On July 28, 1963, Liston joined a group of 500 African Americans in Denver who marched to a post office to mail letters urging the Colorado congressional delegation to pass the Kennedy administration's civil rights package. "He was afraid of needles," echoed Father Edward Murphy. 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. Soon, he was known as Cassius X, eschewing the last name given to his enslaved family by their owners. .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}Remembering Just Fontaine and His World Cup Record, The Man Behind the First All-Black Basketball Team, 8 Times Brothers Have Faced Off in a Championship, Every Black Quarterback to Play in the Super Bowl, Soccer Star Christian Atsu Survived an Earthquake. 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. Tocco left the house before the police did. He offered no comment on the matter, but his victory would soon turn it into an international story. I don't think there was any way for him to beat Clay at that time, but if he entered the ring in a different mindset, to box and not try and get him like Patterson and others, he could of went the distance. Clay brought Malcolm X along with him to Miami, and amid the controversy, the fight was almost canceled. "[98], Some claim Liston was murdered. Many did not see the punch land, and some who did questioned that it was powerful enough to knock Liston out. 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. [25][26], In 1960 Liston won five more fights, including a rematch with Williams, who lasted only two rounds. "The timekeeper was waving both hands and saying, 'I counted him outthe fight is over,'" Walcott said after the fight. Sonny Liston is considered by many as the most intimidating boxer of all time with a devastating jab which is widely regarded as one of the best in heavyweight history. Liston was a heavy favorite. [50] Roy Harris, who had gone 13 rounds with Floyd Patterson in a title match, was crushed in one round by Liston. 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. For Sonny Liston, a Ballad to a Heavyweight - The New York Times In his sixth bout, he faced ranked heavyweight Johnny Summerlin (18-1-2) on national television and won in an eight-round decision. 1 contender in 1960, but the handlers of world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson refused to give him a shot at the title because of Liston's links to organized crime. A wax model of Liston appears in the front row of the iconic sleeve cover of the Beatles' Sgt. Dude was only 6'2 and his hands dwarfed Lesnar's. [88] On returning home from a two-week trip, Geraldine had smelled a foul odor emanating from the main bedroom and on entering saw him slumped up against the bed, a broken foot bench on the floor. His death was, too. Odds makers gave Liston 71 to win. He could have remained typecast as a musician performing rock songs. In "Song for Sonny Liston," Knopfler's voice is backed by electric guitar, a bass and drums as he tells the story of a sharecropper's son who went from prison to the championship to an early. [61] The new date was set for May 25, 1965. From the opening bell Liston attempted to close with Clay, looking to land a hard punch to the head to end the fight quickly and decisively. "Johnny wasn't a braggart," Davi told Liston biographer Paul Gallender. Then again, you can also have guys like Ali or Mike Tyson. Liston was depicted as a bad guy by the media, a handbreaker for the mafia. 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. It is hardly the first recording by a rock musician about boxing. He could probably drive his thumb through your skull like Michael Myers, It's crazy to think about the fact that Sonny Liston was an actual gangster running with gangs.. and then he looks so soft spoken in the interview. On May 7, backers of the rematch ended the court battle by pulling the fight out of Boston. Boston: Little, Brown. A couple weeks later, he was still complainin' about that needle mark. ", Liston appeared on the December 1963 cover of Esquire magazine (cover photograph by Carl Fischer) "the last man on earth America wanted to see coming down its chimney".[106]. knockout kimbo slice evander holyfield nogueira wladimir vitali klitschko haye mma brutal bareknuckle headbutt lowblow foul dirty boxer funny bob sapp david cesar chavez joe frazier rocky marciano larry holmes felix trinidad jackson new tribute video highlight dirtiest best brock lesnar julio cesar ricky hatton randy couture israel vasquez juan manuel marquez antonio margarito felix tito trinidad antonio rodrigo minotauro marco antonio barrera john ruiz freddie roach hector camacho pernell whitaker willie pep sugar ray robinson shane mosley antonio tarver roy jones joe cortez lennox lewis david haye haymaker wladimir vitali vladimir klitschko klitchko prediction prefight postfight press conferencetex cobb gerry cooney jerry pierre coetzer floyd roger mayweather arturo gatti rocky graziano graciano tony zale dariusz michalczewski rocky rocchigiani henry maske james toney vassily jirov vasily unbelievable knockout ko k.o. Liston kept running into trouble with the law and Ali had a target on his back after the assassination