Sonny Liston - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (Unknown – December 30, 1970) was a professional boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

and ex-convict known for his toughness, punching power, and intimidating appearance who became world heavyweight champion in 1962 by knocking out Floyd Patterson

Floyd Patterson

Floyd Patterson was an American heavyweight boxer and former undisputed heavyweight champion. At 21, Patterson became the youngest man to win the world heavyweight title. He was also the first heavyweight boxer to regain the title. He had a record of 55 wins 8 losses and 1 draw, with 40 wins by...

in the first round. Liston failed to live up to his fearsome reputation in an unsuccessful defense of the title against Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...

; underworld connections and an early death - along with his unrecorded date of birth - added to the enigma. He is ranked number 15 in Ring Magazine's 100 Greatest Punchers of All Time.

Early life

There is no record of Liston's birth, he once gave an age compatible with his being born in 1928 but is said to be absent from the 1930 United States Census it has been suggested he may not have known what year he was born. Liston settled on a date of birth of May 8, 1932 for official purposes but by the time he won the world title an aged appearance added credence to rumors that he was several years older than claimed.

Charles "Sonny" Liston was born into a sharecropping family who farmed the poor land of Morledge Plantation near Johnson Township, St. Francis County, Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

. His father, Tobe Liston, had been a widower in his fifties who had already fathered twelve children with his first wife when he and 16 year old Helen Baskin moved to Arkansas from Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

in 1916, they had 13 children together. Sonny is believed to have been the penultimate child and youngest son. Liston's father inflicted whippings so severe that the scars were still visible decades later. Helen Baskin moved to St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

with some of her children, leaving Sonny - aged around 13, according to his later reckonings - in Arkansas with his father. Soon afterward Sonny rose early, thrashed the pecans from his brother-in-law's tree and sold them in (Forrest City). With the proceeds he traveled to St. Louis and reunited with his mother and siblings. Liston tried going to school but quickly left after jeers about his illiteracy, the only employment he could obtain was sporadic and exploitative.

He turned to crime and led a gang of toughs who carried out muggings and robberies, often wearing a favorite shirt, and he became known to St. Louis PD as the "Yellow Shirt Bandit". In January 1950, he was caught after a gratuitously violent robbery he was convicted and, in June 1950, sentenced to five years in Missouri State Penitentiary

Missouri State Penitentiary

The Missouri State Penitentiary, also known as "The Walls", was a prison in Jefferson City, Missouri that operated from 1836-2004. It was a prison of the Missouri Department of Corrections. Before its closure it was named the Jefferson City Correctional Center . Before its closure it was the oldest...

. He gave his age as 20 years old, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat

St. Louis Globe-Democrat

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat was originally a daily print newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri from 1852 until 1986...

said he was 22.

Liston never complained about prison, saying he was guaranteed three meals every day The athletic director at Missouri State Penitentiary

Missouri State Penitentiary

, Father Alois Stevens, suggested to Liston he try boxing and his obvious aptitude, along with an endorsement from the priest, aided Liston in getting an early parole. Father Stevens organized a sparring session with a former pro light-heavyweight to showcase Liston's potential. After 2 rounds the ex-pro had taken enough. "Better get me out of this ring, he is going to kill me!" he exclaimed. On Halloween

Halloween

Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

night in 1952, Liston was paroled. Much was later made of his being controlled by criminals. However, according to the priest who interested him in boxing, underworld figures became his management simply because they were the only ones willing to put up the necessary money.

Amateur boxing career

After he was released from prison on October 30, 1952, Liston had a brief amateur career that spanned less than a year. He won several amateur tournaments, including the Golden Gloves

Golden Gloves

The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States. The Golden Gloves is often the term used to refer to the National Golden Gloves competition, but it also can represent several other amateur tournaments, including regional golden gloves...

, which was his first. One of his opponents was Olympic Heavyweight Champion Ed Sanders

Ed Sanders (boxer)

Hayes Edward “Big Ed” Sanders , was an Olympic champion boxer, was born in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, to Hays Sanders, a municipal garbage worker, and Eva Sanders.-Personal:...

in Chicago, whom he beat. This win put him into the national finals in March 1953, where he beat the respected New Yorker Julius Griffin, despite being dropped in round one.

Liston then entered the 1953 AAU event, but he lost in the quarter-finals to 17-year-old Jimmy Carter, whom he would later employ as a sparring partner. In the Kiel Auditorium

Kiel Auditorium

Kiel Auditorium was an indoor arena, in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It was the home of the Saint Louis University basketball team and hosted the NBA's St. Louis Hawks, from 1955-1968....

in June 1953, Liston fought a boxer from a touring Western European side, Hermann Schreibauer, who only weeks earlier had won a bronze medal in the European Championships. Liston KO'd him 2:16 into round 1. At this time the head coach of the St. Louis Golden Gloves team Tony Anderson commented Liston was the strongest fighter he had ever seen.

Liston signed his professional contract in September 1953, only exclaiming during the signing, "Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do."

Professional boxing career

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. Although he was dubbed the "big bear", at 6 foot Liston was not a particularly tall heavyweight, but was exceptionally powerful with a disproportionately long reach. His noticeably more muscular left arm and crushing left jab, and his left hook was his most powerful big punch, all lent credence to the widely held belief that he was left-handed

Left-handed

Left-handedness is the preference for the left hand over the right for everyday activities such as writing. In ancient times it was seen as a sign of the devil, and was abhorred in many cultures...

but utilized an orthodox stance

Orthodox stance

An orthodox stance is a way of positioning both the feet and hands in combat sports such as boxing, karate, kick boxing, and mixed martial arts. A traditional orthodox stance is one in which the boxer places his left foot farther in front of the right foot, thus having his weaker side closer to the...

