Suddenly, the world had to come to grips with a new kind of heavyweight champion. Banker said, "Sheriff [Ralph] Lamb told me, 'Tell your pal Sonny to stay away from the West Side because we're going to bust the drug dealers.'" Helen had one child before she married Tobe, and Tobe had 13 children with his first wife. Knopfler, who was born in Scotland and grew up in northern England, said Liston's story was "exciting subject matter because it's so mysterious." The connections to organized crime were an advantage early in his career but were later used against him. According to a New York Times report the day after the fight, Clay was indeed an official member of the Nation of Islam. He had been deliberately snubbed. 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. Banker said he was told by police that Liston had been seen at a house that would be the target of a drug raid. Liston retired in his corner due to an inflamed shoulder. 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. 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. The photo depicted Ali standing over his opponent, Sonny Liston, after delivering a final blow that knocked Liston to the ground. Liston biographer Paul Gallender claims that Liston fathered several children, though none with his wife. [47] Sitting on his stool between rounds, however, Liston was breathing heavily as his cornermen worked on his cut. 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. [citation needed], Liston competed in the 1953 United States National Championships at Boston Garden and passed the preliminaries, stopping Lou Graff in the second round on April 13, but lost in the quarterfinals to 17-year-old Jimmy McCarter on April 15. It is hardly the first recording by a rock musician about boxing. In an unearthed, unaired TV interview, Sonny Liston's wife once said that the fighter needed to get out of the ring as fast as possible because he had diarrhea. And Tex Maule of Sports Illustrated wrote, "The blow had so much force it lifted Liston's left foot, upon which most of his weight was resting, well off the canvas. Sonny Liston Interview 82,818 views Apr 2, 2014 1.3K Dislike Share Save haNZAgod 93.2K subscribers Subscribe A rare interview with former Heavyweight champion of the world, Sonny Liston.. 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. I know!" At one point, Liston had Clay against the ropes and landed a hard left hook. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. My man. We cooked up that shoulder thing on the spot. "A blues song just for fighters: The legend of Sonny Liston. The mysterious life of Sonny Liston. "When he first got to the big city, he was hanging out with a bunch of people who were just looking for trouble.". After Liston arose, Walcott wiped off his gloves. He used the platform to expound on the political theory that was so reviled in white America, defending Malcolm X and condemning racial oppression this was still months before President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. C'mon now, this is for the title, this is the big apple. But he spoke to his friend Resnick on the day of the fight and was told not to bet on the champion. 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. The most iconic photo in boxing history documents the knockout that almost nobody saw happen. I was down but not hurt, but I looked up and saw Ali standing over me. Patterson's fatal mistake was that he "did not punch enough and frequently tried to clinch with Liston. 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. [45][46] A clearly angered Liston rallied at the end of the round when Clay seemed tired, delivering punishing body shots. According to Liston's trainer, Willie Reddish, Liston cancelled a planned tour to Africa in 1963 because he refused to get the required inoculations. Audiences at home were confused and outraged. Thom Jones titled his 2000 collection of short stories Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine. 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." Remembering One Of Boxing's Storied Bouts Robert Siegel and Melissa Block recall the fight between Cassius Clay and and Sonny Liston, the fight at the heart of the off-Broadway play Fetch Clay, . Liston tried going to school but quickly left after jeers about his illiteracy; the only employment he could obtain was sporadic and exploitative. Hed shown up to the fight in the best shape of his life no hot dogs or beer in his diet this time and promised to take down Ali. The Murder of Sonny Liston is an absorbing, albeit speculative, attempt at addressing the mystery that died with the man. Knopfler, 55, said inspiration for the Liston song has been growing for a long time. [99] (3) The mob promised Liston some money to throw the second Ali fight, but they never paid him. But then again, he took a pretty good beating in the fight. [94], Liston was buried at Paradise Memorial Gardens in Las Vegas, Nevada. Writer Jack McKinney said, "I watched Sonny. In his next fight, he had a rematch with Summerlin and again won an eight-round decision. The victim sought out the executioner." 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. The commotion was not lost on referee Barney Felix, who was walking toward Clay's corner. "He was scared, he was scared of so many things," Knopfler said. Less than 10 days later, he was Muhammad Ali, a name given him to Elijah Muhammad, the head of the Nation of Islam. For me, the most fascinating thing about Liston was the fact that his birth date is unknown. Sonny was definitely a specimen. Knopfler said he enjoys boxing and other sports but reflected on a conversation he had with a friend about the fights. Cleveland Williams was the last person to defeat Liston and made $100,000 for his efforts. 