But as it approached, there were fears that the promoters were tied to organized crime and Massachusetts officials, most notably Suffolk County District Attorney Garrett H. Byrne, began to have second thoughts. It is hardly the first recording by a rock musician about boxing. THE PREFIGHT MOODS OF SONNY LISTON. Rocky Marciano, the former heavyweight champion, said that he appreciated the punchs strength upon re-examination. He could have remained typecast as a musician performing rock songs. After he won the title, Liston relocated to Denver permanently, saying, "I'd rather be a lamppost in Denver than the mayor of Philadelphia. [8][9], There is no official record of Liston's birth. "It really has made an impact, actually from the very first time I performed it on 'A Prairie Home Companion,"' Knopfler said in a telephone interview. Sit down!' For those too young to remember, Sonny "The Big Bear" Liston was a legendary heavyweight boxer. Inter-Continental said local veteran Sam Silverman was the promoter. A few months after Alis fight, Liston was dead from lung congestion though even that was shrouded in mystery and controversy. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The suspension was honored in all states. [52][53] It was the first time since 1919when Jack Dempsey defeated Jess Willardthat a world heavyweight champion had quit on his stool. Shaun Assael. During the fourth round Liston appeared dominant as Clay coasted, keeping his distance. Liston went down on his back. Banker said, "Sheriff [Ralph] Lamb told me, 'Tell your pal Sonny to stay away from the West Side because we're going to bust the drug dealers.'" Underworld connections and his unrecorded dates of birth and death added to the enigma. Welcome to r/boxing, the official home of pro boxing on Reddit! [59], Liston trained hard for the rematch, which was scheduled to take place November 13, 1964, in Boston. During a ringside interview after the fight, Terrellwith his swollen eye and deflated egowould later say he respected all boxers. The second round saw Liston continue to pursue Clay. He was also seeking to prove himself after his two embarrassing and suspicious losses to Ali. Sonny Liston, once the heavyweight champ, died at the age of who-knows-what some days before Dec. 30, 1970. (4) Liston was supposed to take a dive when he fought Chuck Wepner six months earlier, and killing him was payback for his failure to do so. But former Las Vegas police Sgt. That saw him drive a big red bus to Liston's home that read, "Sonny Liston is a great but will fall in eight" along with the words "World's most colorful fighter Cassius Clay.". [76][77] Foreman stated: "There wasn't anything missing from Sonny Liston. Wepner, who also fought George Foreman and Muhammad Ali, said after his career was over that Liston was the hardest puncher he faced. Ali is waiting to hit me, the ref can't control him. 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. Liston assaulted the officer, breaking his knee and gashing his face. (, Shaun Assael. In these feckless clinches he only managed to tie up one of Liston's arms. 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. "It was common knowledge that Sonny was a heroin addict," said Sgt. According to Liston's trainer, Willie Reddish, Liston cancelled a planned tour to Africa in 1963 because he refused to get the required inoculations. "When he first got to the big city, he was hanging out with a bunch of people who were just looking for trouble.". At one point, Liston had Clay against the ropes and landed a hard left hook. ", This page was last edited on 7 February 2023, at 06:36. Who are the four people who knocked out Sonny Liston? In this case, Intercontinental Promotions Inc., which had the rights to Listons fight, also got to choose the first opponent for the new champion, should Liston lose. He was poking the bear a bit there . The victim sought out the executioner." . [7] Liston was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991. During the interim, officials in Boston also got cold feet. 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." It made a champion out of Clay, who declared that hed shook up the world.. On September 7, 1954, Liston suffered defeat for the first time in his eighth professional fight, losing to Marty Marshall, a journeyman with an awkward style. [42], Liston's run-ins with the police had continued in Philadelphia. Sonny Liston Interview - Rare - YouTube "[35] Although largely illiterate through lack of schooling, Liston was a more complex and interesting individual than has often been acknowledged. His fists measured 15 inches (38cm) around, the largest of any heavyweight champion. Two of the three official scorers, or judges, awarded the round to Liston, and the other scored the round even. From the opening bell Liston attempted to close with Clay, looking to land a hard punch to the head to end the fight quickly and decisively. [31] While Liston began working into shape with hopes for a heavyweight title shot, he also continued his criminal behavior. "[94], A bronze copy of a marble statue of Liston sculpted by Alfred Hrdlicka in 1964 was erected in 2008 between Old Castle and Karlsplatz in Stuttgart, Germany. His father, Tobe Liston, was in his mid 40s when he and his wife, Helen Baskin, who was almost 30 years younger than Tobe, moved to Arkansas from Mississippi in 1916. When Machen clinched in . He claimed the officer used racial slurs. Patterson's fatal mistake was that he "did not punch enough and frequently tried to clinch with Liston. [107] The story speculates that Liston threw the Ali match for the good of society. "Some songs just seem to reverberate with people.". "[82] Johnny Tocco, a trainer who worked with George Foreman and Mike Tyson as well as Liston, said Liston was the hardest hitter of the three. His wife said he was a kind & gentle hearted person who cared deeply for children & that no one ever saw that side of him except those closest to him I believe there's a documentary somewhere on YouTube I'd recommend watching it