. No easy starter opponents, in his 6th bout, in Detroit, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, Liston faced John Summerlin (19-1-2) on national television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

and won an eight-round decision. He later beat Summerlin in a rematch. The next bout was against Marty Marshall

Marty Marshall

Marion 'Marty' Marshall was an American professional boxer who fought at Light heavyweight and Heavyweight. Nicknamed "the Michigan Bomber", Marshall was active during the 1940s and 1950s...

, a journeyman with an awkward style; in the third round Marshall managed to hit Liston, reportedly while he was laughing, and broke his jaw. Marshall had a better boxing record than many had thought. A stoic Liston finished the fight but lost the decision.

In 1955, he won six fights, five by knockout

Knockout

A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...

, including a rematch with Marshall, whom he knocked out in six rounds after first getting knocked down himself. A rubber match with Marshall in early 1956 saw Liston the winner in a ten-round decision. Liston's criminal record, compounded by a personal association with a notorious labor racketeer, led to the police stopping him on sight, and he began to avoid main streets. In May he injured a police officer who, Liston claimed, had used racial slurs, and a widely publicized account of Liston resisting arrest even after nightsticks were allegedly broken over his skull was later to aid public perceptions of him as a nightmarish 'monster' who was impervious to punishment. He was parole

Parole

Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...

d after serving six months of a nine-month sentence and prohibited from boxing during 1957. After repeated overnight detention by the St. Louis police and a thinly veiled threat to his life, Liston left for Philadelphia. In 1958, he returned to boxing, winning eight fights that year.

The year 1959 was a banner one for Liston: after knocking out contender Mike DeJohn in six, he then faced No. 1 challenger Cleveland Williams

Cleveland Williams

Cleveland "Big Cat" Williams was an American heavyweight boxer who fought in the 1950s through the 1970s. A Ring Magazine poll once rated him as one of the finest boxers who never won a title...

, a huge (for the era) fast-handed fighter who was billed as the hardest-hitting heavyweight in the world. Against Williams, Liston showed remarkable durability and punching power. He also revealed heretofore-unsuspected boxing skills, nullifying Williams' best work before stopping him in the third round of an "incredible" contest that many still regard as his most impressive performance. He rounded out the year by stopping Nino Valdez

Nino Valdez

Nino Valdez was the Cuban heavyweight boxing champion in the 1940s and 1950s...

, also in three.

In 1960, Liston won five more fights, including a rematch with Williams who lasted only two rounds. Liston's imposing appearance was artificially enhanced with towels under his robe at referee's instructions; opponents would often be "psyched out" by the impact of his massive physique and baleful gaze. Roy Harris

Roy Harris (boxer)

Roy Harris is a retired American Heavyweight boxer, whose nickname derived from his town of his birth Cut and Shoot, Texas. Roy is a co-trainer of undefeated title contender Alfonso López III.-Amateur career:...

had gone 13 rounds with Patterson in a title match, Liston crushed him in one round. Top contender Zora Folley

Zora Folley

Zora Folley was an American heavyweight boxer. He was well skilled with a good defence and also a punch to go with it....

was stopped in three rounds and the run of knock outs led to Liston being touted as a 'champion in waiting'.

Style review from Sports Illustrated

In a Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

profile of Liston at this time it was opined that he was rather ponderous, relied too much on his ability to take a punch and could be vulnerable to an opponent with more hand speed. Liston's next opponent was skilled and seasoned Eddie Machen

Eddie Machen

Edward Mills Machen was born in Redding, California, on June 15, 1932. Machen was a convict turned boxer. His 64-bout career began on March 22, 1955, and he went on to win his first 24 bouts....

whose mobility enabled him to go the distance despite taunting and provoking throughout their bout. However Machen's spoiling tactics of dodging and grappling (at one point almost heaving Liston over the ropes) so alienated the audience that Liston received unaccustomed support from the crowd. Prior to his bout with Liston, Ali consulted Machen and was advised that that the key to success was to make Liston lose his temper.

Title challenge delay

After years of being ducked Liston was indisputably the number-one contender, but the handlers of world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson

Floyd Patterson

further stalled a match for the title, ostensibly because of Liston's links to organized crime. Civic leaders were also reluctant, worrying that Liston's unsavory character would set a bad example to youth, Jack Dempsey

Jack Dempsey

William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first...

spoke for many when he was quoted as saying Sonny Liston should not be allowed to fight for the title. Liston angrily responded by questioning whether Dempsey's failure to serve in World War I qualified him to moralize. Frustrated, Liston changed his management and applied pressure through the media by remarking that Patterson (who had faced only white challengers since becoming champion) was drawing the color line against his own race.

Patterson–Liston

Ironically, Floyd Patterson's manager Cus D'Amato had his New York State license revoked over his own underworld connections, and so when Patterson finally signed to meet Liston for the world title the venue was the relatively unlucrative one of Comiskey Park

Comiskey Park

Comiskey Park was the ballpark in which the Chicago White Sox played from 1910 to 1990. It was built by Charles Comiskey after a design by Zachary Taylor Davis, and was the site of four World Series and more than 6,000 major league games...

, Chicago, Illinois. Leading up to the fight, Sonny Liston was the major betting-line favorite, though Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

predicted a Patterson victory in 15 rounds. James J. Braddock

James J. Braddock

James Walter "The Cinderella Man" Braddock was an American boxer who was the world heavyweight champion from 1935 to 1937....