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 champion. Tale of the tape: Fight poster for Sonny Liston v Cassius Clay in 1964. . Rare interview of Sonny Liston colorized. It was a good punch, but I didn't think I hit him so hard that he couldn't have gotten up. One of the reasons why sports stays alive in us is that there's part of us that wants to keep the child alive and recognizes that there is something important in doing that. A lot of his life was mysterious and messy. More on that in a second. [92] He had been suffering from hardening of the heart muscle and lung disease before his death. For confetti we can use torn-up arrest warrants." The NAACP had urged Patterson not to fight Liston, fearing that a Liston victory would hurt the civil rights movement. However, there were again rumors of alcohol abuse in training. Very rare interview of Sonny Liston talking about how he got started in boxing, his fights with Williams and Patterson and his training routine. Two of the best-known are "The Boxer" by Simon and Garfunkel and "Hurricane" by Bob Dylan. 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. His death was, too. "Nat Fleischer [editor of The Ring] was sitting beside McDonough and he was waving his hands, too, saying it was over." We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Washington University Libraries, Film and Media Archive, Henry Hampton Collection. "The timekeeper was waving both hands and saying, 'I counted him outthe fight is over,'" Walcott said after the fight. Ali initially stood over his fallen opponent, gesturing and yelling at him, "Get up and fight, sucker!" [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! [100] A successful racehorse which won the Irish St Leger classic race in 2021 was named Sonnyboyliston. 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. Maybe he was. Liston returned to the United States and won seven fights, all by knockout, in 1968, increasing his string to eleven. He was poking the bear a bit there . ", Ali clearly did not think he knocked Liston out. "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. #muhammadali #henrycooper #sonnyliston #dougjones #heavyweight #greatness #boxing #legend #larryholmes #ironmike #sonnyliston #intimidating #bad #big #greatb. Shaun Assael wrote "The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin, and Heavyweights", published in 2016. The grave's marker-plate bears the dedication: "A Man. 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. Tocco called the police, and they broke into the house. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Ali called it "the anchor punch." "I was rooting around in my childhood, maybe the way you do when you get to a certain age," Knopfler said. Stuttgarter Amtsblatt No. The match had more storylines than a soap opera. At about 30 seconds into the round he hit Liston with several combinations, causing a bruise under Liston's right eye and a cut under his left, which eventually required eight stitches to close. We had a return bout clause with Clay, but if you say your guy just quit, who is gonna get a return bout? "Now (after seeing video) I think Clay, seeing the opening, snapped the punch the last six inches. [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. [85] Geraldine had a daughter from a previous marriage, and the Listons subsequently adopted a boy from Sweden. The Devil and Sonny Liston. [87], Liston was found dead by his wife, Geraldine, in their Las Vegas home on January 5, 1971. Beat me to it! Skeptics called the knockout blow "the phantom punch." [91] Coroner Mark Herman said traces of heroin byproducts were found in Liston's system, but not in amounts large enough to have caused his death. Although Clay often carried his gloves down at his waist, seemingly open to attack, he proved very difficult to hit. The champion was stripped of the belt when he refused to be drafted into the armed services during the Vietnam War, and he didnt box again in a match that counted until 1970. [8] Convicted and sentenced to five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary, Liston started his prison time on June 1, 1950. He also took his gun. 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. 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. [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. ", Still, some found it hard to believe that the punch could have floored a man like Liston. In the 2020 film One Night in Miami, Liston is played by Aaron D. Alexander. 