sonny liston interview
"Nat Fleischer [editor of The Ring] was sitting beside McDonough and he was waving his hands, too, saying it was over." Rogin called Liston's physique "awesomearms like fence posts, thighs like silos." He had a whiplash, so they took him to the hospital," said boxing trainer Johnny Tocco. [20], Liston signed a contract in September 1953, proclaiming: "Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do. Traduo Context Corretor Sinnimos Conjugao Conjugao Documents Dicionrio Dicionrio Colaborativo Gramtica Expressio Reverso Corporate 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. He was also seeking to prove himself after his two embarrassing and suspicious losses to Ali. After repeated overnight detention by the St. Louis police and a thinly veiled threat to his life, Liston left for Philadelphia. 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.. 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. The match had more storylines than a soap opera. Banker said he was told by police that Liston had been seen at a house that would be the target of a drug raid. Muhammad Ali: FBI probed 1964 Sonny Liston fight for match-fixing 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. 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. 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. Tradues em contexto de "with Sonny" en ingls-portugus da Reverso Context : I think you should stay here with Sonny. Very Rare interview with Sonny Liston and Joe Louis. Support this Channel:https://www.patreon.com/LegendsofBoxing Merchandise:LegendsofBoxing.redbubble.com I restore \u0026 colorize your projects, PayPal Donations: LegendsofBoxingYT@gmail.comThank you!________________________________________________________________________________All My YouTube ChannelsMy Main Channel \"Legends of Boxing\": https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73ffQAknNEWJlRoFSWH_awMy Second Boxing Channel \"Legends of Boxing Strikes Back\": https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-QLrFyDnskqz5_z95mcOAMy History Channel \"Time Travel: Colorized Archive\": https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC29VFkNvVVi6_OzwFV2oTqQMy Documentary Channel \"Tales From The Past\":https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpFIIYrCc1lOHbG-fUo5vwMein Dokumentation Channel \"Geschichten aus der Vergangenheit\" (Tales From The Past in Deutsch) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXBfWoE1KVXEzh9d2NrwBhASocial https://www.instagram.com/legends_of_boxing1/ 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. [49], Clay later said that in round five he could only see a faint shadow of Liston during most of the round, but by circling and moving frantically he managed to avoid Liston and somehow survive. Paul R Gallender, 2012. [33], Civic leaders were also reluctant, worrying that Liston's unsavory character would set a bad example for youth. Liston was depicted as a bad guy by the media, a handbreaker for the mafia. Was Pariah boxing legend Sonny Listons OD really a mob murder? [59], Liston trained hard for the rematch, which was scheduled to take place November 13, 1964, in Boston. ", Chuck Wepner on Liston's intimidating appearance. 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. Carwin probably wasn't even that tall. Only Massachusetts was willing to host the fight, though it was delayed from November 1964 to May 1965 so that Ali could recover from hernia surgery. ", Knopfler compared writing a song about Liston to the work a sculptor performs on a statue. The NAACP had urged Patterson not to fight Liston, fearing that a Liston victory would hurt the civil rights movement. Dave Anderson of the New York Times said Liston "looked awful" in his last workout before the fight. Geraldine remembered her husband as "Great with me, great with the kids. At that point, the fight was scored as even on the official scorecards. 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. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Maule, Tex (March 9, 1964). A grateful Liston found there was no need to give chase. Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (c.1930 December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. With the proceeds, he traveled to St. Louis to live with his mother. Liston went down on his back. 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. "He told me in the strictest confidence, but it was like he wanted to get it off his chest." [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. Liston had thrown a jab with his left arm and, leaning forward, took a right hook from Ali right to the skull. Alois Stevens, suggested to Liston that he try boxing, and his obvious aptitude, along with an endorsement from Stevens, who was also a priest, aided Liston in getting an early parole. The official time of the stoppage was announced as 1:00 into the first round, which was wrong. In his next fight, he had a rematch with Summerlin and again won an eight-round decision. "He was afraid of needles," echoed Father Edward Murphy. . A lot of his life was mysterious and messy. Liston assaulted the officer, breaking his knee and gashing his face. [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. Skeptics called the knockout blow "the phantom punch." THE PREFIGHT MOODS OF SONNY LISTON. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. He would later employ McCarter as a sparring partner. [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. 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. During the interim, officials in Boston also got cold feet. [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]. Dr. Alexander Robbins, chief physician for the Miami Beach Boxing Commission, diagnosed Liston with a torn tendon in his left shoulder. Sonny was definitely a specimen. Sonny Liston: The Tragic Story of a Terrifying Man Hall of Fame announcer Don Dunphy said, "Here was a guy who was in prison and the guards used to beat him over the head with clubs and couldn't knock him down." Two of the three official scorers, or judges, awarded the round to Liston, and the other scored the round even. 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. Boston: Little, Brown. Even before the first punch was thrown, the May 25, 1965 bout between .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston, during which the photo was snapped, was already shaping up to be the stuff of legends. "A blues song just for fighters: The legend of Sonny Liston. Time magazine said Liston had worked himself into the best shape of his career. Tocco said that the living room furniture was in disarray, but the house did not yet smell of death. ", Still, some found it hard to believe that the punch could have floored a man like Liston. A stoic Liston finished the fight, but lost in an eight-round split decision. After he won the title, Liston relocated to Denver permanently, saying, "I'd rather be a lamppost in Denver than the mayor of Philadelphia. "[95], Sgt. He was poking the bear a bit there . [62] The promoters needed a new location quickly, whatever the size, to rescue their closed-circuit television commitment around the country. Like Dylan's subject, Rubin Carter, Knopfler's version of Liston is sympathetic. 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. Underworld connections and his unrecorded dates of birth and death added to the enigma. Ali is waiting to hit me, the ref can't control him. He took one and went down. Tosches, Nick (2000). [5][6] Alfie Potts Harmer in The Sportster also ranked him the third greatest heavyweight and the sixth greatest boxer at any weight. "When he first got to the big city, he was hanging out with a bunch of people who were just looking for trouble.". "[18], After Liston was released from prison on October 31, 1952, he had a brief amateur career that spanned less than a year. "[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. Felix later said Clay was seconds from being disqualified. [94], Liston was buried at Paradise Memorial Gardens in Las Vegas, Nevada. The World Boxing Association one of several boxing organizations was not too pleased, moving to strip Ali of his title and advising states not to agree to host the rematch. Savant Sundays: Sonny Liston - Bad Left Hook Many in the small crowd had not even settled in their seats when the fight was stopped. The Devil and Sonny Liston. The victim sought out the executioner." Authorities theorized that he was undressing for bed when he fell over backward with such force that he broke the rail of the bench. But he spoke to his friend Resnick on the day of the fight and was told not to bet on the champion. 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. He was a gentle man. He rolled over, got to his right knee and then fell on his back again. Never seen this one before, thanks alot. "He was scared, he was scared of so many things," Knopfler said. Technically, contracts for boxing matches werent supposed to have rematch clauses, though pretty much all of them had some sort of loophole and agreement when each side wanted to guarantee a return bout again, the laws by which boxing governed itself were really more suggestions at the time. 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". He would not close in until the accumulated inside damage and Liston's own frustration had sapped the challenger's strength and will." For confetti we can use torn-up arrest warrants." ", Hutchison, Phillip J. 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. The photo depicted Ali standing over his opponent, Sonny Liston, after delivering a final blow that knocked Liston to the ground. Liston's wife also recalled that her husband would refuse basic medical care for common colds because of his dislike of needles. He had been deliberately snubbed. 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. The film starred Ving Rhames as Liston and was produced by Rhames, Hassain Zaidi and Marek Posival. This victory is regarded by some as Liston's most impressive performance. [16] Listonaged around 13, according to his later reckoningsremained in Arkansas with his father. ", confirmed most people's belief that Liston had taken a dive. [99] (3) The mob promised Liston some money to throw the second Ali fight, but they never paid him. While valuing the photograph, appraiser Kathleen Guzman told. "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.