of Malcolm X, whom he had disavowed after Elijah Muhammad forced him out of the Nation of Islam. Sonny Liston - Death, Muhammad Ali & Children - Biography For those too young to remember, Sonny "The Big Bear" Liston was a legendary heavyweight boxer. [47] Sitting on his stool between rounds, however, Liston was breathing heavily as his cornermen worked on his cut. Furthermore, that count cannot be started until the fighter scoring the knockdown goes to and remains in a neutral corner. "From Bad Buck to White Hope: Journalism and Sonny Liston, 19581965. When you can kill almost anybody in the world with your bare hands, you don't really have to go around proclaiming it to everyone. Two of the best-known are "The Boxer" by Simon and Garfunkel and "Hurricane" by Bob Dylan. To the rest of the world, it would be known as "The Phantom Punch." That shot, which Ali dropped Sonny Liston with on May 25, 1965, was far from a phantom. You could feel the deflation, see the look of hurt in his eyes. "And I suppose Sonny Liston always stuck with me. [85] Geraldine had a daughter from a previous marriage, and the Listons subsequently adopted a boy from Sweden. 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. Any objective observer would have had to concede that Ali's counterpunch had landed, and landed with enough force to turn Liston's head, Rob Sneddon wrote in The Phantom Punch: The Story Behind Boxing's Most Controversial Bout. Sonny Liston shot a gun at Muhammad Ali. Ali's "Phantom Punch" Controversy Explained - PBS The most iconic photo in boxing history documents the knockout that almost nobody saw happen. [105], Singer/Songwriter Rod Picott wrote and recorded a song titled "Sonny Liston" for his 2022 album "Paper Hearts and Broken Arrows. Remembering One Of Boxing's Storied Bouts : NPR The official time of the stoppage was announced as 1:00 into the first round, which was wrong. [citation needed], Rogin wrote that Patterson backers expected him to "go inside on Liston, fire away and then run like a thief in the night. On April 21, 1955, he defeated Marshall in a rematch, dropping him four times en route to a sixth-round knockout. [83] Herb Goldman stated that Liston, when in his prime between 1958 and 1963, was the most feared fighter in boxing history. 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. He returned with four consecutive knockout victories in Sweden between July 1966 and April 1967, all four co-promoted by former world heavyweight champion Ingemar Johansson. After two rounds, Wilson had taken enough. r/boxing does not tolerate racism or intolerance of any kind. "The only thing my old man ever gave me was a beating," Liston said. Frank Mir was around that height and was noticeably taller than Carwin. In the first fight, in Miami, a 22-year-old Cassius Clay danced around the ring, taunted Liston, promised reporters hed shock the world, and then delivered on that promise with a blistering late attack that prompted Liston to toss in the towel after the sixth round. Boston: Little, Brown. Liston also appears in the sequel, Blood's a Rover. 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. The match had more storylines than a soap opera. On the album's lyric sheet, below the Liston song, Knopfler includes a famous quotation from Liston from 1962: "Some day, they're gonna write a blues for fighters. Biographer Wilfrid Sheed wrote in his book, Muhammad Ali: A Portrait in Words and Photographs, that Clay's protests were heard by ringside members of the Nation of Islam who initially suspected Dundee had blinded his fighter, and that the trainer deliberately wiped his own eyes with the corner sponge to demonstrate to Clay's approaching bodyguards that he had not intentionally blinded him. He was more angry about that shot than he was about the car wreck. [30], Liston became the No. "[59], Liston is ranked second in the ESPN.com list of "The Hardest Hitters in Heavyweight History. said Liston's Philadelphia dentist, Dr. Nick Ragni. 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. [20], Liston signed a contract in September 1953, proclaiming: "Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do. The most iconic photo in boxing history documents the knockout that almost nobody saw happen. ", Chuck Wepner on Liston's intimidating appearance. "He was scared of the police. The torn tendon had bled down into the mass of the biceps, swelling and numbing the arm. [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]. [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. The rumors swirling nearly canceled the fight the night prior, and when a reporter that morning broke tradition and asked if Clay was a member of the Black Muslims, as the group was often called, the boxer confirmed his new religion. 