sonny liston interview

One memo, dated 24 May 1966, outlined an interview with Houston gambler Barnett Magids, who believed Liston would win. [97], "The month before he died, some guy ran into Sonny while he was making a left turn. The highly-anticipated May 1965 rematch between the heavyweight champions almost didn't happen. His family's home state of Arkansas did not make birth certificates mandatory until 1965. Sonny Liston fought for only $10,000 during his career. Once he went down, I got excited. Sonny Liston - BoxRec In the 2015 British crime film Legend, Liston is played by Mark Theodore in a scene where gangster Reggie Kray poses for a picture with the boxer. 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). Numerous fans booed and started yelling, "Fix!" 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. Liston appears as a character in James Ellroy's novel The Cold Six Thousand. During a ringside interview after the fight, Terrellwith his swollen eye and deflated egowould later say he respected all boxers. [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! [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. Tocco said that the living room furniture was in disarray, but the house did not yet smell of death. In "Song for Sonny Liston," Knopfler's voice is backed by electric guitar, a bass and drums as he tells the story of a sharecropper's son who went from prison to the championship to an early. He was still a world-ranked boxer when he died in mysterious circumstances in 1970. He is a relatively elementary, one-track fighter." [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]. It was more likely that Liston was out of shape according to a story in Esquire at the time, Liston trained as normal, running around five miles a day, eating hot dogs and drinking beer. He was also possibly much older than his listed 32 years than anything else Liston was the second-youngest of 25 children to parents who didnt exactly keep records of birthdates. [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. 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.. On April 21, 1955, he defeated Marshall in a rematch, dropping him four times en route to a sixth-round knockout. In The Greatest, the 1977 film about the life of boxer Muhammad Ali in which Ali played himself, Liston was portrayed by Roger E. Mosley. "[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. 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. The year 1959 was a banner one for Liston: after knocking out contender Mike DeJohn in six rounds he faced Cleveland Williams, a fast-handed fighter who was billed as the hardest-hitting heavyweight in the world against whom he showed durability, power and skill, nullifying Williams' best work before stopping him in the third round. [66], Former champions Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Floyd Patterson and Gene Tunney, as well as contender George Chuvalo all declared they considered the fight to be a fake. [36], Jack Dempsey spoke for many when he was quoted as saying that Sonny Liston should not be allowed to fight for the title. In the third round, Marshall nailed Listonreportedly while he was laughingand broke his jaw. After demolishing these top-ranked fighters in the heavyweight division, Liston was regarded as the top-contender champion-in-waiting. 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. According to a report in the Miami Herald a few weeks before the 1964 fight, Clay was consorting with members of the Nation of Islam, who Clays father claimed had brainwashed his son. Walcott then rushed back to the fighters, who had resumed boxing, and stopped the fightawarding Ali a first-round knockout victory. Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (c. 1930 - December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. This victory is regarded by some as Liston's most impressive performance. 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 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. I remember thinking as a child that this was a man who wanted to be left alone.". Sonny Liston was one of the hardest hitters the boxing world has ever seen. In his sixth bout, he faced ranked heavyweight Johnny Summerlin (18-1-2) on national television and won in an eight-round decision. . When Machen clinched in . Liston was the subject of a 1995 HBO documentary titled Sonny Liston: The Mysterious Life and Death of a Champion. The victim sought out the executioner." Knopfler, 55, said inspiration for the Liston song has been growing for a long time. 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. He found a quarter-ounce of heroin in a balloon in the kitchen, and a half-ounce of marijuana in Liston's pants pocket, but no syringes or needles. "He had a deadly fear of needles," said Davey Pearl, a boxing referee and friend of Liston's. It became known as the phantom punch and has been the subject of controversy and speculation for the last 55 years. Liston was depicted as a bad guy by the media, a handbreaker for the mafia. The photo depicted Ali standing over his opponent, Sonny Liston, after delivering a final blow that knocked Liston to the ground. [37] Frustrated, Liston changed his management in 1961 and applied pressure through the media by remarking that Patterson, who had faced mostly white challengers since becoming champion, was drawing the color line against his own race. Carwin probably wasn't even that tall. The photo captures the champions exhortations, with all the fire and passion and dynamic physicality that made him such a phenomenon. 