, Geraldine, in their Las Vegas home on January 5, 1971. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. "[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. Wepner needed 72 stitches and suffered a broken cheekbone and nose. The ending of the fight remains one of the most controversial in boxing history. The heavyweight champion's mysterious death is covered in tonight's all-new epi. Paul R Gallender, 2012. [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]. Sonny Liston - Wikipedia 02/08/2021. A tragic mystery now in its fifth decade, it will surprise few that the latest chapter reads like a deleted scene from The Godfather. caesar novak sonny liston. Liston also appears in the sequel, Blood's a Rover. The bout would need to be delayed by six months. Ali did neither. [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. One night the policemen from the previous altercation stop by Liston's house and threaten him, telling him that he has to throw any future fight against Floyd Patterson. Gary Beckwith said, "It wasn't uncommon for family members in these cases to go through and tidy up to save family embarrassment. [32] Ironically, Patterson's manager, Cus D'Amato, associated with racketeers and had his manager's license revoked by the New York State Athletic Commission for alleged misconduct in connection with the Floyd PattersonIngemar Johansson title fight in June 1959. Liston penalized two points for low blows. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, Norton was the fairest of them all," said Foreman as he recalled his former adversary, who passed away last September. Charles "Sonny" Liston was born c.1930 into a sharecropping family who farmed the poor land of Morledge Plantation near Johnson Township, St.Francis County, Arkansas. Tocco said that the living room furniture was in disarray, but the house did not yet smell of death. Top contender Zora Folley was stopped in three rounds. "[94], A bronze copy of a marble statue of Liston sculpted by Alfred Hrdlicka in 1964 was erected in 2008 between Old Castle and Karlsplatz in Stuttgart, Germany. After a loss to Marty Marshall in only his eighth professional fight, Liston strung together 28 consecutive victories, earning himself a shot at the title and a bogeyman allure, trademarked by his stone-faced glare underneath his hooded robe. Liston moved to Denver from Philadelphia, not to Las Vegas. An earthquake. Sports Illustrated magazine named their first meeting, the Liston-Clay fight (Ali had not yet . A wax model of Liston appears in the front row of the iconic sleeve cover of the Beatles' Sgt. Liston's life was marked with numerous arrests, before and after he entered boxing. Liston experiences nightmares remembering abuse suffered at the hands of his father. He had the whole package. In 1962 Novak attacks Bobby Zazo in a club in a dispute over Farah, a girl Novak stole from him, and arranges through mutual organized crime connections to pay Zazo $10,000 in retribution. In a pre-fight poll, 43 of 46 sportswriters picked Liston to win by knockout. Upon his release in 1952 he joins a boxing gym in St. Louis, Missouri, run by Caesar Novak at the recommendation of Father Alois. Those fears were borne out shortly after Cline's death in 1997. [citation needed], The fight turned out to be a mismatch. Joe Louis commenting on TV at ringside said "It's looking good for Sonny Liston". Liston assaulted the officer, breaking his knee and gashing his face. Numerous fans booed and started yelling, "Fix!" Liston's criminal record, compounded by a personal association with a notorious labor racketeer, led to the police's stopping him on sight, and he began to avoid main streets. After he won the title, Liston relocated to Denver permanently, saying, "I'd rather be a lamppost in Denver than the mayor of Philadelphia. Tosches, Nick (2000). Feb. 25, 1964: Clay vs Liston I. February 25, 2022 Michael Carbert. However, when Clay returned to his corner, he started complaining that there was something burning in his eyes and he could not see. In 1950, Sonny Liston was arrested six times for muggings, one . The victim sought out the executioner." [31] While Liston began working into shape with hopes for a heavyweight title shot, he also continued his criminal behavior. The connections to organized crime were an advantage early in his career but were later used against him. Roy Harris, who had gone 13 rounds with Floyd Patterson in a title match, was crushed in one round by Liston. Liston was particularly known for his immense strength, formidable jab, long reach, toughness, and his infamously intimidating appearance. By the author of Power on Earth. Liston stood at 61, with a jaw dropping seven-foot wingspan. In The Greatest, the 1977 film about the life