He cited Liston's inability to lift his arm: "There is no doubt that Liston's arm was damaged. Sonny Liston. Which means he owned one of the biggest reach in boxing, while "only" being 6'1 tall (which is about 73 inches). Because of that, the dealers may have thought Sonny ratted on them and they shot him with a hot dose as retribution. "The timekeeper was waving both hands and saying, 'I counted him outthe fight is over,'" Walcott said after the fight. [42], Liston's run-ins with the police had continued in Philadelphia. It was the first time in his career that Liston had been cut. The grave's headstone reads Sonny Liston: A Man. Emily Post would probably recommend a ticker-tape parade. 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. Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston in first round. [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. John F. Kennedy also did not want Patterson to fight Liston. In his sixth bout, he faced ranked heavyweight Johnny Summerlin (18-1-2) on national television and won in an eight-round decision. "[35], Patterson and Liston had a rematch clause in their contract. In remembrance of Muhammed Ali, NPR looks back at Robert Siegel's conversation with filmmaker Gary Robinov, director of Raising Ali, about the . [94], Liston was buried at Paradise Memorial Gardens in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cleveland Williams was the last person to defeat Liston and made $100,000 for his efforts. Other than that, little is definite about his birth, but he seems to have been born in a shack on the cotton plantation where his parents worked, a little outside Forrest City, in Arkansas, which did . View the profiles of people named Daniel 'Sonny' Liston. On May 5, 1956, a policeman confronted Liston and a friend about a cab parked near Liston's home. But the year of Sonny's birth, like the circumstances of his death, remain a mystery. 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]. He said it was taught to him by comedian and film actor Stepin Fetchit, who learned it from Jack Johnson. Boxer Sonny Liston ducks and covers up as Cassius Clay aims a right at him during their title fight. Liston's wife also recalled that her husband would refuse basic medical care for common colds because of his dislike of needles. [12], Liston never complained about prison, saying he was guaranteed three meals every day. Officially, Liston died of lung congestion and heart failure. Boulder, CO 80309-0249. "There was nothing Sonny feared more than a needle. Patterson defended against Liston in Comiskey Park, Chicago, on September 25, 1962, and the rest is history. Cassius Clay was just 22-years-old when he beat the world champion in a seven round TKO. He was not the tear-shedding type.. Maule, Tex (March 9, 1964). Born into poverty and the 12 th of 13 children born to Tobe and Helen Liston (and the 24 th of 25 children fathered by Tobe in total), Sonny did not enjoy a privileged upbringing. Sports Illustrated writer Mort Sharnik said his hands "looked like cannonballs when he made them into fists." "[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. After the second loss to Ali, Liston stayed out of the ring for more than a year. [70] There have been a number of unproven theories as to the background to the purported dive including that Liston was threatened by the Muslims, or agreed to lose in return for a share in the more marketable Ali's future purses. "He told me in the strictest confidence, but it was like he wanted to get it off his chest." Or it would be history, if boxing "historians" would stop sweeping the legacy of Sonny Liston under the ring canvas. That got him killed. Time magazine said Liston had worked himself into the best shape of his career. [8][9], There is no official record of Liston's birth. When he moved to town here he Felix later said Clay was seconds from being disqualified. Tobe and Helen had 12 children together; Sonny was the second youngest child. Caputo, one of the investigating police officers, "The whole department knew about it." [100] A successful racehorse which won the Irish St Leger classic race in 2021 was named Sonnyboyliston. Muhammad Ali vs Sonny Liston, 1965 Source: AFP. Top contender Zora Folley was stopped in three rounds. His eyes swept the whole scene. Liston returned to the United States and won seven fights, all by knockout, in 1968, increasing his string to eleven. Tosches' intended title was "Night Train" after one of Liston's favorite songs. [62] The promoters needed a new location quickly, whatever the size, to rescue their closed-circuit television commitment around the country. That was in Liston's eight fight, in Detroit, and Marshall went on to capture the 10-round decision. 249 UCB. 9 Sonny is an old-school guy; not much fanfare. 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. But as it approached, there were fears that the promoters were tied to organized crime and Massachusetts officials, most notably Suffolk County District Attorney Garrett H. Byrne, began to have second thoughts. 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. [105] The story speculates that Liston threw the Ali match for the good of society. "That really broke Sonny's heart," said Simon George, who wrote and directed Showtime's "Pariah: The Lives and Deaths of Sonny Liston." Patterson finally agreed to meet Liston for the world title on September 25, 1962, in Comiskey Park in Chicago And everyone had Patterson. February 25, 1964. So I get him down, I get the sponge and I pour the water into his eyes trying to cleanse whatever's there, but before I did that I put my pinkie in his eye and I put it into my eye. His father . Dr. Alexander Robbins, chief physician for the Miami Beach Boxing Commission, diagnosed Liston with a torn tendon in his left shoulder. "[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. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform. Pariah: The Lives and Deaths of Sonny Liston. When Liston died, with heroin found in his system, there was speculation that he'd committed suicide while some thought he'd been murdered. This victory is regarded by some as Liston's most impressive performance. (2) Professional gambler Lem Banker insists that Liston was murdered by drug dealers with whom he'd become involved. He'd often told people that he'd feared for his life.. 