, Jersey Joe Walcott

Jersey Joe Walcott

Arnold Raymond Cream , better known as Jersey Joe Walcott, was a world heavyweight boxing champion. He broke the world's record for the oldest man to win the world's Heavyweight title when he earned it at the age of , a record that would be broken on November 5, 1994, by George Foreman, who...

, Ezzard Charles

Ezzard Charles

Ezzard Mack Charles was an African-American professional boxer and former world heavyweight champion. He holds wins over numerous Hall of Fame fighters in three different weight classes. Charles retired with a record of 93 wins, 25 losses and 1 draw.-Career:He was born in Lawrenceville, Georgia,...

, Rocky Marciano

Rocky Marciano

Rocky Marciano , born Rocco Francis Marchegiano, was an American boxer and the heavyweight champion of the world from September 23, 1952, to April 27, 1956. Marciano is the only champion to hold the heavyweight title and go undefeated throughout his career. Marciano defended his title six times...

and Ingemar Johansson

Ingemar Johansson

Jens Ingemar Johansson was a Swedish boxer and former heavyweight champion of the world. Johansson was the fifth heavyweight champion born outside the United States. In 1959 he defeated Floyd Patterson by TKO in the third round, after flooring Patterson seven times in that round, to win the World...

all picked Patterson to win. The fight also carried a number of social implications, as Liston's connections with the mob were well known and the NAACP had urged Patterson not to fight him, fearing that a Liston victory would tarnish the civil rights movement. Patterson also claimed that John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

did not want him to fight Liston.

The one-sided nature of the bout was a major surprise. Patterson was expected to try to employ his speed and agility to counter Liston's size and power but in the event Patterson's tactics showed a complete lack of guile. Sports Illustrated writer Gilbert Rogin characterized the fight as "bathetic", claiming Patterson didn't punch enough, had inexplicably sought to clinch with his far heavier opponent and repeatedly made the basic error of failing to tie up both his opponent's arms in a clinch. Liston bulled Patterson around while using his free hand to batter him with body blows before shortening up and connecting with two double hooks high on the head. It was the third-fastest knockout in a world heavyweight title fight and the first time the champion had been knocked out in round one. Rogin discounted speculation that Patterson had thrown the fight and suggested that "mental problems" had been responsible for his poor performance.

Heavyweight champion of the world

On winning the heavyweight championship of the world, Liston had a speech prepared for the crowd which friends had assured him would meet him at Philadelphia airport. But, on arriving, Liston was met by only a handful of reporters and public relations staff. During an era when white journalists could still describe black sportsmen in stereotypes, Liston had long been a target of racially charged slurs; he was called a "gorilla" and "a jungle beast" in print. There was a mocking suggestion that a ticker-tape parade could use torn-up arrest warrants, and one sportswriter facetiously suggested Liston's defeat of Patterson proved that in a fair fight evil will always triumph over good. There were even unsubstantiated rumors that his management got charges dropped after he raped a chambermaid. Liston brought some of this bad press on himself by a surly and hostile attitude toward reporters; he also had a reputation for bullying people such as porters and waitresses and was disdained by many African-Americans. Asked by a young white reporter why he wasn't supporting the campaign for Civil Rights in the South, Liston replied "I ain't got no dog-proof ass". However in the aftermath of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing

16th Street Baptist Church bombing

The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed on Sunday, September 15, 1963. The explosion at the African-American church, which killed four girls, marked a turning point in the U.S...

Liston broke off a European boxing exhibition tour to return home and was quoted as saying he was "ashamed to be in America".

Run-ins with the police continued in Philadelphia. Liston particularly resented a 1961 arrest (by a black patrolman) for loitering, claiming to have merely been signing autographs and chatting with fans outside a drug store. One month later Liston was accused of impersonating a police officer by using a flashlight to wave down a female motorist in Fairmount Park

Fairmount Park

Fairmount Park is the municipal park system of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It consists of 63 parks, with , all overseen by the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation, successor to the Fairmount Park Commission in 2010.-Fairmount Park proper:...

, although all charges were later dropped. Subsequently Liston spent some months in Denver where a Catholic priest who acted as his spiritual adviser attempted to help him bring his drinking under control. After he won the title Liston relocated to Denver permanently, saying, "I'd rather be a lamppost in Denver than the mayor of Philadelphia."

Patterson–Liston II

Patterson and Liston had a rematch, held on the evening of July 22, 1963, in Las Vegas

Las Vegas metropolitan area

The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

. Liston floored the challenger three times in the first round of the scheduled-for-15 bout. The knockout came in 2 minutes 10 seconds, 4 seconds later than in their first meeting. After this victory the champion was loudly booed.

Liston–Ali

On the evening of February 25, 1964 in Miami, Florida

Miami, Florida

Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

, he fought Cassius Clay

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...