of boxer Muhammad Ali in which Ali played himself, Liston was portrayed by Roger E. Mosley. [74], Writer Gilbert Rogin assessed Liston's style and physique after his win over Zora Folley. [10] His family, but not one Charles (or Sonny) Liston, can be found in the 1930 census, and in the 1940 census he was listed as 10 years old. "[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. The torn tendon had bled down into the mass of the biceps, swelling and numbing the arm. His hands were quick, yet not up there with the likes of Joe Frazier or Roy Jones Jr. The Big Bear was also sound defensively with model head movement, but a dormant retreat and blocking tendencies that left something to be desired. He rounded out the year by stopping Nino Valdez and Willi Besmanoff. 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. [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. [24], In 1958, Liston returned to boxing. Sonny Liston. We had a return bout clause with Clay, but if you say your guy just quit, who is gonna get a return bout? Luckily he was saved by the bell. In round 10, both fighters stood their ground and traded crosses. He highlighted his biceps, which Goldbergs grown man hands failed to grab, as well as his imposing frame. "[18], After Liston was released from prison on October 31, 1952, he had a brief amateur career that spanned less than a year. [62] The promoters needed a new location quickly, whatever the size, to rescue their closed-circuit television commitment around the country. When Machen clinched in the second, Liston focused on the body, punishing his rib cages with hooks. Governor John H. Reed of Maine stepped forward, and within a few hours the promoters had a new site: Lewiston, Maine, a mill town with a population of about 41,000 located 140 miles (230km) north of Boston. Together they began working on a book that also links Cline with Robert Kennedy, Frank Sinatra and the notorious ber-Mobster Mickey Cohen. ", Hutchison, Phillip J. Muhammad Ali (at the time a rising contender named Cassius Clay), however, predicted a knockout by Liston in the first five rounds. In these feckless clinches he only managed to tie up one of Liston's arms. [21], Liston made his professional debut on September 2, 1953, knocking out Don Smith in the first round in St. Louis, where he fought his first five bouts. 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. After a rough upbringing, with little formal education, Liston found himself in trouble with the law. Liston returned to the United States and won seven fights, all by knockout, in 1968, increasing his string to eleven. A grateful Liston found there was no need to give chase. The following year, Sonnydetermined to reunite with his mother and siblingsthrashed the pecans from his brother-in-law's tree and sold them in Forrest City, Arkansas. [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. The film was first titled 'Finding Sonny' and full production of the entire movie was to take place in Canton, Ohio. "[54] Hall of Fame matchmaker Teddy Brenner also disputed the shoulder injury, claiming he saw Liston use the same arm to throw a chair in his dressing room after the match. T-shirts, hoodies, tops, dresses, skirts, hats, and more in a huge range of styles, colors, and sizes (XS - plus . Patterson's fatal mistake was that he "did not punch enough and frequently tried to clinch with Liston. The fight quickly descended into chaos. [85] Geraldine had a daughter from a previous marriage, and the Listons subsequently adopted a boy from Sweden. That night in jail he is seriously beaten by the correction officers and told to get out of town or he will be killed. I know it", Liston said afterward. The Murder of Sonny Liston: A Story of Fame, Heroin, Boxing & Las Vegas. and "Nobody will believe this!"[63]. Boston: Little, Brown. [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. "[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. Here are my thoughts: 1. The son of tenant farmer Tobey Liston and his second wife, Helen, Liston was the 24th of his father's 25 children. Although Clay often carried his gloves down at his waist, seemingly open to attack, he proved very difficult to hit. "I want to be able to separate the average from the good and from the great. "From Bad Buck to White Hope: Journalism and Sonny Liston, 19581965. Former champions James J. Braddock, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Rocky Marciano and Ingemar Johansson all picked Patterson to win. It was a good punch, but I didn't think I hit him so hard that he couldn't have gotten up. [108] The book suggests that Sonny Liston may have been murdered and a possibility that the crime was never investigated. 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