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. Inter-Continental said local veteran Sam Silverman was the promoter. "[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. Walcott never began a count in the ring because of Ali's non-compliance and his physical struggle with getting Ali to go to that neutral corner. But audiences attending Knopfler's concerts around North America this summer are hearing and responding favorably to a song of a different genre, a bluesy narrative ballad called "Song for Sonny Liston," about the troubled fighter who preceded Muhammad Ali as heavyweight champion in the early 1960's. [22], Early in his career, Liston faced capable opponents. I never saw. He had a whiplash, so they took him to the hospital," said boxing trainer Johnny Tocco. [45][46] A clearly angered Liston rallied at the end of the round when Clay seemed tired, delivering punishing body shots. Mark Knopfler's tribute to Liston, "Song for Sonny Liston", appeared on his 2004 album Shangri-La. But by the sixth round his sight had cleared, and a clearly enraged Clay fought a blisteringly aggressive round landing numerous combination punches. Time magazine said Liston had worked himself into the best shape of his career. Audiences at home were confused and outraged. Lennox is a conqueror? 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. [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. 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. 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. A wax model of Liston appears in the front row of the iconic sleeve cover of the Beatles' Sgt. The opening round was fought an extra eight seconds, since both fighters and referee Barney Felix apparently did not hear the bell. 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. [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. Although Clay often carried his gloves down at his waist, seemingly open to attack, he proved very difficult to hit. Tocco called the police, and they broke into the house. He claimed the officer used racial slurs. 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. "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. ", Ali clearly did not think he knocked Liston out. [76][77] Foreman stated: "There wasn't anything missing from Sonny Liston. Ali initially stood over his fallen opponent, gesturing and yelling at him, "Get up and fight, sucker!" One memo, dated 24 May 1966, outlined an interview with Houston gambler Barnett Magids, who believed Liston would win. For me, the most fascinating thing about Liston was the fact that his birth date is unknown. The grave's marker-plate bears the dedication: "A Man. 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.". A stoic Liston finished the fight, but lost in an eight-round split decision. He was more angry about that shot than he was about the car wreck. He cited Liston's inability to lift his arm: "There is no doubt that Liston's arm was damaged. Tosches, Nick (2000). Both fights were in Summerlin's hometown of Detroit.[23]. It burned like hell. The photo depicted Ali standing over his opponent, Sonny Liston, after delivering a final blow that knocked Liston to the ground. Theories regarding the circumstance of Liston's death. Unlike Dylan or Carter, however, Knopfler does not present Liston as innocent of a crime for which he was imprisoned. 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. said Liston's Philadelphia dentist, Dr. Nick Ragni. You could feel the deflation, see the look of hurt in his eyes. There are echoes of slavery in his upbringing." Elizabeth Bear wrote the short story "Sonny Liston Takes the Fall", published in The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy in 2008. It'll just be for slow guitar, soft trumpet and a bell.". Boston: Little, Brown. "[35] Although largely illiterate through lack of schooling, Liston was a more complex and interesting individual than has often been acknowledged. "[42], Liston made his second title defense on February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach, Florida against Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali). "He had a deadly fear of needles," said Davey Pearl, a boxing referee and friend of Liston's. The second fight? I remember thinking as a child that this was a man who wanted to be left alone.". [62] The promoters needed a new location quickly, whatever the size, to rescue their closed-circuit television commitment around the country. Wepner needed 72 stitches and suffered a broken cheekbone and nose. 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. Paul R Gallender, 2012. 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. . [100] A successful racehorse which won the Irish St Leger classic race in 2021 was named Sonnyboyliston. 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. A few months after Alis fight, Liston was dead from lung congestion though even that was shrouded in mystery and controversy. The mysterious life of Sonny Liston. [97], "The month before he died, some guy ran into Sonny while he was making a left turn. Even before the first punch was thrown, the May 25, 1965 bout between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston . [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. Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (c.1930 December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. 589 Share 23K views 1 year ago Rare interview of Sonny Liston colorized. 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. "I remember him telling me one day that he found himself watching boxing but he didn't like the way it made him feel," Knopfler said. For confetti we can use torn-up arrest warrants." Anyone can read what you share. They fought for a third time on March 6, 1956, which Liston won by a ten-round unanimous decision. and he was pointing at some little bandage over the needle mark in his arm. [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. To this day, I'm convinced that's what the coroner saw in his examthat hospital needle mark. "He would do everything to avoid taking shots." [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. He is a relatively elementary, one-track fighter." 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. [8][9], There is no official record of Liston's birth. 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. 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]. And I said, 'Whoa, whoa, back up, baby. . Genuinely kind mobster who had been convicted of armed robbery and assault. "There was nothing Sonny feared more than a needle. In his 1965 rematch with Ali, Liston suffered an unexpected first-round knockout that led to unresolved suspicions of a fix. In this case, Intercontinental Promotions Inc., which had the rights to Listons fight, also got to choose the first opponent for the new champion, should Liston lose. Sports Illustrated writer Gilbert Rogin wrote that "that final left hook crashed into Patterson's cheek like a diesel rig going downhill, no brakes." A few years before Tocco died, he allegedly told one of his good friends, Tony Davi, that he went to Liston's house and found the door locked and his car in the driveway. Entire books have been written about the fight, and one, released in 2015, sought to end the suggestion that Liston took another fall. A sudden violent combination delivered with 30 seconds left in the round electrified the crowd. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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.'" In The Devil and Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches, published in 2000, when many of Liston's former acquaintances were still alive, Tosches posits that Liston's idol Joe Louis introduced him to heroin, and that he ultimately overdosed. 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. . He pulled the same stuff Walcott did against Marciano. 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. He talked of a fight with Joe Frazier, claiming, "It'd be like shooting fish in a barrel." Knopfler said he enjoys boxing and other sports but reflected on a conversation he had with a friend about the fights. 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.
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