, whom odds-makers had made a 7-1 underdog. Some were surprised during the referee's instructions to see that Ali was considerably taller than Liston, the so-called "Big Bear". When the fight started it became apparent that Liston was not in top condition. Although he initially got through with some punches to the body, Liston had little offensive success after round two. Ali found him easy to hit and began to score with his quick jab and long right; a cut opened on Liston's face in round three. Ali's vision became severely impaired during rounds four and five, but Liston's work remained ineffectual nonetheless. At one point Ali was leaning on Liston 'like a drunk leaning on a lamppost' as he held him at bay with one extended arm while wiping his own eyes with the other. Once Ali's eyes cleared, the fight became increasingly one-sided as he began to land at will; throughout the sixth Liston was mercilessly pummeled with combinations. Although Liston was losing he seemed able to continue, and it was a stunning surprise when he declined to come out for the seventh round, ostensibly because of a shoulder injury. One respected boxing figure claimed that after the fight Liston had picked up a heavy stuffed chair and tossed it across the locker room with his left arm. Liston quitting was thought particularly remarkable as he had once fought several rounds with a broken jaw. However, some writers have contended that Ali inflicted more punishment on Liston than is usually acknowledged and maintain that Liston's motivation was simply to spare himself further trauma. Another theory was that Ali's verbal prefight tirades had gotten to "the Ugly Bear". A possible more straightforward explanation was suggested by the promoter's allegation that the night before the bout Liston had been visibly inebriated.

Liston–Ali II

Liston lost twenty pounds during his initial preparation for the rematch, but there were again rumors of alcohol abuse in training. On May 25, 1965, he faced Ali

Ali

' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...

again. The bout was originally scheduled for Boston, Massachusetts, but Ali, a week before the fight, was hospitalized with a hernia

Hernia

A hernia is the protrusion of an organ or the fascia of an organ through the wall of the cavity that normally contains it. A hiatal hernia occurs when the stomach protrudes into the mediastinum through the esophageal opening in the diaphragm....

. The rescheduled match was held in the city of Lewiston, Maine

Lewiston, Maine

Lewiston is a city in Androscoggin County in Maine, and the second-largest city in the state. The population was 41,592 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine...

.

Less than two minutes into the fight, while he was pulling away from Liston, Ali hit Liston with a punch that did not seem to have much weight behind it; Liston went down, rolling onto his back, but Ali did not go to a neutral corner as mandated by the rules and accordingly referee Jersey Joe Walcott

Jersey Joe Walcott

never counted over Liston. Ali yelled hysterically at Liston, running around the ring, arms aloft. During this time Liston made a half-hearted attempt to get back to his feet, before again rolling onto his back. After Liston finally got up, ringside boxing writer Nat Fleischer

Nat Fleischer

Nathaniel Stanley Fleischer was a noted American boxing writer and collector. Fleischer inaugurated in 1922, encouraged by Tex Rickard, the Ring Magazine publication...

informed Walcott that Liston had been on the canvas for over 10 seconds and that the fight should be over. Walcott then waved the fight off, even though he had never counted Liston out. A photograph showing Ali standing over Liston is one of the most heavily promoted photos in the history of sports, and was chosen as the cover of the Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

special issue, "The Century's Greatest Sports Photos". Ali was never to stop another opponent in the first round.

While Liston publicly denied taking a dive, Sports Illustrated writer Mark Kram said that years later Liston told him, “That guy [Ali] was crazy. I didn’t want anything to do with him. And the Muslims were coming up. Who needed that? So I went down. I wasn’t hit.”
Former champions Jack Dempsey

Jack Dempsey

, Joe Louis

Joe Louis

Joseph Louis Barrow , better known as Joe Louis, was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. He is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time...

, and Gene Tunney

Gene Tunney

James Joseph "Gene" Tunney was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1926-1928 who defeated Jack Dempsey twice, first in 1926 and then in 1927. Tunney's successful title defense against Dempsey is one of the most famous bouts in boxing history and is known as The Long Count Fight...

, as well as Ali opponents George Chuvalo

George Chuvalo

George Louis Chuvalo, CM is a retired Canadian heavyweight boxer who was never knocked down in ninety-three professional fights between 1956 and 1979. He is often considered to have had the greatest chin in the history of boxing and to be one of its most durable fighters...

and Floyd Patterson

Floyd Patterson

, have all stated that they consider the fight to be a fake. 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.

Subsequent fights

After the second loss to Ali, Liston took a year off from boxing, returning in 1966 and 1967, winning four consecutive bouts in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, co-promoted by former World Heavyweight Champion Ingemar Johansson

Ingemar Johansson

. These knockout victories included one over Amos Johnson, who had recently defeated Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

's Henry Cooper

Henry Cooper (boxer)

Sir Henry Cooper OBE KSG was an English heavyweight boxer known for the effectiveness of his left hook, "Enry's 'Ammer", and his knockdown of the young Muhammad Ali...

. In 1968, he won seven fights, all by knockout, including one in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

America's first look at Liston since the Ali rematch was in a nationally broadcast match with an upcoming No. 5—ranked Henry Clark

Henry Clark

Henry Clark may refer to:*Henry Alden Clark , U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania*Henry Maitland Clark , Northern Irish colonial administrator and politician*Henry Selby Clark , U.S. Representative from North Carolina...

, whom he overpowered well in seven rounds. A 10-round decision over Billy Joiner

Billy Joiner

-Amateur career:Joiner was the 1962 National Golden Gloves and National AAU Light-Heavyweight Champion and compiled an Amateur record of 86-6 . Joiner won the National Golden Gloves with a win over Gerald McClure of Toledo, Ohio. Joiner also fought Muhammed Ali twice as an amateur...

in St. Louis continued the run of victories and Liston at 38 years old (but having the appearance of a man of 50) seemed on the verge of making a comeback to the big time. He talked of a fight with Joe Frazier

Joe Frazier

Joseph William "Joe" Frazier , also known as Smokin' Joe, was an Olympic and Undisputed World Heavyweight boxing champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981....