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. "The only thing my old man ever gave me was a beating," Liston said. He then outpointed Julius Griffin, winner of the New York Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions, to capture the Intercity Golden Gloves Championship on March 26 (representing Chicago). And, while Patterson was growing as a fighter, Sonny was taking on mostly journeyman and starting to age. Because of the shirt he wore during robberies, the St. Louis police called Liston the "Yellow Shirt Bandit." Asked by a young white reporter why he was not fighting for freedom in the South, Liston deadpanned, "I ain't got no dog-proof ass. While true he also sent women to the hospital, which his sparring partner confirms. The FBI was on the hunt for evidence for match-fixing, given Listons mob ties mobsters still owned much of his fight promotion contract and the sports shady business model. Three days before the fight, Ali needed emergency surgery for a strangulated hernia. [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. "[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. . The Devil And Sonny Liston. Never before seen Sonny Liston interview. Support this Channel: https://www.patreon.com/join/LegendsofBoxing Merchandise: https://www.redbubble.com/peo. [56] Sports Illustrated writer Tex Maule wrote that Liston's shoulder injury was legitimate. Gary Beckwith said, "It wasn't uncommon for family members in these cases to go through and tidy up to save family embarrassment. Sonny Liston had a controversial boxing career, winning 54 of 58 bouts from 1953 to 1970. And it was probably for the best ticket-buyers didnt exactly get their moneys worth. "I'm doing a portrait of a life, really, in a way, so you are trying to get the whole thing into just a few verses. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform. 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. He said they found Liston lying on his bed with a needle sticking out of his arm. In an Associated Press poll, 64 of 102 reporters picked Patterson. [33], Civic leaders were also reluctant, worrying that Liston's unsavory character would set a bad example for youth. With Clay quickly ducking his head left, right or away, Liston's leading left jabs largely failed to land. "[98], Some claim Liston was murdered. "[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. In that same book Liston was quoted two years after the fight: "Ali knocked me down with a sharp punch. Some writers thought Liston brought bad press on himself by a surly and hostile attitude toward journalists. Liston was overwhelmed by an abusive father, confrontations with the law, underworld managers and a change in African-American culture represented by Ali, Knopfler said. [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. After demolishing these top-ranked fighters in the heavyweight division, Liston was regarded as the top-contender champion-in-waiting. [43] A month later, Liston was accused of impersonating a police officer by using a flashlight to wave down a female motorist in Fairmount Park, although all charges were later dropped. Muhammad Ali biographer Jonathan Eig shared a new theory as to why Sonny Liston may have taken a dive in the boxers' second bout. 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. [36], Jack Dempsey spoke for many when he was quoted as saying that Sonny Liston should not be allowed to fight for the title. A couple weeks later, he was still complainin' about that needle mark. At one point in this attack, Liston was rocked as he was driven to the ropes. Concert Preview/Interview: John Lodge of the Moody Blues on Reprising "Days of Future Passed . [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. "He had a left like Henry's hammer," Knopfler sings, "a right like Betty Bamalam. Soon, he was known as Cassius X, eschewing the last name given to his enslaved family by their owners. The highly-anticipated May 1965 rematch between the heavyweight champions almost didn't happen. The Murder of Sonny Liston: A Story of Fame, Heroin, Boxing & Las Vegas. He was a gentle man. Knopfler, who now records as a soloist and performs with a backup band, has a wide-ranging curiosity that has produced an eclectic collection of songs. No, I'm Alexanderhe's no Alexander. His wife said he was a kind & gentle hearted person who cared deeply for children & that no one ever saw that side of him except those closest to him, I believe theres a documentary somewhere on YouTube Id recommend watching it. Geraldine remembered her husband as "Great with me, great with the kids. People around the world tuned in via satellite to watch the match, which was fought in front of 2,434 paying ticket-holders, the smallest crowd in heavyweight championship fight history; people there suggested the crowd was more like 4,000, but nonetheless, it was a very small in-person audience. He was hardly leading a life of health and fitness. In his 1965 rematch with Ali, Liston suffered an unexpected first-round knockout that led to unresolved suspicions of a fix. This victory is regarded by some as Liston's most impressive performance. One memo, dated 24 May 1966, outlined an interview with Houston gambler Barnett Magids, who believed Liston would win. Dude was only 6'2 and his hands dwarfed Lesnar's. "There is power in both his left and his right, even though the fists move with the languor of motoring royalty or as if passing through a gaseous envelope more dense than air." He pulled the same stuff Walcott did against Marciano. [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 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. Im free to be who I want.. Entire books have been written about the fight, and one, released in 2015, sought to end the suggestion that Liston took another fall. Genuinely kind mobster who had been convicted of armed robbery and assault. Sports Illustrated predicted a Patterson victory in 15 rounds, stating: "Sonny has neither Floyd's speed nor the versatility of his attack. Walcott then rushed back to the fighters, who had resumed boxing, and stopped the fightawarding Ali a first-round knockout victory. "At about noon on the day of the fight, (Magids) reached Resnick again by phone," the memo read. 