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. [92] He had been suffering from hardening of the heart muscle and lung disease before his death. 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"The timekeeper was waving both hands and saying, 'I counted him outthe fight is over,'" Walcott said after the fight. Former champions James J. Braddock, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Rocky Marciano and Ingemar Johansson all picked Patterson to win. "He was scared, he was scared of so many things," Knopfler said. According to a New York Times report the day after the fight, Clay was indeed an official member of the Nation of Islam. Felix later said Clay was seconds from being disqualified. Authorities theorized that he was undressing for bed when he fell over backward with such force that he broke the rail of the bench. Patterson, a 4-1 betting underdog, was knocked down three times and counted out at 2:10 of the first round. A few months after Alis fight, Liston was dead from lung congestion though even that was shrouded in mystery and controversy. That got him killed. In a pre-fight poll, 43 of 46 sportswriters picked Liston to win by knockout. Reminds me of former UFC fighter Shane Carwin. I didn't think it was a powerful punch when I saw the fight from ringside," he said. . 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. "The only thing my old man ever gave me was a beating," Liston said. It was a good punch, but I didn't think I hit him so hard that he couldn't have gotten up. Very rare interview of Sonny Liston talking about how he got started in boxing, his fights with Williams and Patterson and his training routine. Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (c.1930 December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. After Ali's win against Sonny Liston, he wouldn't . [83] Herb Goldman stated that Liston, when in his prime between 1958 and 1963, was the most feared fighter in boxing history. ", Still, some found it hard to believe that the punch could have floored a man like Liston. Sonny Liston, once the heavyweight champ, died at the age of who-knows-what some days before Dec. 30, 1970. "He was afraid of needles," echoed Father Edward Murphy. [7] Liston was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991. After Liston arose, Walcott wiped off his gloves. "I didn't know what the heck was going on", Angelo Dundee, Clay's trainer, recalled on an NBC special 25 years later. A dominant contender of his era, he became the world heavyweight champion in 1962 after knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round, repeating the knockout the following year in defense of the title; in the latter fight he also became the inaugural WBC heavyweight . 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. Less than 10 days later, he was Muhammad Ali, a name given him to Elijah Muhammad, the head of the Nation of Islam. Boxings brightest young star was again squaring off against a renowned bruiser in a rematch of their thrilling and controversial heavyweight championship fight one year prior, a fight that was followed by 14 months of international intrigue and the combustible politics of the 1960s. Once he went down, I got excited. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. [93] Liston had been hospitalized in early December, complaining of chest pains. On April 21, 1955, he defeated Marshall in a rematch, dropping him four times en route to a sixth-round knockout. Good lord, Sonny's mitts are massive. Dave Anderson of the New York Times said Liston "looked awful" in his last workout before the fight. He also cited medical evidence: "A team of eight doctors inspected Liston's arm at St. Francis Hospital in Miami Beach and agreed that it was too badly damaged for Liston to continue fighting. . His defense was described as "the gate-crossing of arms la Archie Moore. Liston tried going to school but quickly left after jeers about his illiteracy; the only employment he could obtain was sporadic and exploitative. More on that in a second. He used the platform to expound on the political theory that was so reviled in white America, defending Malcolm X and condemning racial oppression this was still months before President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 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. To this day, I'm convinced that's what the coroner saw in his examthat hospital needle mark. On the album's lyric sheet, below the Liston song, Knopfler includes a famous quotation from Liston from 1962: "Some day, they're gonna write a blues for fighters. "He would do everything to avoid taking shots." "From Bad Buck to White Hope: Journalism and Sonny Liston, 19581965. And the Muslims were coming up. Sonny Liston became world heavyweight champion in 1962 and fought Muhammad Ali twice In January 1971, former heavyweight champion of the world Sonny Liston was found dead at his Las Vegas. [11][12][10][13][14] One writer concluded that Liston's most plausible date of birth was July 22, 1930, citing census records and statements from his mother during her lifetime. [52][53] It was the first time since 1919when Jack Dempsey defeated Jess Willardthat a world heavyweight champion had quit on his stool. "And I suppose Sonny Liston always stuck with me. 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. In the third round, Marshall nailed Listonreportedly while he was laughingand broke his jaw. 