Sonny Liston was born in Sand Slough, Arkansas to a sharecropper, Tobey Liston, who fathered 25 children, the second youngest of whom was Charles, Sonny's real name, born from Tobey's marriage to Helen Baskin, a woman nearly three decades younger than he. Authorities theorized that he was undressing for bed when he fell over backward with such force that he broke the rail of the bench. 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. [74], Writer Gilbert Rogin assessed Liston's style and physique after his win over Zora Folley. 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. Sonny Liston's story began with a lonely bus ride in 1944. 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 . 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]. Mike DeJohn was the highest paid boxer at $15,000 while James Dickey received $20,000. "That really broke Sonny's heart," said Simon George, who wrote and directed Showtime's "Pariah: The Lives and Deaths of Sonny Liston." [59], Liston trained hard for the rematch, which was scheduled to take place November 13, 1964, in Boston. It was probably Liston's best moment in the entire fight. 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. Meaning Sonny was number 24 out of 25 kids. Heavyweight champion Charles "Sonny" Liston, winner of 35 of his 36 professional bouts and one of the most intimidating athletes in any sport, was facing a lightly regarded 22-year-old from. [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. 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. He was paroled after serving six months of a nine-month sentence, and was not prohibited from boxing during 1957. Emily Post would probably recommend a ticker-tape parade. Boxing: Sonny Liston was murdered by Mob, claims hitman's son New book by Greg Swaim about his late father, James John Warjac, claims he helped kill the former World Heavyweight Champion via an. After a rough upbringing, with little formal education, Liston found himself in trouble with the law. ", Hutchison, Phillip J. Both fights were in Summerlin's hometown of Detroit.[23]. But according to Sonny's trainer, Johnny Tocco, once there, his path led to prison: In this excerpt from his new book, The Murder of Sonny Liston, ESPN senior writer Shaun Assael recounts the final hectic days of Liston's life, and the controversial police investigation into his death . He walks to the ring with his gloves on the shoulders of his manager, Eddie Polino. Liston assaulted the officer, breaking his knee and gashing his face. Sonny was probably born in 1929, but no one knows for sure. I forgot about the rules." "He was afraid of needles," echoed Father Edward Murphy. [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. [89], Following an investigation, Las Vegas police concluded there were no signs of foul play and declared Liston's death a heroin overdose. Eight years later, he died but his friends questioned the cause of his death. A stoic Liston finished the fight, but lost in an eight-round split decision. 249 UCB. Eddie's brother, Joe, is Sonny's cut man and his trainers, Willie Reddish and Johnny Tocco, round out his entourage. He rolled over, got to his right knee and then fell on his back again. I was down but not hurt, but I looked up and saw Ali standing over me. and he was pointing at some little bandage over the needle mark in his arm. . [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. We cooked up that shoulder thing on the spot. [94], Liston was buried at Paradise Memorial Gardens in Las Vegas, Nevada. For confetti we can use torn-up arrest warrants." [83] Herb Goldman stated that Liston, when in his prime between 1958 and 1963, was the most feared fighter in boxing history. The Real Story behind the Ali-Liston Fights. [72], "I was an 'intimidator' until I fought Sonny Liston. Muhammad Ali Signed 16x20 Sonny Liston Photo Framed MINT Autograph Steiner COA. He had a whiplash, so they took him to the hospital," said boxing trainer Johnny Tocco. He talked of a fight with Joe Frazier, claiming, "It'd be like shooting fish in a barrel." Clearly, it was time to turn pro. 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. He also went with a new manager in 1958: Joseph "Pep" Barone, who was a front man for mobsters Frankie Carbo and Frank "Blinky" Palermo. Sonny Liston. [30], Liston became the No. [25][26], In 1960 Liston won five more fights, including a rematch with Williams, who lasted only two rounds. [79][80][81] These include Muhammad Ali, who stated in a 1975 interview that he was a great admirer of Liston's talents: "Liston had a tremendous jab, could punch with either hand, was smart in the ring and as strong as any heavyweight Ive ever seen. Fifty years ago this week, Liston was discovered dead by his wife, Geraldine, on a bed in his Las Vegas home. (12) 7.3 1 h 29 min 2019 18+. They fought for a third time on March 6, 1956, which Liston won by a ten-round unanimous decision. Liston biographer Paul Gallender claims that Liston fathered several children, though none with his wife. 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. This Day in History: Young Muhammad Ali Knocks out Sonny Liston for First World Title. Born in Forrest City, Arkansas, sometime in the late 1920s and early. Sonny Liston ( The Big Bear) was an American professional boxer. ", 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. He won eight fights that year, six by knockout. And, while Patterson was growing as a fighter, Sonny was taking on mostly journeyman and starting to age. Around the age of 20, Liston inevitably turned to crime and led a gang of young urbanites who committed muggings and armed robberies He was eventually caught and sentenced to 5 years in prison. This was his first visit. On May 5, 1956, a policeman confronted Liston and a friend about a cab parked near Liston's home. Liston angrily responded by questioning whether Dempsey's failure to serve in World War I qualified him to moralize. 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. Cleveland Williams was the last person to defeat Liston and made $100,000 for his efforts. Pan, 2017. He had been dead several days. Muhammad Ali-Sonny Liston rivalry Before Cassius Clay took on the name Muhammad Ali, he was a young and brash fighter who worked his way up the ranks. In the third round, Clay began to take control of the fight. He said they found Liston lying on his bed with a needle sticking out of his arm. Police determined he died from a. In an Associated Press poll, 64 of 102 reporters picked Patterson. "[42], Liston made his second title defense on February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach, Florida against Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali). Mickey Mantle, who could hit a baseball as far as any man, had the forearms of a blacksmith but only average-sized hands. Only a rising contender at the time named Cassius Clay predicted a knockout by Liston in the first five rounds. Name: Sonny Liston Birth Name: Charles L. Liston Hometown: Saint Louis, Missouri, USA Birthplace: Johnson Township, Arkansas, USA Died: 1970-12-30 (Age:40) Stance: Orthodox Height: 185cm Reach: 213cm Referee: Record Pro Boxer: Record Amateur Boxer: Record Managers: Jack Nilon, Joe (Pep) Barone, Eddie Polino, George Katz, Frank Mitchell, Dick Sadler . Overall, Liston earned around $500,000 during his career. 