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. ", confirmed most people's belief that Liston had taken a dive. With the proceeds, he traveled to St. Louis to live with his mother. [14], Tobe Liston inflicted whippings so severe on Sonny that the scars were still visible decades later. Frank Mir was around that height and was noticeably taller than Carwin. Sonny Liston in his prime . I never saw. .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. Midway through the first round, Liston threw a left jab and Ali went over it with a fast right, knocking the former champion down. I want to prove to the world there's dirty work afoot.' Welcome to r/boxing, the official home of pro boxing on Reddit! While valuing the photograph, appraiser Kathleen Guzman told. 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. The fight lasted four seconds longer than the first one. . and he was pointing at some little bandage over the needle mark in his arm. This is a place for friendly and civil debate about the greatest sport on earth. [16] Listonaged around 13, according to his later reckoningsremained in Arkansas with his father. The interference of ringside reporters regarding interpretation of the rules, the fight stoppage and the controversy after the fight had not been seen since The Long Count Fight between champion Gene Tunney and challenger Jack Dempsey in 1927. [22], Early in his career, Liston faced capable opponents. Rogin wrote. [15] In 1946, Helen Baskin, along with some of her children, moved to St. Louis to seek factory work. There's never been anybody as ruthless. Even before the first punch was thrown, the May 25, 1965 bout between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston . Ali is waiting to hit me, the ref can't control him. It was probably Liston's best moment in the entire fight. Unfortunately for Martin, however, his career ended after that fight due to a detached retina he suffered during the bout. Liston was the subject of a 1995 HBO documentary titled Sonny Liston: The Mysterious Life and Death of a Champion. The ending of the fight remains one of the most controversial in boxing history. Furthermore, that count cannot be started until the fighter scoring the knockdown goes to and remains in a neutral corner. That saw him drive a big red bus to Liston's home that read, "Sonny Liston is a great but will fall in eight" along with the words "World's most colorful fighter Cassius Clay.". Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It made a champion out of Clay, who declared that hed shook up the world.. "[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. "[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. And I said, 'Whoa, whoa, back up, baby. Boston: Little, Brown. He rounded out the year by stopping Nino Valdez and Willi Besmanoff. (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. [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. [17] The athletic director at Missouri State Penitentiary, Rev. "[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. Liston was depicted as a bad guy by the media, a handbreaker for the mafia. In a pre-fight poll, 43 of 46 sportswriters picked Liston to win by knockout. [12], Liston never complained about prison, saying he was guaranteed three meals every day. Tosches, Nick (2000). 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 . Caputo, one of the investigating police officers, "The whole department knew about it." Elizabeth Bear wrote the short story "Sonny Liston Takes the Fall", published in The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy in 2008. Sonny Liston vs Eddie Machen (1960) As usual, Liston wasted no time throwing his jab and keeping Machen at bay, who was trying to get his hands off with minimal success. Paul R Gallender, 2012. He cited Liston's inability to lift his arm: "There is no doubt that Liston's arm was damaged. Sonny Liston, I think was possibly the greatest intimidator of all time. Mark Knopfler enjoyed widespread popularity in the 1980's as the leader of Dire Straits, lending his husky voice to hit songs like "Sultans of Swing" and "Money for Nothing." Mike DeJohn was the highest paid boxer at $15,000 while James Dickey received $20,000. Sonny Liston | Boxing's Most Intimidating and Unwanted Champion Rainy Day Boxing 302K subscribers 5.6M views 1 year ago Join Rainy Day Boxing for an in depth career tribute to arguably the most. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. A sudden violent combination delivered with 30 seconds left in the round electrified the crowd. Interview Date: March 13, 1989 Camera Rolls: 2104-2105 Sound Rolls: 248 Editorial Notes: Interview with , conducted by Blackside, Inc. on March 13, 1989, for . [83] Herb Goldman stated that Liston, when in his prime between 1958 and 1963, was the most feared fighter in boxing history. He was also seeking to prove himself after his two embarrassing and suspicious losses to Ali. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Sonny Liston had a very sad upbringing & had to learn to survive at a young age. 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 . Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. "[18], After Liston was released from prison on October 31, 1952, he had a brief amateur career that spanned less than a year. Sonny Liston was one of the hardest hitters the boxing world has ever seen. Liston was allegedly present at dealer Earl Cage's residence during a raid by narcotics detectives.
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