It was probably Liston's best moment in the entire fight. Genuinely kind mobster who had been convicted of armed robbery and assault. 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. These transcripts contain material that did not appear in the final program. He won eight fights that year, six by knockout. [15] In 1946, Helen Baskin, along with some of her children, moved to St. Louis to seek factory work. Liston was the subject of a 2008 feature film based upon his life titled Phantom Punch. Biographer Wilfrid Sheed wrote in his book, Muhammad Ali: A Portrait in Words and Photographs, that Clay's protests were heard by ringside members of the Nation of Islam who initially suspected Dundee had blinded his fighter, and that the trainer deliberately wiped his own eyes with the corner sponge to demonstrate to Clay's approaching bodyguards that he had not intentionally blinded him. "He would do everything to avoid taking shots." Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. The NAACP had urged Patterson not to fight Liston, fearing that a Liston victory would hurt the civil rights movement. 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. In the 2001 film Ali, Liston was portrayed by former WBO Heavyweight Champion Michael Bentt. During the fourth round Liston appeared dominant as Clay coasted, keeping his distance. It'll just be for slow guitar, soft trumpet and a bell.". 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. In an Associated Press poll, 64 of 102 reporters picked Patterson. 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/ Dr. Alexander Robbins, chief physician for the Miami Beach Boxing Commission, diagnosed Liston with a torn tendon in his left shoulder. In the third round, Marshall nailed Listonreportedly while he was laughingand broke his jaw. Sad how they portrayed sonny in such a negative light he seems like a genuinely kind person. Boston: Little, Brown. Furthermore, that count cannot be started until the fighter scoring the knockdown goes to and remains in a neutral corner. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform. In these feckless clinches he only managed to tie up one of Liston's arms. 1 contender in 1960, but the handlers of world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson refused to give him a shot at the title because of Liston's links to organized crime. But he spoke to his friend Resnick on the day of the fight and was told not to bet on the champion. Liston angrily responded by questioning whether Dempsey's failure to serve in World War I qualified him to moralize. Arthur Daley of the New York Times wrote that Liston's handlers knew he "didn't have it anymore,"[65] and allegedly they had secretly paid sparring partner Amos Lincoln an extra $100 to take it easy on him -[citation needed] - the same man, incidentally, that Liston dismissed in less than two rounds a full three years later. 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. And I said, 'Whoa, whoa, back up, baby. ", Still, some found it hard to believe that the punch could have floored a man like Liston. ", The Liston song appears on an album called "Shangri-La." He returned with four consecutive knockout victories in Sweden between July 1966 and April 1967, all four co-promoted by former world heavyweight champion Ingemar Johansson. . He claimed the officer used racial slurs. ", Chuck Wepner on Liston's intimidating appearance. And the Muslims were coming up. Any objective observer would have had to concede that Ali's counterpunch had landed, and landed with enough force to turn Liston's head, Rob Sneddon wrote in The Phantom Punch: The Story Behind Boxing's Most Controversial Bout. 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." Elizabeth Bear wrote the short story "Sonny Liston Takes the Fall", published in The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy in 2008. "[35], Patterson and Liston had a rematch clause in their contract. Press J to jump to the feed. Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (c.1930 December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. [70] There have been a number of unproven theories as to the background to the purported dive including that Liston was threatened by the Muslims, or agreed to lose in return for a share in the more marketable Ali's future purses. 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. 