, claiming "it'd be like shooting fish in a barrel". But, in December, Liston was knocked out cold in the ninth round by Leotis Martin

Leotis Martin

Leotis Martin was an American boxer, the first ever NABF heavyweight champion and best known for his victory over former heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. Martin was a good puncher and a fairly skilled heavyweight who fought from 1962 to 1969...

after dominating most of the fight and decking Martin with a left hook in the fourth (Martin's career ended after the fight because of a detached retina).

Liston won his final fight, a tough match against future world title challenger Chuck Wepner

Chuck Wepner

Charles "Chuck" Wepner is a former heavyweight boxer from Bayonne, New Jersey. As a tough but journeyman boxer he went 15 rounds with world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali in a 1975 fight. Wepner is credited as the inspiration for Rocky Balboa. Wepner also appeared in the book Operation Bullpen...

in June 1970, the referee stopped the bout in the 10th with Wepner needing 72 stitches and having suffered a broken cheekbone and nose.

Personal life

Liston married Geraldine Clark in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, on September 3, 1957. He had a stepdaughter and the Listons subsequently adopted a boy from Sweden. Geraldine remembered her husband as "Great with me, great with the kids. He was a gentle man".

Death

In the midst of negotiations for a match with Canadian champion George Chuvalo

George Chuvalo

, Liston's wife found him dead in their Las Vegas home on January 5, 1971. On returning from a trip Geraldine had smelled a foul odor emanating from the main bedroom and on entering saw Sonny slumped up against the bed, a broken foot bench was on the floor. The day of his death on his death certificate is December 30, 1970 which police estimated by judging the number of milk bottles and newspapers at the front door. Following an investigation, Las Vegas police concluded that there were no signs of foul play and declared it a heroin overdose. An autopsy revealed traces of morphine and codeine of a type produced by the breakdown of heroin in the body, however the advanced state of decomposition meant that tests were inconclusive and officially Liston died of lung congestion and heart failure. He had been suffering from hardening of the heart muscle and lung disease before his death.

Some, however, believe that the police investigation was a coverup, and the cause of Liston's death remains unresolved. After winning the title, Liston at first refused to go on an exhibition tour of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

when he was told he would have to get shots before he could travel overseas. Liston's wife also reported that her husband would refuse basic medical care for common colds because of his dislike of needles. This, coupled with the fact that Liston was never known to be a substance abuser (besides heavy drinking), prompted rumors that he could have been murdered by some of his underworld

Organized crime

Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...

contacts. Sonny's wife had a vivid dream the night of December 28, in which Sonny was in a shower shouting "Help me, Geraldine, help me, Geraldine".

Additionally, authorities could not locate any other drug paraphernalia that Liston presumably would have needed to inject the fatal dose, such as a spoon to cook the heroin or an appendage to wrap around his arm. This only added to the mystery surrounding his death. A friend of Liston's told Unsolved Mysteries

Unsolved Mysteries

Unsolved Mysteries is an American television program, hosted by Robert Stack, from 1987 until 2002, and later by Dennis Farina, starting in 2008...

that Liston had been in a car accident a few weeks prior to his death. Liston was hospitalized with minor injuries, and received intravenous medicine. This is believed to be the source of the puncture wound that authorities found upon discovering Liston's body.

Sonny Liston is interred in Paradise Memorial Gardens in Las Vegas. His headstone bears the simple epitaph "A Man."

Professional boxing record

Chuck Wepner

|RTD
|9
|29/06/1970
|align=left|

Leotis Martin

|KO
|9
|06/12/1969
|align=left|

Sonny Moore
|KO
|3
|23/09/1969
|align=left|

George Johnson
|TKO
|7
|19/05/1969
|align=left|

Billy Joiner

|UD
|10
|28/03/1969
|align=left|

Amos Lincoln
|KO
|2
|10/12/1968
|align=left|

Roger Rischer
|KO
|3
|12/11/1968
|align=left|

Willis Earls
|KO
|2
|03/11/1968
|align=left|

Sonny Moore
|TKO
|3
|14/10/1968
|align=left|

Henry Clark
|TKO
|7
|06/07/1968
|align=left|

Billy Joiner

|RTD
|7
|23/05/1968
|align=left|

Bill McMurray
|KO
|4
|16/03/1968
|align=left|

Elmer Rush
|TKO
|6
|28/04/1967
|align=left|

Dave Bailey
|KO
|1
|30/03/1967
|align=left|

Amos Johnson
|KO
|3
|19/08/1966
|align=left|

Gerhard Zech
|KO
|7
|01/07/1966
|align=left|

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...

|KO
|1
|25/05/1965
|align=left|

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...

|RTD
|6
|25/02/1964
|align=left|

Floyd Patterson

|KO
|1
|22/07/1963
|align=left|

Floyd Patterson

|KO
|1
|25/09/1962
|align=left|

Albert Westphal
|KO
|1
|04/12/1961
|align=left|

Howard King
|TKO
|3
|08/03/1961
|align=left|

Eddie Machen

Edward Mills Machen was born in Redding, California, on June 15, 1932. Machen was a convict turned boxer. His 64-bout career began on March 22, 1955, and he went on to win his first 24 bouts....

|UD
|12
|07/09/1960
|align=left|

Zora Folley

Zora Folley was an American heavyweight boxer. He was well skilled with a good defence and also a punch to go with it....

|KO
|3
|18/07/1960
|align=left|

Roy Harris

Roy Harris (boxer)

|TKO
|1
|25/04/1960
|align=left|

Cleveland Williams

Cleveland "Big Cat" Williams was an American heavyweight boxer who fought in the 1950s through the 1970s. A Ring Magazine poll once rated him as one of the finest boxers who never won a title...