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. Stuttgarter Amtsblatt No. [61] The new date was set for May 25, 1965. JustinvR Brown Belt. His fists measured 15 inches around, which was the largest of any heavyweight champion. He won by a seventh-round technical knockout, and seemed on the verge of making a comeback to the big time. His father . He had the whole package. Tosches, Nick (2000). School of Education. Larry Merchant, then a writer with the Philadelphia Daily News, wrote: "A celebration for Philadelphia's first heavyweight champ is now in order. And that guy did come along and beat him Twice And it was Muhammad Ali. He rounded out the year by stopping Nino Valdez and Willi Besmanoff. [56] Sports Illustrated writer Tex Maule wrote that Liston's shoulder injury was legitimate. During the fourth round Liston appeared dominant as Clay coasted, keeping his distance. [8], Liston turned to crime and led a gang of thugs who committed muggings and armed robberies. "It was common knowledge that Sonny was a heroin addict," said Sgt. I know it", Liston said afterward. 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. Liston was particularly known for his immense strength, formidable jab, long reach, toughness, and his infamously intimidating appearance. Floyd Patterson was Ben Mintz's "Minty Lock Of The Week" and Megan Makin' Moneyloved Patterson in a decision. 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. There are a ton of other dubious deaths and (hopefully) little-known facts about Vegas in this week's episode. "Get up and fight, sucker," is the famous quote. 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. [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. He also had a reputation for bullying people such as porters and waitresses. On April 21, 1955, he defeated Marshall in a rematch, dropping him four times en route to a sixth-round knockout. 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. Birth 1935 - County Limerick, Ireland. The heavyweight champion's mysterious death is covered in tonight's all-new episode of. To this day, I'm convinced that's what the coroner saw in his examthat hospital needle mark. Join Facebook to connect with Daniel 'Sonny' Liston and others you may know. Odds makers gave Liston 71 to win. [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. 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. February 25, 1964. What the . "He said, 'Cut the gloves off. "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. 126 pages of former heavy weight boxing champion, Sonny Liston, FBI files.. Charles "Sonny" Liston was born in 1932, into a family where he became one of twenty-five children. Liston returned to the United States and won seven fights, all by knockout, in 1968, increasing his string to eleven. 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. 15 months earlier, they'd accused him of pulling over a woman around 3 a.m. and impersonating a police officer. Mother Bridget Sheehan. A wax model of Liston appears in the front row of the iconic sleeve cover of the Beatles' Sgt. Also, scar tissue, possibly from needle marks, was found in the bend of Liston's left elbow. Sonny Liston existed, and, Ali bouts or no Ali bouts, he was one of the greatest fighters to ever lace on a glove. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He was not the tear-shedding type.. [101], Liston played a fist fighter in the 1965 film Harlow, made a cameo appearance in the 1968 film Head, which starred The Monkees, and played the part of The Farmer in the 1970 film Moonfire, which starred Richard Egan and Charles Napier. $2,499.99. In these feckless clinches he only managed to tie up one of Liston's arms. Sonny was once told by local police to stay away from a drug house that was the target of a police raid. 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 . [45][46] A clearly angered Liston rallied at the end of the round when Clay seemed tired, delivering punishing body shots. 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 . 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. Or it would be history, if boxing "historians" would stop sweeping the legacy of Sonny Liston under the ring canvas. Sports Illustrated writer Mort Sharnik said his hands "looked like cannonballs when he made them into fists." 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. 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. Geraldine called Liston's attorney and his doctor, but did not notify the police until two to three hours later. Cassius Clay is embraced by his handlers after he won the world heavyweight championship on a TKO over Sonny Liston in the 7th round. He inflicted whippings so severe on Sonny that the scars were still visible in the ring decades later as an adult. [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. Charles L. "Sonny" Liston was born in St. Francis County, Arkansas, to Tobe Liston and Helen Baskin. Sonny Liston FBI Files. A widely publicized account of Liston resisting arresteven after nightsticks were allegedly broken over his skulladded to the public perception of him as a nightmarish "monster" impervious to physical punishment. [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. [7] Liston was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991. Patterson wanted a chance to redeem himself, so they met again on July 22, 1963, in Las Vegas. 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. Clay confessed later he had been hurt by the punch, but Liston was unable to press his advantage home. His defense was described as [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. Ali called it "the anchor punch." This is just a glimpse into what was. The ending of the fight remains one of the most controversial in boxing history. 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. Stevens organized a sparring session with a professional heavyweight named Thurman Wilson to showcase Liston's potential. 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. All rights reserved. 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. Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (c.1930 December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. Liston wins, 10 times out of 10. 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. (2) Liston was murdered by drug dealers with whom he'd become involved. His fists measured 15 inches (38cm) around, the largest of any heavyweight champion. [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. The second fight lasted only four seconds longer than Part I's first-round KO, but Liston's victory was still loudly booed. "But can he hit!" Daniel Liston. 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 second round saw Liston continue to pursue Clay. He was a heavyweight world champion. Was Pariah boxing legend Sonny Listons OD really a mob murder? [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. 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