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. Even Sonny's mother, who was called Big Hela, didn't know, though she believed him to be born during the month of January. 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. Subsequently, Liston spent some months in Denver where a Catholic priest who acted as his spiritual adviser attempted to help bring his drinking under control. He was a gentle man. And yet, outside of boxing, L I didn't want anything to do with him. dan.liston@colorado.edu. [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. "[98], Some claim Liston was murdered. [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]. He is a relatively elementary, one-track fighter." In 2013 the son of a deceased mafia hitman published a book claiming that his father confessed to murdering Liston via forced drug overdose. "[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? [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. Former champions James J. Braddock, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Rocky Marciano and Ingemar Johansson all picked Patterson to win. He particularly resented a 1961 arrest by a black patrolman for loitering, claiming to have merely been signing autographs and chatting with fans outside a drugstore. [50] The Real Story behind the Ali-Liston Fights. "Get up and fight, sucker," is the famous quote. ", This page was last edited on 7 February 2023, at 06:36. You can listen to it at your leisure, or read about it now. He said he could not hear McDonough, who did not have a microphone. Sit down!' The Devil and Sonny Liston is a biography of world heavyweight champion boxer Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches. 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. I want to prove to the world there's dirty work afoot.' interview with Alex Haley in Muhammad Ali by Thomas Hauser. There were some, however, who believed the fight was legitimate. Liston made his professional boxing debut at the age of 21 on September 2, 1953. The coroner said he died from natural causes. And that guy did come along and beat him Twice And it was Muhammad Ali. Three days before the fight, Ali needed emergency surgery for a strangulated hernia. In fact, Sonny Liston had not been right for a long time, and not only for the strangely dual life he had been leadingspells of choirboy abstinence squeezed between binges of drinking and. Liston claimed he was born in 1932, yet his rap sheet for his 1950 arrest for armed robbery listed his age as 22, making him born in 1928. 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. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Liston knocked out Hermann Schreibauer of West Germany at 2:16 of the first round. Clay confessed later he had been hurt by the punch, but Liston was unable to press his advantage home. He died on December 30, 1970 at the age of 38 years. 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. He had been dead several days. One of the victories was over Amos Johnson, Liston's former sparring partner, who had recently defeated British champion Henry Cooper. Sonny Liston stands over Albert Westphal in first round of bout in Philadelphia, Dec. 4, 1961. Patterson and Liston had a rematch clause in their contract, so they met again on July 22, 1963, this time in Las Vegas So that was ~ 10 months after their first meeting. I know it", Liston said afterward. And, while Patterson was growing as a fighter, Sonny was taking on mostly journeyman and starting to age. He was paroled after serving six months of a nine-month sentence, and was not prohibited from boxing during 1957. C'mon now, this is for the title, this is the big apple. [16] Listonaged around 13, according to his later reckoningsremained in Arkansas with his father. Childhood & Early Life. [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. [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. The bout would need to be delayed by six months. [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. It burned like hell. 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. Facebook gives. Tocco said that the living room furniture was in disarray, but the house did not yet smell of death. Joe Louis commenting on TV at ringside said "It's looking good for Sonny 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. [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. "It was common knowledge that Sonny was a heroin addict," said Sgt. 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". ", 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. "Better get me out of this ring," exclaimed Wilson, "he is going to kill me! Liston's life was marked with numerous arrests, before and after he entered boxing. During the fourth round Liston appeared dominant as Clay coasted, keeping his distance. Writer Jack McKinney said, "I watched Sonny. Eight years later, he died but his friends questioned the cause of his death. [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. [22], Early in his career, Liston faced capable opponents. However, when Clay returned to his corner, he started complaining that there was something burning in his eyes and he could not see. In the 2001 film Ali, Liston was portrayed by former WBO Heavyweight Champion Michael Bentt. Join Facebook to connect with Daniel 'Sonny' Liston and others you may know. Liston, one of 25 children by his father, is reputed to have been born in May 1932, yet prison records show various birth dates, among them 1928. An Associated Press poll had 64 of 102 reporters picking Patterson. Sonny was one of 25 children of a sharecropper in Arkansas. The heavyweight champion's mysterious death is covered in tonight's all-new episode of. Police determined he died from a. He had the whole package. ", Still, some found it hard to believe that the punch could have floored a man like Liston. Meaning Sonny was number 24 out of 25 kids. Tocco called the police, and they broke into the house. [59], Liston trained hard for the rematch, which was scheduled to take place November 13, 1964, in Boston. He would later employ McCarter as a sparring partner. 