|TKO
|2
|21/03/1960
|align=left|

Howard King
|TKO
|8
|23/02/1960
|align=left|

Willi Besmanoff

William David Besmanoff was a German boxer who was a heavyweight contender in the 1950s. He was born in Munich, Germany). His father was Jewish American. When Willi was 11, he was imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp for a short time. In the 1950s he moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and...

|TKO
|7
|09/12/1959
|align=left|

Nino Valdez

Nino Valdez was the Cuban heavyweight boxing champion in the 1940s and 1950s...

|KO
|3
|05/08/1959
|align=left|

Cleveland Williams

Cleveland "Big Cat" Williams was an American heavyweight boxer who fought in the 1950s through the 1970s. A Ring Magazine poll once rated him as one of the finest boxers who never won a title...

|TKO
|3
|15/04/1959
|align=left|

Mike DeJohn
|TKO
|6
|18/02/1959
|align=left|

Ernie Cab
|TKO
|8
|18/11/1958
|align=left|

Bert Whitehurst
|UD
|10
|24/10/1958
|align=left|

Frankie Daniels
|KO
|1
|07/10/1958
|align=left|

Wayne Bethea
|TKO
|1
|06/08/1958
|align=left|

Julio Mederos
|RTD
|2
|14/05/1958
|align=left|

Bert Whitehurst
|PTS
|10
|03/04/1958
|align=left|

Ben Wise
|TKO
|4
|11/03/1958
|align=left|

Billy Hunter
|TKO
|2
|29/01/1958
|align=left|

Marty Marshall

Marion 'Marty' Marshall was an American professional boxer who fought at Light heavyweight and Heavyweight. Nicknamed "the Michigan Bomber", Marshall was active during the 1940s and 1950s...

|UD
|10
|06/03/1956
|align=left|

Larry Watson
|TKO
|4
|13/12/1955
|align=left|

Johnny Gray
|TKO
|6
|13/09/1955
|align=left|

Calvin Butler
|TKO
|2
|25/05/1955
|align=left|

Emil Brtko
|TKO
|5
|05/05/1955
|align=left|

Marty Marshall

Marion 'Marty' Marshall was an American professional boxer who fought at Light heavyweight and Heavyweight. Nicknamed "the Michigan Bomber", Marshall was active during the 1940s and 1950s...

|TKO
|6
|21/04/1955
|align=left|

Neal Welch
|PTS
|8
|01/03/1955
|align=left|

Marty Marshall

Marion 'Marty' Marshall was an American professional boxer who fought at Light heavyweight and Heavyweight. Nicknamed "the Michigan Bomber", Marshall was active during the 1940s and 1950s...

|SD
|8
|07/09/1954
|align=left|

Johnny Summerlin
|SD
|8
|10/08/1954
|align=left|

Johnny Summerlin
|UD
|8
|29/06/1954
|align=left|

Stanley Howlett
|PTS
|6
|31/03/1954
|align=left|

Martin Lee
|TKO
|6
|25/01/1954
|align=left|

Bennie Thomas
|SD
|6
|21/11/1953
|align=left|

Ponce de Leon
|PTS
|4
|17/09/1953
|align=left|

Don Smith
|TKO
|1
|02/09/1953
|align=left|

|align=left|
|-align=center

In popular culture

A feature film about Liston's life Phantom Punch
Phantom Punch (film)
Phantom Punch is a 2009 film directed by Robert Townsend. The film is a biopic of Sonny Liston, with Ving Rhames in the lead role. The film also stars Stacey Dash, Nicholas Turturro, Alan van Sprang, David Proval, and Bridgette Wilson....

, starring Ving Rhames
Ving Rhames
Irving Rameses "Ving" Rhames is an American actor best known for his work in Bringing Out the Dead, Pulp Fiction, Baby Boy, Don King: Only in America, and the Mission: Impossible film series.-Early life and education:...

was produced in 2008 by Hassain Zaidi, Marek Posival
Marek Posival
Marek Posival is a Czech Canadian screenwriter, producer, actor and film director.-Biography:Posival was born in Prague and emigrated to Toronto...

and Ving Rhames
Ving Rhames
Irving Rameses "Ving" Rhames is an American actor best known for his work in Bringing Out the Dead, Pulp Fiction, Baby Boy, Don King: Only in America, and the Mission: Impossible film series.-Early life and education:...

.
In the 2001 film Ali
Ali (film)
Ali is a 2001 American biographical film directed by Michael Mann. The film tells the story of boxing icon Muhammad Ali, played by Will Smith, from 1964 to 1974 featuring his capture as of the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston , his conversion to Islam, criticism of the Vietnam War, banishment...

, Liston was portrayed by former WBO world heavyweight champion Michael Bentt
Michael Bentt
Michael A. Bentt is a film and television actor and retired heavyweight boxer. Of Jamaican lineage, he was born in East Dulwich, London, but raised in the Cambria Heights section of Queens in New York City...
A wax statue of Liston in his boxing robe, borrowed from Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud and was formerly known as "Madame Tussaud's", but the apostrophe is no longer used...

' Wax Museum, stands next to The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

on the cover of their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...

.
Liston made a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

in the 1968 film
1968 in film
The year 1968 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 30 - The film The Lion in Winter, starring Katharine Hepburn, debuts.* November 1 - The MPAA's film rating system is introduced.-Top grossing films :- Awards :...

Head, which starred The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

.
Liston played the part of the "Farmer" in the 1970 film Moonfire, with Richard Egan
Richard Egan (actor)
Richard Egan was an American actor. In some films he is credited as Richard Eagan.-Career:Born in San Francisco, California, Egan served in the United States Army as a judo instructor during World War II...

and Charles Napier
Charles Napier (actor)
Charles L. Napier was an American actor, known for his portrayals of square-jawed tough guys and military types.-Early life:...