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. [87], Liston was found dead by his wife, Geraldine, in their Las Vegas home on January 5, 1971. Liston had thrown a jab with his left arm and, leaning forward, took a right hook from Ali right to the skull. He rounded out the year by stopping Nino Valdez and Willi Besmanoff. Muhammad Ali stands over Sonny Liston after dropping Liston with a short hard right to the jaw on May 25, 1965, in Lewiston, Maine, Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston: The Controversial Fight Behind Their Iconic Boxing Photo, Remembering Just Fontaine and His World Cup Record, an official member of the Nation of Islam, Senate subcommittee hearing turned up no evidence, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. "It was common knowledge that Sonny was a heroin addict," said Sgt. Former champions James J. Braddock, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Rocky Marciano and Ingemar Johansson all picked Patterson to win. [92] He had been suffering from hardening of the heart muscle and lung disease before his death. 9, 1 March 2018, p. 8, New York Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions, "Photographic image of 'Tale of the Tape', "Sonny Liston vs. Floyd Patterson (Tale of the tape)", "From THE RING: The greatest heavyweight of all time", "25 Greatest Fighters of All Time (Heavyweight)", "ESPN Classic - Liston was trouble in and out of ring", "Jacob's Beach by Kevin Mitchell: review", "Hard Times, Good Times: Charles "Sonny" Liston - Boxing.com", "Dismayed D'Amato Is Expecting To Get Back Manager's License", "Esquire covers commemorate boxing's prime", "Cassius Clay-Sonny Liston I: 50 Years Later", "Sonny Liston vs. Cassius Clay (1st meeting) - BoxRec", "1964 Clay vs. Liston Judges' Scorecards from Miami Beach Bout. | Lot #80073 | Heritage Auctions", "Muhammad Ali's Toughest Fight Wasn't Against Joe Frazier", "Fifty Years Later: The Mystery of Muhammad Ali's 'Phantom Punch', "I WAS THERE: George Chuvalo Watches Sonny Liston Take a Dive - YouTube", "Fifty Years Later: The Mystery of Muhammad Ali's 'Phantom Punch' | Boxing News", "Daytona Beach Morning Journal - Google News Archive Search", "Sonny Liston the most talented Heavyweight in history", "George Foreman Discusses Friendship With Sonny Liston", "Sonny Liston: Say Goodnight to the Bad Guy Boxing News", "LOTIERZO'S LOWDOWN Sonny Liston: The Most Underrated Heavyweight Champ In History", "The Most Feared Fighter in Boxing History: Charles 'Sonny' Liston remembered", "Liston KO'd Popular Patterson for Title", "O Unlucky Man: Fortune never smiled on Sonny Liston", "Sonny Liston Meets the Press - Boxing.com", "Like Fights Against Ali, Liston Death a Mystery", "December 30, 1970: Mysterious Death of Sonny Liston", "19 YEARS LATER: Liston Death Remains Mystery to His Friends". 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. THE PREFIGHT MOODS OF SONNY LISTON. "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. I'm Sonny Liston, I'm Jack Dempsey, there's no one like I'm from their . "There is power in both his left and his right, even though the fists move with the languor of motoring royalty or as if passing through a gaseous envelope more dense than air." Very Rare interview with Sonny Liston and Joe Louis. 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", Hutchison, Phillip J. Rare interview of Sonny Liston colorized. It made a champion out of Clay, who declared that hed shook up the world.. [42], Liston's run-ins with the police had continued in Philadelphia. 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. Governor John H. Reed of Maine stepped forward, and within a few hours the promoters had a new site: Lewiston, Maine, a mill town with a population of about 41,000 located 140 miles (230km) north of Boston. The second fight? Numerous fans booed and started yelling, "Fix!" For those too young to remember, Sonny "The Big Bear" Liston was a legendary heavyweight boxer. [22], Early in his career, Liston faced capable opponents. In his sixth bout, he faced ranked heavyweight Johnny Summerlin (18-1-2) on national television and won in an eight-round decision. It was the third-fastest knockout in a world heavyweight title fight, and the first time the defending champion had been knocked out in round one. "But they'll have to swing along until somebody comes to beat me. The opening round was fought an extra eight seconds, since both fighters and referee Barney Felix apparently did not hear the bell. One mile up on a mountain 13 miles west of Denver is the Shrine of Mother Cabrini. "[59], Liston is ranked second in the ESPN.com list of "The Hardest Hitters in Heavyweight History. Like Dylan's subject, Rubin Carter, Knopfler's version of Liston is sympathetic. 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. [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". A stoic Liston finished the fight, but lost in an eight-round split decision. Liston was depicted as a bad guy by the media, a handbreaker for the mafia. (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. #1 December 1963 extended Interview with Champion Sonny Liston - discusses Ali defense, his contenders, even the JFK Assassination 12-02-2022, 12:32 PM Pretty cool interview. "You're putting things on and you're taking this out and molding it," Knopfler said. Clay countered in verse, "If you want to lose your money, then bet on Sonny! Liston was supremely confident of easily beating Clay, trained minimally for the fight and went ahead with it despite an injury to his left shoulder.