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. 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. His fists measured 15 inches (38cm) around, the largest of any heavyweight champion. But by the sixth round his sight had cleared, and a clearly enraged Clay fought a blisteringly aggressive round landing numerous combination punches. The previous month, Schreibauer had won a bronze medal in the European Championships. ", Ali clearly did not think he knocked Liston out. A couple weeks later, he was still complainin' about that needle mark. As the famous photo portrays, Ali taunted the fallen Liston, calling on him to get up. Liston stacked up the wins and became the No. And I said, 'Whoa, whoa, back up, baby. Tosches, Nick (2000). Odds makers gave Liston 71 to win. Liston was allegedly present at dealer Earl Cage's residence during a raid by narcotics detectives. 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. The coroner said that there was not a lethal amount of heroin discovered in Listons system during the autopsy, but authorities still attributed his death to an accidental drug overdose even though police on the scene 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, or maybe a needle that he was fucking terrified of. What are you doing? He won by a seventh-round technical knockout, and seemed on the verge of making a comeback to the big time. "[18], After Liston was released from prison on October 31, 1952, he had a brief amateur career that spanned less than a year. When he tried to muscle in for a bigger share, his employers got him very drunk, took him home, and stuck him with a needle. His baleful, obsidian stare intimidates fighters, sportswriters and. Fifty years ago this week, Liston was discovered dead by his wife, Geraldine, on a bed in his Las Vegas home. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. [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]. "I didn't know what the heck was going on", Angelo Dundee, Clay's trainer, recalled on an NBC special 25 years later. Birth 1935 - County Limerick, Ireland. Others have said he may have been murdered in some sort of mob killing. But some Vegas "bookies, mobsters, and cops" still wonder if he wasn't . 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. The connections to organized crime were an advantage early in his career but were later used against him. Several reports say Liston had fresh needle marks on his arms when he died. [74], Writer Gilbert Rogin assessed Liston's style and physique after his win over Zora Folley. There was something caustic in both eyes." He also had a reputation for bullying people such as porters and waitresses. (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 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. [52][53] It was the first time since 1919when Jack Dempsey defeated Jess Willardthat a world heavyweight champion had quit on his stool. Banker said he was told by police that Liston had been seen at a house that would be the target of a drug raid. [51], Liston failed to answer the bell for the seventh round, and Clay was declared the winner by technical knockout. Mother Bridget Sheehan. Sonny Liston, once the heavyweight champ, died at the age of who-knows-what some days before Dec. 30, 1970. Ali did neither. Furthermore, that count cannot be started until the fighter scoring the knockdown goes to and remains in a neutral corner. He was born in Sand Slough, Arkansas, U.S. on May 8, 1932. JustinvR Brown Belt. Sonny Liston ( The Big Bear) was an American professional boxer. Advertising InquiriesTerms of UsePrivacy PolicyContent PolicyMessaging Terms, AppAdvertising InquiriesTerms of UsePrivacy PolicyContent PolicyCookie PolicyBest Sports Betting SiteMessaging TermsSubscription Terms. [29] Machen's taunting and his spoiling tactics of dodging and grapplingat one point almost heaving Liston over the ropesso alienated the audience that Liston received unaccustomed support from the crowd. 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 . He is a relatively elementary, one-track fighter.". Referee Jersey Joe Walcott, a former world heavyweight champion, had a hard time getting Ali to go to a neutral corner. 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. Curriculum Vitae. Once he went down, I got excited. [92] He had been suffering from hardening of the heart muscle and lung disease before his death. 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. Daniel Liston. 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. 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." [89], Following an investigation, Las Vegas police concluded there were no signs of foul play and declared Liston's death a heroin overdose. (1) Liston had been deeply involved as a bill collector of a loansharking ring in Las Vegas. After repeated overnight detention by the St. Louis police and a thinly veiled threat to his life, Liston left for Philadelphia. In 1950, Liston was arrested at his apartment at 1006 O'Fallon Street for robbing the Unique Cafe on 1502 Market Street in St. Louis for 37 dollars. and he was pointing at some little bandage over the needle mark in his arm. The fight quickly descended into chaos. 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. It was probably Liston's best moment in the entire fight. ", Chuck Wepner on Liston's intimidating appearance. [20], Liston signed a contract in September 1953, proclaiming: "Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do. Mike DeJohn was the highest paid boxer at $15,000 while James Dickey received $20,000. 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. Fists measured 15 inches ( 38cm ) around, the largest of any heavyweight champion & # x27 ; all-new! Was damaged by Thomas Hauser, however, who learned it from Jack Johnson a hard time getting to., Geraldine, on September 25, 1962, and the rest history. The house scheduled to take place November 13, according to his later reckoningsremained in Arkansas to Liston! 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