Sonny Liston

Sonny Liston
Data
Birth Name	Charles L. Liston
Fight name	Black Bear
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	1932
Date of death	December 30, 1970
Place of death	Las Vegas
style	Left delivery
size	1.85 m
Range	2.13 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	54
Victories	50
Knockout victories	39
Defeats	4th

Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (* 1932 - December 30, 1970 in Las Vegas , Nevada ) was an American boxer and between 1962 and 1964 the undisputed heavyweight boxing world champion . He was feared in the ring for his extreme punching power and aggressiveness. There was evidence that his management and himself were closely linked to organized crime .

Childhood and youth

Liston's exact date of birth is unknown. His mother gave 1929, 1930 and 1932 as possible years of birth, Liston in 1928, 1932 and 1933. His birthdays are also not entirely clear, while his mother gave 8 and 18 January respectively ( I know that he was born in January because it was cold in January. ) Liston himself usually spoke of May 8th. Official birth records were not made in the United States at that time. However, the fact that there is no evidence of a Charles L. Liston in the 1930 census records speaks against a birth in the 1920s. The publication of the census records from 1940 could provide more information about the year of his birth. Liston himself named May 8, 1932, as his birthday. Liston's birthplace is also unknown.

He was the ninth of eleven children of the little cotton farmer Tobin Liston and his wife Helen. He was considered a lonely, closed child, his relationship with his father was very tense and shaped by his cruelty and violence towards the children and his mother. From the age of eight, Charles had to work full time, he rarely went to school, so he learned neither to read nor to write (even as an adult, that shouldn't change anymore). In 1945 or 1946 his father sent him to his older half-brother Ezra Baskin Ward, a blues musician (and husband of BB Kings mother ), with whom he stayed for about a year.

Liston's father died in 1946 and shortly thereafter his mother moved to St. Louis , where she was followed by Charles. There he met Willie Jordan, with him and some others he committed several robberies and thefts in late 1949 and early 1950, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison. While in custody he got his nickname “Sonny” (the exact origin is unclear) and started boxing, already there he stood out for his spectacular punching power. Since he was well behaved and with Muncey Harrison and Frank Mitchell a coach and a manager were ready for him who wanted to pave the way for a boxing career, Liston was conditionally released from prison on October 30, 1952.

Boxing career

Beginnings

In March 1953 he won the Golden Gloves tournament, a renowned national boxing tournament for amateurs. In August of that year he turned professional and drew attention to himself with several short knockout victories.

Mafioso Frankie Carbo , who mastered boxing in the early 1950s, noticed this and signed him. Although he lost to Marty Marshall on points, he later beat him convincingly twice and was able to beat a number of high-class opponents, including Zora Folley , Eddie Make (but only just on points, as referee Liston deducted three points for repeated low hits ), Cleveland Williams (which he knocked out twice) and Niño Valdés .

His career was interrupted by another jail term after he beat up a police officer in 1956 who tried to punish a taxi driver in whose car Liston was driving. After his release, he soon returned to the ring and eventually qualified for a fight for the world championship.

Floyd Patterson's management has long refused to box him for the crown, partly because of his alleged Mafia contacts.

On September 25, 1962 Liston finally defeated Floyd Patterson in the first round by knockout , at the time the fastest knockout defeat that a reigning world heavyweight champion had to accept.

Heavyweight world champion

Comments from the ' Bild ' newspaper after the fight between Liston and Westphal in December 1961.

A rematch with Floyd Patterson on July 22, 1963 brought the same result as the first fight between the two boxers.

On February 25, 1964, the young Cassius Clay took the world title from him again. In this fight, which was preceded by countless provocations and publicity numbers, the poorly prepared Liston stayed in his corner after the sixth round and gave up the fight after Clay's speed and the fact that he was holding it despite his provocatively drooping fists could hardly meet, had become more and more frustrated.