.
Liston appeared in a 1960s Braniff Airlines TV commercial with Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

.
The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...

- Season 1, Episode 23 titled Follow That Munster (original air date 2-25-1965) references Liston when Lily
Lily Munster
Lily Munster, Countess of Shroudshire , is a fictional character in the CBS sitcom The Munsters, originally played by Yvonne De Carlo. The matriarch of the Munster household, Lily is an undead vampire. Her character resembles Vampira...

calls herself "Sonny Liston" as she strikes Herman
Herman Munster
Herman Munster, 5th Earl of Shroudshire, is a fictional character in the CBS sitcom The Munsters, originally played by Fred Gwynne. The patriarch of the Munster household, Herman is an entity much like Frankenstein's monster along with Lurch on the show's competitor The Addams Family.Due to the...

in the jaw, knocking him down.
Jerry Spinelli
Jerry Spinelli
Jerry Spinelli is an author of children's novels on adolescence and early adulthood. He is best known for the novels Maniac Magee and Wringer....

, the author of the children's novel Stargirl
Stargirl (novel)
Stargirl is a young adult novel written by Jerry Spinelli, first published in 2000.The book centers on an eccentric and compassionate 10th grade student at Mica Area High School in Arizona named Susan "Stargirl" Caraway, who has spent her previous years in homeschooling. Eleventh-grader Leo Borlock...

, included him in its dedication because its titular character has an analogous experience.
Liston appears as a character in James Ellroy
James Ellroy
Lee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a so-called "telegraphic" prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black...

's novel The Cold Six Thousand
The Cold Six Thousand
The Cold Six Thousand is a 2001 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy. It is the first sequel to American Tabloid in the Underworld USA Trilogy and continues many of the earlier novel's characters and plotlines...

. In the novel, Liston not only drinks, but also pops pills, and works as a sometime enforcer for a heroin ring in Las Vegas. Liston also appears in the sequel, Blood's a Rover
Blood's a Rover
Blood's a Rover is a 2009 crime fiction novel by American author James Ellroy. It follows American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand as the final volume of Ellroy's Underworld USA Trilogy. A 10,000-word excerpt was published in the December 2008 issue of Playboy...

.
Brian DeVido's 2004 novel Every Time I Talk to Liston details a boxer's attempts to draw inspiration from visits to Liston's Las Vegas grave.
Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine is the title of a 2000 collection of short stories by Thom Jones
Thom Jones
Thom Jones is an American writer, primarily of short stories.-Biography:Jones was raised in Aurora, Illinois, and attended the University of Hawaii, where he played catcher on the baseball team...
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...

's novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas mentions Liston: "The idea that two heroin pushers in a white Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...

convertible would be dragging up and down the Strip
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...

, abusing total strangers at stoplights, was prima facie absurd. Not even Sonny Liston ever got that far out of control."
Redd Foxx
Redd Foxx
John Elroy Sanford , better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American comedian and actor, best known for his starring role on the sitcom Sanford and Son.-Early life:...

mispronounced the boxer's name (whether accidentally or deliberately isn't quite clear) as "Sonny Lister" on his comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

Live and Dirty, vol. 1.
The Season six premiere of Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...

, "My Mirror Image": The older patient the Janitor
Janitor
A janitor or custodian is a professional who takes care of buildings, such as hospitals and schools. Janitors are responsible primarily for cleaning, and often some maintenance and security...

is talking to claims to have punched a whale and that the whale went down 'like Liston'.
In the film Sleepers, a poster for Liston is seen on the wall of Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...

's apartment and shows The Pines as the location of the fight.
Sonny Liston is the name of an indie folk
Indie folk
Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s from singer/songwriters in the indie rock community showing heavy influences from folk music scenes of the 50s, 60s and early 70s, country music, and indie rock. A few early artists included Lou Barlow, Beck, Jeff Buckley and Elliott Smith...

band from Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, England.
The TV show E-Ring
E-Ring
E-Ring is an American television military drama, created by Ken Robinson and David McKenna and executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, that premiered on NBC on September 21, 2005...

features a character named Samantha "Sonny" Liston.
Liston has been referenced in songs by artists such as Sun Kil Moon
Sun Kil Moon
Sun Kil Moon is a music project of singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek, best known for his previous band Red House Painters. Sun Kil Moon sees Kozelek undertake the writing, composing, singing, and guitar playing, accompanied by Tim Mooney and Anthony Koutsos on drums, and Geoff Stanfield on bass...

, The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...

, Tom Petty
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...

, Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...

, Phil Ochs
Phil Ochs
Philip David Ochs was an American protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice...

, Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...

, The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats is an American indie rock band formed in Claremont, CA by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle himself, despite the plural moniker....

, Freddy Blohm, Chuck E. Weiss
Chuck E. Weiss
-History:Chuck E. Weiss grew up in Denver, Colorado, where his parents owned a record store . Through his parents, and by spending time at the local blues bar Ebbett's Field, he met Lightnin' Hopkins. Lightnin' was impressed with his drum playing and took him on tour, where Weiss had the...

, This Bike is a Pipe Bomb
This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb
This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb was a folk-punk band from Pensacola, Florida, USA. Their first recording was released in 1997 on Ghostmeat Records. Their later releases have been on Plan It X Records and No Idea Records, but now appear on their own label Plan-It X South. This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb...

, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian alternative rock band, formed in Melbourne in 1983. The band is fronted by Nick Cave and has featured international personnel throughout their career.-Formation and early releases :...

.
Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...

's tribute to Liston, "Song for Sonny Liston," appeared on his 2004 album Shangri-La
Shangri-La (Knopfler album)
Shangri-La is the fourth solo album by Mark Knopfler, released on 28 September 2004. The album features Knopfler's signature storytelling style of songwriting. The album's first single, "Boom, Like That", was inspired by Ray Kroc's autobiography Grinding It Out and the starting of McDonald's, using...

.
Liston is mentioned in the Sun Kil Moon song "Glenn Tipton". This song is also found on Mark Kozelek's 2006 live solo album "Little Drummer Boy." Lyrics: "Cassius Clay was hated more than Sonny Liston. Some like KK Downing more than Glenn Tipton
Glenn Tipton
Glenn Tipton is one of the Grammy Award-winning guitarists for the heavy metal band Judas Priest...

. Some like Jim Nabors
Jim Nabors
James Thurston "Jim" Nabors is an American actor and singer. Born and raised in Sylacauga, Alabama, Nabors moved to Southern California because of his asthma. While working at a Santa Monica nightclub, The Horn, he was discovered by Andy Griffith and later joined The Andy Griffith Show, playing...

, some Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton is an American pop music singer of Polish origin. In pop music circles, he became known as "The Polish Prince".-Early life:...

. I like 'em all..."
Liston is mentioned in The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...

song "Don't Feel Right": "And that's the reason we livin' where they don't wanna visit, where the dope's slang and keep swingin' like Sonny Liston"
Liston is mentioned in the Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
The Wu-Tang Clan is a hip-hop group from Staten Island that consists of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. They are frequently joined by fellow childhood friend Cappadonna, a quasi member of the group...

song "Triumph
Triumph (Wu-Tang Clan song)
"Triumph" is a single released by Wu-Tang Clan, from their 1997 album Wu-Tang Forever. Unusually for a single, the song does not have a chorus...

": "Sound convincing, thousand dollar court by convention, hands like Sonny Liston."
Liston is mentioned in the Gone Jackals
Gone Jackals
The Gone Jackals was an American rock band formed by frontman Keith Karloff in 1984 and based in San Francisco, California. Originally named "Keith Gale's Parallel Universe", the original lineup consisted of Charlie Hunter, Rudy Maynard and Mark Berdon and played in the local San Francisco club scene...

song "Born Bad": "I dodged a sucker punch and dropped a bomb, like Liston, on an animal hunch."
Liston is mentioned in the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire
We Didn't Start the Fire
"We Didn't Start the Fire" is a song by Billy Joel. Its lyrics are made up from rapid-fire brief allusions to over a hundred headline events between March 1949 and 1989, when the song was released on his album Storm Front...

": "Liston beats Patterson."
Liston is mentioned in The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats is an American indie rock band formed in Claremont, CA by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle himself, despite the plural moniker....

song "Love Love Love": "And Sonny Liston rubbed some tiger balm
Tiger Balm
Tiger Balm is the trade name for a heat rub manufactured and distributed by Haw Par Healthcare in Singapore.- History :It was originally developed in the 1870s by a herbalist, Aw Chu Kin, in Rangoon, Burma, who asked his sons Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par on his deathbed to perfect the...

into his glove..."
Liston is mentioned in the Roll Deep song "Badman": "Youths go missing in the system, get banged up like Sonny Liston."
Liston is mentioned in the Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...

and the Bad Seeds song "Babe, I'm On Fire" from 2004's Nocturama
Nocturama
Nocturama is the 12th studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 2003. It received a fairly mixed reaction, though it had some moderate critical success. To date, it is the last Bad Seeds album to feature founding member Blixa Bargeld...

.
Liston appears on the December 1963 cover of Esquire magazine (cover photograph by Carl Fischer) "the last man on earth America wanted to see coming down its chimney".
Liston is mentioned in the UCL song "Save You From the Fire: I'm winning this fight like Ali vs. Liston."
Liston is mentioned in the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers are an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. They were formed in 1976 by Tom Petty , Mike Campbell , Benmont Tench , , Ron Blair and Stan Lynch...

song, "Swingin'" on their 1999 album Echo: "Yeah, she went down swinging / Like Sonny Liston."
Elizabeth Bear
Elizabeth Bear
Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky is an American author. Writing under the name Elizabeth Bear, she works primarily in the genre of speculative fiction, and was a winner of the 2005 John W...

wrote the short story "Sonny Liston Takes the Fall"], published in The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy in 2008. It speculates that Liston threw the Ali match for the social good.
Liston is mentioned in The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...

version of the John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...

song "I'm Mad": "I'm mad, mad like Al Capone, I'm mad, mad like Sonny Liston...."
Liston is mentioned in the title of The Fire Show song "Sonny Liston, Dead Like Latin"

External links

The Cyber Boxing Zone - Sonny Liston
The Sad Legacy of Sonny Liston by William Dettloff
The Troubled Life And Sad Legacy Of Sonny Liston by Mike Dunn
Lyrics to a song about Liston by Mark Knopfler
Sonny Liston Memorial at Find A Grave
Find A Grave
Find a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Early life

Amateur boxing career

Professional boxing career

Style review from Sports Illustrated

Title challenge delay

Patterson–Liston

Heavyweight champion of the world

Patterson–Liston II

Liston–Ali

Liston–Ali II

Subsequent fights

Personal life

Death

Professional boxing record

In popular culture

See also

External links