[44]. Patterson, a 4-1 betting underdog, was knocked down three times and counted out at 2:10 of the first round. ", 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]. "He had a left like Henry's hammer," Knopfler sings, "a right like Betty Bamalam. 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. Hed shown up to the fight in the best shape of his life no hot dogs or beer in his diet this time and promised to take down Ali. He cited Liston's inability to lift his arm: "There is no doubt that Liston's arm was damaged. The fight quickly descended into chaos. (. "[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. "Yes, it was good and honest". 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. . Liston's wife also recalled that her husband would refuse basic medical care for common colds because of his dislike of needles. 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. [93] Liston had been hospitalized in early December, complaining of chest pains. [21], 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. [24], In 1958, Liston returned to boxing. "[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. Convention Center, Winchester, Nevada, U.S. Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Municipal Auditorium, Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Midwest Gymnasium, Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Pittsburgh Gardens, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. New Masonic Temple, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Motor City Arena, Detroit, Michigan, U.S. Sources vary on his reach, with some listing it as 80in, Reputations: Sonny Liston: The Champion Nobody Wanted (2001), 50 min, BBC Documentary, Mailer: A Biography By Mary V. Dearborn, page 186. Both fights were in Summerlin's hometown of Detroit.[23]. [33], Civic leaders were also reluctant, worrying that Liston's unsavory character would set a bad example for youth. Referee Jersey Joe Walcott, a former world heavyweight champion, had a hard time getting Ali to go to a neutral corner. Ali called it "the anchor punch." and he was pointing at some little bandage over the needle mark in his arm. Pan, 2017. The victim sought out the executioner." "The only thing my old man ever gave me was a beating," Liston said. Clay confessed later he had been hurt by the punch, but Liston was unable to press his advantage home. He is seen in the far left part of the row, wearing a white and gold robe, standing beside the original-look Beatle wax figures. 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. The torn tendon had bled down into the mass of the biceps, swelling and numbing the arm. Unfortunately for Martin, however, his career ended after that fight due to a detached retina he suffered during the bout. He pulled the same stuff Walcott did against Marciano. Stevens organized a sparring session with a professional heavyweight named Thurman Wilson to showcase Liston's potential. 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. Sonny Liston, once the heavyweight champ, died at the age of who-knows-what some days before Dec. 30, 1970. His eyes swept the whole scene. [14], Tobe Liston inflicted whippings so severe on Sonny that the scars were still visible decades later. [35] Liston's victory was loudly booed. r/boxing does not tolerate racism or intolerance of any kind. 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. Tradues em contexto de "with Sonny" en ingls-portugus da Reverso Context : I think you should stay here with Sonny. "[42], Liston made his second title defense on February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach, Florida against Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali). And the face, it was an unforgettable face. Liston captured the Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions on March 6, 1953, with a victory over 1952 Olympic Heavyweight Champion Ed Sanders. A grateful Liston found there was no need to give chase. He particularly resented a 1961 arrest by a black patrolman for loitering, claiming to have merely been signing autographs and chatting with fans outside a drugstore. He could have remained typecast as a musician performing rock songs. In the 2020 film One Night in Miami, Liston is played by Aaron D. Alexander. 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. Muhammad Ali (at the time a rising contender named Cassius Clay), however, predicted a knockout by Liston in the first five rounds. His defense was described as "the gate-crossing of arms la Archie Moore. Never before seen Sonny Liston interview. 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