→ Main article : Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston

Former champion

Also in the rematch a year later he defeated Clay, who had since converted to Islam and renamed himself Muhammad Ali. Here Liston was struck down in the first round after only 105 seconds of fighting by the so-called " Phantom Punch " ( Phantom Punch ), a hit with the right to his jaw, which was hit very quickly and neither by Liston nor by large parts of the audience had been. Ali then shouted at Liston lying on the ground with the words "Get up, you bum" in a rage (German: "Stand up, you bum") and referee Jersey Joe Walcott initially neither counted him on nor off because he was angry in front of Liston tried to push the standing and screaming Ali away from Liston. The fight was then released again, then ended again when Nat Fleischer , the founder of " Ring Magazine ", pointed out to Walcott that Liston had been on the ground for more than 10 seconds.

In retrospect, film and photo recordings clearly show that Liston was actually badly hit by Ali. You can clearly see the relaxed muscles of Liston's body during the fall, which already reveals his unconsciousness at this point in time.

The Phantom Punch , seen only by a few , in combination with Liston's apparent invincibility and his dubious contacts with the Mafia, gave rise to many speculations about a possible fraud. These, on the other hand, were doubted because of the apparent hostility between these two boxers, so Liston had said before the first fight, on the provocations of Clay, that he intended to kill Clay. In his autobiography Ali also opposed any such interpretation and stated explicitly: "The fact is that there has never been a fight less discussed than this."

After this defeat Liston fought several successful fights, first in Sweden, then again in the USA; discredited due to the second Ali fight or the rumors of manipulation, he did not get a World Cup chance, although he still beat good opponents.

His career was practically over when he was knocked out by Leotis Martin in round nine in 1969 . Martin himself suffered a serious eye injury in this fight that ended his career.

On June 29, 1970 Liston denied his last fight against Chuck Wepner and achieved a knockout victory because he could not box further after nine rounds due to several cuts over his eyes.

Liston had a very close friendship with his idol and boxing legend Joe Louis , who also lived in Las Vegas . He and Louis had both been addicted to drugs and had been noticed several times. Six months after his last fight, he died under mysterious and unexplained circumstances in his apartment in Las Vegas, presumably from a heroin overdose .

The 1.85 m tall Liston was beaten only four times in 54 fights, including twice by Clay / Ali.