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. The Murder of Sonny Liston is an absorbing, albeit speculative, attempt at addressing the mystery that died with the man. [citation needed] At this time, the head coach of the St. Louis Golden Gloves team, Tony Anderson, stated that Liston was the strongest fighter he had seen. Tale of the tape: Fight poster for Sonny Liston v Cassius Clay in 1964. . The most iconic photo in boxing history documents the knockout that almost nobody saw happen. Lennox is a conqueror? "Johnny wasn't a braggart," Davi told Liston biographer Paul Gallender. In his 1965 rematch with Ali, Liston suffered an unexpected first-round knockout that led to unresolved suspicions of a fix. Mark Knopfler enjoyed widespread popularity in the 1980's as the leader of Dire Straits, lending his husky voice to hit songs like "Sultans of Swing" and "Money for Nothing." In an interview with The Associated Press shortly before his death in May 2009, Liston said he regretted . He had been deliberately snubbed. Skeptics called the knockout blow "the phantom punch." Technically, contracts for boxing matches werent supposed to have rematch clauses, though pretty much all of them had some sort of loophole and agreement when each side wanted to guarantee a return bout again, the laws by which boxing governed itself were really more suggestions at the time. (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. [45][46] A clearly angered Liston rallied at the end of the round when Clay seemed tired, delivering punishing body shots. He was also seeking to prove himself after his two embarrassing and suspicious losses to Ali. The Murder of Sonny Liston is an absorbing, albeit speculative, attempt at addressing the mystery that died with the man. Anyone can read what you share. When Machen clinched in . There were plenty of tough questions after the first fight for Liston, too, namely, why didnt he come out for another round? Even before the first punch was thrown, the May 25, 1965 bout between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston . Three days before the fight, Ali needed emergency surgery for a strangulated hernia. Hall of Fame announcer Don Dunphy said, "Here was a guy who was in prison and the guards used to beat him over the head with clubs and couldn't knock him down." Clay brought Malcolm X along with him to Miami, and amid the controversy, the fight was almost canceled. A grateful Liston found there was no need to give chase. Subsequently, Liston spent some months in Denver where a Catholic priest who acted as his spiritual adviser attempted to help bring his drinking under control. Shaun Assael wrote "The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin, and Heavyweights", published in 2016. Many did not see the punch land, and some who did questioned that it was powerful enough to knock Liston out. Sit down!' 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. Suffolk County, where Boston is located, ultimately pulled the plug, leaving them without a venue with less than a month to go. Suddenly, the world had to come to grips with a new kind of heavyweight champion. Liston said he quit because of a shoulder injury. A few years before Tocco died, he allegedly told one of his good friends, Tony Davi, that he went to Liston's house and found the door locked and his car in the driveway. 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. Sonny Liston was a bad, bad guy who was also a victim, and I dont know that anyone can point to when a victim becomes a perpetrator and how much sympathy he deserves, but I also think any holistic take is fair this far in history. . The match had more storylines than a soap opera. Tosches, Nick (2000). He had a whiplash, so they took him to the hospital," said boxing trainer Johnny Tocco. Knopfler, 55, said inspiration for the Liston song has been growing for a long time. Unlike Dylan or Carter, however, Knopfler does not present Liston as innocent of a crime for which he was imprisoned. [35] Liston's victory was loudly booed. "[35], U.S. President John F. Kennedy also did not want Patterson to fight Liston. Muhammad Ali (at the time a rising contender named Cassius Clay), however, predicted a knockout by Liston in the first five rounds. ", One of the most vivid verses creates a word-picture of Liston in his prime with photographic clarity: "Black Cadillac, alligator boots, money in the pockets of his sharkskin suits." [10][11] It has been suggested Liston himself may not have known what year he was born, as he was not precise on the matter. As Liston pursued his target Clay retreated, using his foot speed to slip away into open space in the ring, largely circling to the left and away from the threat of a Liston left hook. Unfortunately for Martin, however, his career ended after that fight due to a detached retina he suffered during the bout. 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. Dr. Alexander Robbins, chief physician for the Miami Beach Boxing Commission, diagnosed Liston with a torn tendon in his left shoulder. At one point in this attack, Liston was rocked as he was driven to the ropes. ", Hutchison, Phillip J. He was poking the bear a bit there . [8][9], There is no official record of Liston's birth. After the second loss to Ali, Liston stayed out of the ring for more than a year. I was down but not hurt, but I looked up and saw Ali standing over me. Controversy followed with claims that Liston had been drinking heavily the night before the fight and had entered the bout with a lame shoulder. Night Train is like $11 on Amazon, peep that if you want to get more of the story, i don't like how max was squeezing sonny's bicep. Beat me to it! "You're putting things on and you're taking this out and molding it," Knopfler said. He won by a seventh-round technical knockout, and seemed on the verge of making a comeback to the big time. But then again, he took a pretty good beating in the fight. [citation needed], Liston competed in the 1953 United States National Championships at Boston Garden and passed the preliminaries, stopping Lou Graff in the second round on April 13, but lost in the quarterfinals to 17-year-old Jimmy McCarter on April 15. It made a champion out of Clay, who declared that hed shook up the world.. I'm Sonny Liston, I'm Jack Dempsey, there's no one like I'm from their . Sonny Liston was one of the hardest hitters the boxing world has ever seen. The opening round was fought an extra eight seconds, since both fighters and referee Barney Felix apparently did not hear the bell. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. A stoic Liston finished the fight, but lost in an eight-round split decision.
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