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." Rode with the muggers in the dark and dread and all them sluggers went down like lead. ", The Liston song appears on an album called "Shangri-La." Washington University Libraries, Film and Media Archive, Henry Hampton Collection. "[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. "He was scared, he was scared of so many things," Knopfler said. In his own words in Thomas Hauser's 1991 biography: "The punch jarred him. The torn tendon had bled down into the mass of the biceps, swelling and numbing the arm. During these same years Sonny Liston was on the comeback trail as well. Liston knocked out Hermann Schreibauer of West Germany at 2:16 of the first round. Knopfler said he enjoys boxing and other sports but reflected on a conversation he had with a friend about the fights. "Nat Fleischer [editor of The Ring] was sitting beside McDonough and he was waving his hands, too, saying it was over." 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. You really never watched the first fight did you? His death was, too. [7] Liston was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991. Muhammad Ali: FBI probed 1964 Sonny Liston fight for match-fixing [86] Former light-heavyweight champion Jose Torres said, "I have never met an athlete in baseball, basketball or football who is smarter, more intelligent than Sonny Liston". 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. A wax model of Liston appears in the front row of the iconic sleeve cover of the Beatles' Sgt. Either way, nat fleisher as the KD timekeeper had NO right telling Walcott the fight was over. [87], Liston was found dead by his wife, Geraldine, in their Las Vegas home on January 5, 1971. Former champions James J. Braddock, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Rocky Marciano and Ingemar Johansson all picked Patterson to win. 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. Muhammad Ali talking about Henry Cooper, Sonny Liston, and - YouTube Due to Listons long association with the mafia and the reputation as a peerless tough guy, there was speculation that hed thrown the fight for some financial reward. The mysterious life of Sonny Liston. 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. But former Las Vegas police Sgt. [8] Convicted and sentenced to five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary, Liston started his prison time on June 1, 1950. Boston: Little, Brown. [citation needed], The fight turned out to be a mismatch. In a pre-fight poll, 43 of 46 sportswriters picked Liston to win by knockout. Three days before the fight, Ali needed emergency surgery for a strangulated hernia. 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." The organization was seen as an extremist anti-white people hate group and opponents of desegregation and Martin Luther King Jr. Clays propensity for self-promotion and controversy seemed to fit in with the groups inflammatory rhetoric. ", 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. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. The connections to organized crime were an advantage early in his career but were later used against him. Muhammad Ali biographer Jonathan Eig shared a new theory as to why Sonny Liston may have taken a dive in the boxers' second bout. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform. He also had a reputation for bullying people such as porters and waitresses. The fight lasted less than one full round, with Ali knocking out Liston at the 1:44 mark. This is a clip out of the \"The Other Side\" Documentary. Support this Channel:https://www.patreon.com/LegendsofBoxing Merchandise:LegendsofBoxing.redbubble.com I restore \u0026 colorize your projects, PayPal Donations: LegendsofBoxingYT@gmail.comThank you!________________________________________________________________________________ Credit Original B\u0026W Footage:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CLMlEpRb9wSonny Liston Interview uploaded by haNZAgodAll My YouTube ChannelsMy Main Channel \"Legends of Boxing\": https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73ffQAknNEWJlRoFSWH_awMy Second Boxing Channel \"Legends of Boxing\": 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/ Who are the four people who knocked out Sonny Liston? Dennis Caputo of the Clark County Sheriff's Department was one of the first officers on the scene. The most iconic photo in boxing history documents the knockout that almost nobody saw happen. Be respectful and come chat with us. The suspension was honored in all states. "Yes, it was good and honest". One memo, dated 24 May 1966, outlined an interview with Houston gambler Barnett Magids, who believed Liston would win. [35] Liston's victory was loudly booed. The film starred Ving Rhames as Liston and was produced by Rhames, Hassain Zaidi and Marek Posival. Liston returned to the United States and won seven fights, all by knockout, in 1968, increasing his string to eleven. It was a good punch, but I didn't think I hit him so hard that he couldn't have gotten up. Mark Knopfler's tribute to Liston, "Song for Sonny Liston", appeared on his 2004 album Shangri-La. In his 1965 rematch with Ali, Liston suffered an unexpected first-round knockout that led to unresolved suspicions of a fix. 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. ", Hutchison, Phillip J. But by the sixth round his sight had cleared, and a clearly enraged Clay fought a blisteringly aggressive round landing numerous combination punches. Like Dylan's subject, Rubin Carter, Knopfler's version of Liston is sympathetic. Watch the interview you be the judge.. He had been deliberately snubbed. Sonny Liston in Denver, Colorado. 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. The bout would need to be delayed by six months. 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. (. [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. "He told me in the strictest confidence, but it was like he wanted to get it off his chest." A few months after Alis fight, Liston was dead from lung congestion though even that was shrouded in mystery and controversy. Liston captured the Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions on March 6, 1953, with a victory over 1952 Olympic Heavyweight Champion Ed Sanders. In an Associated Press poll, 64 of 102 reporters picked Patterson. The match had more storylines than a soap opera. 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.

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