In 1991 Liston was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

List of professional fights

50 wins (39 knockout wins), 4 losses , 0 draws
year	Day	place	opponent	Result for Liston
1953	September 2nd	Arena, St. Louis , USA	Don Smith	Victory / TKO 1st round
	17th of September	Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, USA	Ponce de Leon	Points win / 4 rounds
	21st November	Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, USA	Bennie Thomas	Points win (split decision) / 6 rounds
1954	January 25th	Masonic Temple, St. Louis, USA	Martin Lee	Victory / TKO 6th round
	March 31	Arena, St. Louis, USA	Stanley Howlett	Points win / 6 rounds
	June 29th	Motor City Arena, Detroit , USA	Johnny Summerlin	Points victory (unanimous) / 8 rounds
	August 10	Motor City Arena, Detroit, USA	Johnny Summerlin	Points win (split decision) / 8 rounds
	7th of September	Motor City Arena, Detroit, USA	Marty Marshall	Point loss (split decision) / 8 rounds
1955	1st March	Masonic Temple, St. Louis, USA	Neal Welch	Points win / 8 rounds
	April 21	Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, USA	Marty Marshall	Victory / TKO 6th round
	5th of May	Duquesne Gardens, Pittsburgh , USA	Emil Brtko	Victory / TKO 5th round
	25. May	Arena, St. Louis, USA	Calvin Butler	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	13.september	Victory Field, Indianapolis , USA	Johnny Gray	Victory / TKO 6th round
	13th December	Alnad Temple, East St. Louis , USA	Larry Watson	Victory / TKO 4th round
1956	6th March	Pittsburgh Gardens, Pittsburgh, USA	Marty Marshall	Points victory (unanimously) / 10 rounds
1958	January 29th	Chicago Stadium, Chicago , USA	Billy Hunter	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	March 11	Midwest High School, Chicago, USA	Ben Wise	Victory / TKO 4th round
	3rd of April	Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, USA	Bert Whitehurst	Points win / 10 rounds
	May 14th	Chicago Stadium, Chicago, USA	Julio Mederos	Victory / abandonment 2nd round
	6th of August	Chicago Stadium, Chicago, USA	Wayne Bethea	Victory / TKO 1st round
	October 7th	Auditorium, Miami Beach , USA	Frankie Daniels	Victory / KO 1st round
	October 24th	Arena, St. Louis, USA	Bert Whitehurst	Points victory (unanimously) / 10 rounds
	November 18	Auditorium, Miami Beach, USA	Ernie Cab	Victory / TKO 8th round
1959	February 18	Exhibition Hall, Miami Beach, USA	Mike DeJohn	Victory / TKO 6th round
	April 15th	Auditorium, Miami Beach, USA	Cleveland Williams	Victory / TKO 3rd round
	5th of August	Chicago Stadium, Chicago, USA	Niño Valdés	Victory / KO 3rd round
	9th of December	Arena, Cleveland , USA	Willi Besmanoff	Victory / TKO 7th round
1960	February 23	Auditorium, Miami Beach, USA	Howard King	Victory / TKO 8th round
	March 21st	Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston , USA	Cleveland Williams	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	April 25	Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, USA	Roy Harris	Victory / TKO 1st round
	July 18th	Coliseum, Denver , USA	Zora Folley	Victory / KO 3rd round
	7th of September	Sick's Stadium, Seattle , USA	Eddie Do	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
1961	8th of March	Auditorium, Miami Beach, USA	Howard King	Victory / TKO 3rd round
	December 4th	Philadelphia Civic Center, Philadelphia , USA	Albert Westphal	Victory / KO 1st round
1962	25th of September	Comiskey Park , Chicago, USA	Floyd Patterson WBA World Heavyweight Championship	Victory / KO 1st round
1963	22nd of July	Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas , USA	Floyd Patterson WBA heavyweight title defense vacant WBC world heavyweight championship	Victory / KO 1st round
1964	February 25	Convention Hall, Miami Beach , USA	Muhammad Ali WBA / WBC Heavyweight Title Defense	Loss / abandonment 6th round
1965	25. May	St. Dominic's Hall, Lewiston , USA	Muhammad Ali WBC World Heavyweight Championship	Loss / KO 1st round
1966	July 1	Johanneshov, Stockholm , Sweden	Gerhard Zech	Victory / KO 7th round
	August 19th	Ullevi , Gothenburg , Sweden	Amos Johnson	Victory / KO 3rd round
1967	March 30	Masshallen, Gothenburg, Sweden	Dave Bailey	Victory / KO 1st round
	April 28	Johanneshov, Stockholm, Sweden	Elmer Rush	Victory / TKO 6th round
1968	March 16	Coliseum, Reno , USA	Bill McMurray	Victory / KO 4th round
	23. May	Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles , USA	Billy Joiner	Victory / abandonment 7th round
	July 6th	Cow Palace , Daly City , USA	Henry Clark	Victory / TKO 7th round
	October 14th	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum , Phoenix , USA	Sonny Moore	Victory / TKO 3rd round
	November 3rd	Bull Ring, Ciudad Juarez , Mexico	Willis Earls	Victory / KO 2nd round
	November 12th	Civic Center, Pittsburgh, USA	Roger Rischer	Victory / KO 3rd round
	10th of December	Civic Center, Baltimore , USA	Amos Lincoln	Victory / KO 2nd round
1969	28th March	Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, USA	Billy Joiner	Points victory (unanimously) / 10 rounds
	May 19th	Convention Hall, Las Vegas, USA	George Johnson	Victory / TKO 7th round
	September 23rd	Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, USA	Sonny Moore	Victory / KO 3rd round
	6th of December	Las Vegas Hilton , Las Vegas, USA	Leotis Martin NABF Heavyweight Championship	Loss / KO 9th round
1970	June 29th	Jersey City Armory, Jersey City , USA	Chuck Wepner	Victory / abandonment 9th round
Source: Sonny Liston in the BoxRec database

reception

Alongside Jack Johnson, Liston is considered to be one of the most unpopular world champions of the 20th century among contemporary audiences. When entering the hall, he was usually greeted with boos and whistles, critics and newspapers were mostly negative about him.