MatterUpbeat8803 19 days ago Liston said he quit because of a shoulder injury. Rogin called Liston's physique "awesomearms like fence posts, thighs like silos." [35] There are several theories as to why: (1) publicist Harold Conrad and others believed Liston had been deeply involved as a bill collector of a loansharking ring in Las Vegas. [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. The photo depicted Ali standing over his opponent, Sonny Liston, after delivering a final blow that knocked Liston to the ground. In "Sailing to Philadelphia," a duet with James Taylor, Knopfler told of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon traveling from England to North America to draw the Mason-Dixon line. When caught in January 1950, Liston gave his age as 20, while the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported that he was 22. Boston: Little, Brown. RARE Sonny Liston Interview before the first Ali fight 1964 in Color Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. RARE Sonny Liston Interview before the first Ali fight 1964 in Color Legends of Boxing in Color 22K views 10 months ago On the Spot show with Max Goldberg featuring the heavyweight champion. Byrne sought an injunction blocking the fight in Boston because Inter-Continental Promotions was promoting the fight without a Massachusetts license. Thom Jones titled his 2000 collection of short stories Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine. 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. These transcripts contain material that did not appear in the final program. "[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. "He was scared, he was scared of so many things," Knopfler said. [20], Liston signed a contract in September 1953, proclaiming: "Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do. Sonny Liston: The Tragic Story of a Terrifying Man One memo, dated 24 May 1966, outlined an interview with Houston gambler Barnett Magids, who believed Liston would win. Two of the best-known are "The Boxer" by Simon and Garfunkel and "Hurricane" by Bob Dylan. He had a whiplash, so they took him to the hospital," said boxing trainer Johnny Tocco. Shaun Assael wrote "The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin, and Heavyweights", published in 2016. Mark Knopfler's tribute to Liston, "Song for Sonny Liston", appeared on his 2004 album Shangri-La. He was more angry about that shot than he was about the car wreck. It was the first time in his career that Liston had been cut. Entire books have been written about the fight, and one, released in 2015, sought to end the suggestion that Liston took another fall. Liston's noticeably more muscular left arm, crushing left jab and powerful left hook lent credence to the widely held belief that he was left-handed, although he fought in an orthodox stance. Very rare interview of Sonny Liston talking about how he got started in boxing, his fights with Williams and Patterson and his training routine. with Sonny - Traduo em portugus - Reverso Context "At about noon on the day of the fight, (Magids) reached Resnick again by phone," the memo read. When you can kill almost anybody in the world with your bare hands, you don't really have to go around proclaiming it to everyone. [94], Liston was buried at Paradise Memorial Gardens in Las Vegas, Nevada. Patterson wanted a chance to redeem himself, so they met again on July 22, 1963, in Las Vegas. Ira Gay Sealy/The Denver Post via Getty Images According to the post, he returned back home later that morning and called his sparring partner Gary Bates to tell him he was leaving for Los Angeles but that they should get together when he returned in a couple of days. Another depicts Liston's death scene and autopsy: "There was dope in his veins and a pistol on the drawer Criss-crossed on his back, scars from his daddy like slavery tracks.". Rogin discounted speculation that Patterson had thrown the fight, writing: "The genesis of all this wide-eyed theorizing and downright baloney was the fact that many spectators failed to see the knockout blows. Machen's mobility enabled him to go the distance but he was clearly outpointed despite Liston being penalised for a low blow in the 11th round. ", 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. Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (c.1930 December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. Maybe he was. [24], In 1958, Liston returned to boxing. We cooked up that shoulder thing on the spot. Before he left for his bout with Clay, Sonny's training in Denver took him to some strange places. It'll just be for slow guitar, soft trumpet and a bell.". "A blues song just for fighters: The legend of Sonny Liston. His "Speedway at Nazareth" was about auto racing. He had been deliberately snubbed. Sonny Liston, I think was possibly the greatest intimidator of all time. Dave Anderson of the New York Times said Liston "looked awful" in his last workout before the fight. Who needed that? Tosches, Nick (2000). I know it", Liston said afterward. ", Liston appeared 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".[106]. Interviewing and trash-talk have both gone through some tremendous evolutions, havent they? "Yes, it was good and honest". Sports Illustrated writer Mort Sharnik said his hands "looked like cannonballs when he made them into fists." The torn tendon had bled down into the mass of the biceps, swelling and numbing the arm. [51], Liston failed to answer the bell for the seventh round, and Clay was declared the winner by technical knockout. [22], Early in his career, Liston faced capable opponents. Tocco left the house before the police did. But a Senate subcommittee hearing turned up no evidence of any match-fixing, and doctors confirmed his explanation that hed taken such damage to his shoulder that he couldnt feel his arm. "The public is not with me. In the novel, Liston not only drinks but also pops pills and works as a sometime enforcer for a heroin ring in Las Vegas. [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.