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 . BOXING Correction: July 15, 2005, Friday A sports picture caption on Wednesday with an article about Mark Knopfler's ballad for the boxer Sonny Liston referred incorrectly in some copies to the year in which Muhammad Ali knocked out Liston in Lewiston, Me. "Some songs just seem to reverberate with people.". "At about noon on the day of the fight, (Magids) reached Resnick again by phone," the memo read. Gallender claimed, "A lot of officers knew Sonny was dead before Geraldine returned home on January 5, but they chose to let him rot. He was 6ft 1in (1.85m), and had an exceptionally powerful physique, with a disproportionately long reach at 84 inches (2.13m). At one point, Clay was wiping his eyes with his right hand while extending his left arm"like a drunk leaning on a lamppost" Bert Sugar wroteto keep Liston at bay. ", It was later theorized that a substance used on Liston's cuts by Joe Pollino, his cut man, may have caused the irritation. He allegedly later told an assistant that he took a dive because he was afraid of the consequences of beating Ali he thought it would put a target on his own back. Maybe he was. [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! Either way, nat fleisher as the KD timekeeper had NO right telling Walcott the fight was over. Many in the small crowd had not even settled in their seats when the fight was stopped. [39] Leading up to the fight, Liston was an 85 betting favorite, although many picked Patterson to win. Rogin called Liston's physique "awesomearms like fence posts, thighs like silos." He was scared of the black-power movement. Standing 185 centimeters (6'1) tall and packing over 90 kilograms (200 lb) of pure muscle, there's a reason he was nicknamed "The Big Bear," and it wasn't for the hugs he gave.. His career in heavyweight boxing spanned from 1953 to 1970, and he spent all 17 of those years going guts for glory against the . However, when Clay returned to his corner, he started complaining that there was something burning in his eyes and he could not see. Liston did eventually rise from the mat, but soon after, the referee broke up the two boxers once again the former champion had been down for more than 10 seconds, ending the fight. ", confirmed most people's belief that Liston had taken a dive. [62] The promoters needed a new location quickly, whatever the size, to rescue their closed-circuit television commitment around the country. RARE Sonny Liston Interview before the first Ali fight 1964 in Color Legends of Boxing in Color 2.47K subscribers Subscribe 16K views 8 months ago Very Rare interview with Sonny Liston and. Tosches, Nick (2000). [30] Before his bout with Liston, Muhammad Ali consulted Machen and was advised that the key to survival was to make Liston lose his temper. Im free to be who I want.. I was about to say look at those mitts! But former Las Vegas police Sgt. Ali did neither. After Liston arose, Walcott wiped off his gloves. Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston: The Controversial Fight Behind Their [17] The athletic director at Missouri State Penitentiary, Rev. Byrne sought an injunction blocking the fight in Boston because Inter-Continental Promotions was promoting the fight without a Massachusetts license. 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. Liston angrily responded by questioning whether Dempsey's failure to serve in World War I qualified him to moralize. "[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. Concert Preview/Interview: John Lodge of the Moody Blues on Reprising "Days of Future Passed . NPR's Robert Siegel talks to Gary Robinov, director of Raising Ali, a film about the 50th anniversary of the heavyweight boxing match between Muhammed Ali and Sonny Liston in Lewiston, Maine.. Sonny Liston, once the heavyweight champ, died at the age of who-knows-what some days before Dec. 30, 1970. 'Raising Ali' Remembers The 'Worst Mess In The History Of Sports' - NPR "[35] Although largely illiterate through lack of schooling, Liston was a more complex and interesting individual than has often been acknowledged. It burned like hell. It was a shocking result, not only because Liston was favored in the match, but because hardly anybody saw the punch that took him down. Night Train is like $11 on Amazon, peep that if you want to get more of the story, i don't like how max was squeezing sonny's bicep. Sonny Liston became world heavyweight champion in 1962 and fought Muhammad Ali twice In January 1971, former heavyweight champion of the world Sonny Liston was found dead at his Las Vegas. Both fights were in Summerlin's hometown of Detroit.[23]. Sports Illustrated writer Mort Sharnik said his hands "looked like cannonballs when he made them into fists." Liston's story, Knopfler said, "is great for a writer for many reasons. 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. [22], Early in his career, Liston faced capable opponents. America's first look at Liston since the Ali rematch was when he fought fifthranked Henry Clark in a nationally broadcast bout in July 1968. and "Nobody will believe this!"[63]. One mile up on a mountain 13 miles west of Denver is the Shrine of Mother Cabrini. Liston said he quit because of a shoulder injury. There are echoes of slavery in his upbringing." 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. "There was nothing Sonny feared more than a needle. "[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. The fight quickly descended into chaos. "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.
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