As a black boxer in a racist culture, Liston made no concessions to the (white) audience that, for example, Joe Louis or Floyd Patterson had made their success possible in the first place. In contrast to his successor Cassius Clay / Muhammad Ali, however, he was apolitical.

In particular, his battles against Patterson also acquired great symbolic significance. The meeting of two black boxers in the ring with diametrically opposed personalities and lifestyles had a symbolic character in the USA, which was being heated up by the “ Civil Rights Movement ”.

For largely racist white America, the battle was one between the "good nigger" and the "bad nigger". Where Patterson appeared defensive and submissive, Liston appeared threatening and malicious. But even black America largely did not want to identify with the taciturn, grim, criminal and characteristically dodgy Liston, as the humble, educated and “decent” Floyd Patterson was a more contemporary figure in the ring. James Baldwin traced this conflict in a 1963 essay, “I felt terribly torn, like many Negroes today, as we all try, in one way or another, to decide which stance is more effective in our terrible American dilemma: the disciplined one Patterson's friendliness or Liston's outspoken relentlessness. "

LeRoi Jones symbolically declared Liston in a 1964 essay "the great black negro in the hallway of every white man waiting to kill him, to beat him up for all the pain that whites have inflicted on the world through their tyrannical system," and postulated him as the "bad nigger". Norman Mailer reprimanded Patterson for trying to “shabby righteousness” so as not to offend white America, and in return spoke of Liston as “a hero for anyone who messed with fate while they were having fun; the cigarette smokers, the drunkards, the junkies, the stinkers, the fixers, the bitches, the fagots, the jackknives, the revolver swingers ”.

The Beatles published in 1967 on the cover of their LP Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band the wax figure of Liston next to themselves and many other prominent personalities. Mark Knopfler recorded a song for Sonny Liston on his album Shangri-La , in which he describes the tragic life and death of the boxer. The French band 10 Rue d'la Madeleine called their second album Comme Sonny cogne , which means something like "How Sonny strikes". Sonny Liston is shown on the cover.

In movies

• In the movie Ali , Liston is played by former champion Michael Bentt .
• The feature film Phantom Punch tells Liston's story. He is played there by Ving Rhames .

See also

• List of heavyweight boxing champions

literature

• Yaak Karsunke : Josef Bachmann . Sonny Liston. Try to get out of the lower class. Rotbuch, Berlin 1973, ISBN 3-88022-006-9 .
• Forerunner text, only via Liston & Boxing: They'll never come back. In: Renate Matthaei (Ed.): Trivialmythen. March , Frankfurt am Main 1970, pp. 141-150; later new edition: March texts 1 & trivial myths. Area, Erftstadt 2004, ISBN 3-89996-029-7 , pp. 461-470.

Web links

Commons : Sonny Liston  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Sonny Liston in the BoxRec database
• All fights
• Liston vs Ali (Phantom Punch) (YouTube Video)
• Problem of his date of birth
• Biography on boxen.de
• Literature by and about Sonny Liston in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nick Tosches: The Devil and Sonny Liston. Munich 2000, ISBN 3-453-18220-0 , p. 37.
2. ↑ Nick Tosches: The Devil and Sonny Liston. Munich 2000, ISBN 3-453-18220-0 , pp. 25-46.
3. ↑ Muhammad Ali: The Greatest. My story. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-426-05600-3 , p. 123.
4. ↑ http://boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Fight:19611
5. ↑ James Baldwin: The Fight: Patterson vs. Liston. In: Nugget. 1963.
6. ↑ LeRoi Jones: Home: Social Essays. 1965.
7. ^ Norman Mailer: Ten Thousands Words A Minute. In: Esquire. 1963.