Charles "Sonny" Liston, An Undeserved Tragic Ending

The idea to write an article about Charles "Sonny" Liston came to me late last night as I was watching a program about him on ESPN Classic, which concentrated on the life and career of the man who at one time was the world heavy weight champion of boxing. I for my part must confess before I go further in this article that I am not nor have I ever been what could be considered a real boxing fan, though at one period in my life I did follow the sport more closely. This interest of mine starting back in the 70's when I followed the career of Mohamed Ali (nee Cassius Clay), who on one particular Christmas my mother even bought me an action figure of, as such was the popularity of this now legendary boxer.

As a matter of fact, it was back in the 70's when it was difficult not to hear about boxing even for someone like me who was in his preteen years and frankly speaking found the sport quite boring, even if my father watched bouts with me from time to time. I naturally with a father who followed the sport learnt about several boxers besides Ali, like Frazier, Foreman and Norton. Eventually the 80's and 90's came and as I grew older I learnt about other fighters in other weight divisions, such as "Sugar Ray" Leonard, Roberto "Manos de Piedra" Duran, Thomas "hit man" Hearns, Marvin "Marvelous" Haggler along with Mike Tyson, Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks and many others though I never did became a great enthusiast of the sport even if I did watch the "big fights" when ever I could. This being at least what I did till the 90's came to an end as so did not only my interest in boxing but my curiosity as well to even want to know who the champion was at any given time or weight category.

As for the boxer Charles "Sonny" Liston, I must say that before last night's program; I barely knew who he was. I naturally was aware that he had been a boxer in the heavy weight division who was noted and still is for being one of the hardest hitting fighters of all time along with Foreman, Tyson, Marciano, Dempsey and Joe Louis. Needless to say apart from these facts my knowledge also included that he at one point had become World Champion by rather easily defeating "Floyd Patterson", who incidentally was the first man to loose and regain the heavy weight title. I however in all that concerns Sonny Liston, must also claim that what I mostly knew him for was being the man, who would go on to be defeated twice by Mohamed Ali back in the 60's. First in a fight which Ali won despite Liston being the heavy favor, 8 to 1 to be precise and then in a second fight which ended in a first round knock out, that as far as I knew or even considered the matter had been the end of his career. I before last night had not even read or been informed that he had been dead for many a year as I did not imagine him to be of an age, that would have made him so old that it would be impossible that he might still be alive.

I found out many things about "Sonny" Liston, last night apart from his real name being Charles and not "Sonny" as this was a nick name which Ali once joked on before their first fight in the form of "there will be a total eclipse of the Sunny". This being a spot of humor which even brought a chuckle to Liston, himself. In all the things I found out about this man, whom I had known so little about was that in a way I felt sorry for him, getting the impression that he perhaps though this is of little consequence deserved better then what he got not only from life but the fans of the sport which he contributed so much to.

The facts on this program were stated that Liston was born in Arkansas, as the son of a share crapper, though not only is the precise day of his birth unknown so is the year making it that nobody really knows how old he was for instance when he fought Ali for the first time. Naturally his not having known his exact date of birth is hardly cause to claim his was a difficult life, however the poverty that he must have known growing up is something I can barely begin to imagine.

Liston however may have been born in to a family of 13 children or 25 this I know to versions, one from ESPN and another from Wilkipedia. Regardless of which number is true or which is false, it is not hard to see that Liston's life must have been full pain in his childhood, as it was said that his father beat him everyday until he finally ran away from home at a very early age. Thirteen perhaps though this again given what we know or rather don't know about his date of birth is another question mark. Sonny Liston however ran away from his father at this age but in a sense did not really run away from home as he left Arkansas to join his mother and cousin who were living in St. Louis. Sonny Liston, had escaped the torments of his father but his life had not really improved all that much as he still did not know how to read or write and with opportunities being what I read they were at the time for African-Americans took to crime out of dire need.

It was actually thanks to this life of crime that he ended up in prison. Looking back it might have been a blessing in disguise that he was caught and sent to prison after participating in the armed robbery of a gas station, as it was there were Roman Catholic priest discovered that he had a talent for boxing which even got him released early.

After prison, a brief amateur career would follow in which he would win many tournaments, most notable the golden gloves. During his one year amateur career he would also defeat Ed Sanders, who later would go on to win the gold medal in the Olympics in the heavy weight division. Seeing his potential, the mafia that had gotten him started in professional boxing knew they had a fighter who like Primo Carnera many years earlier could become a champion capable of bringing big earnings, which is exactly what happened.

Sonny Liston, would go on to win the world heavy weight crown by defeating Floyd Patterson and in the process accumulate an impressive record that only included one loss out 40 fights with the remaining 39 being all victories. His lose coming at the hands of Marty Marshall, a fighter whom he would go on to defeat on two occasions; to prove that he could beat just about anybody. It was after having beaten Floyd Patterson that he was the champion of the world and perhaps should have gotten the respect he had earned, for what more of an American success story (as if stories of the sort could be limited to America) could their be then a man, over coming so much to become what he had.

At this point in the story that is the life of "Sonny" Liston it is easy to see with logic how "Sonny" himself might have felt that he had put his past behind, he had after all paid his debt to society for the crime of participation in an armed robbery by serving time in prison. Of course we should try to keep things in perspective that his was neither murder nor drug dealing nor pedophilia nor rape, not that I claim that armed robbery is not series but then again it is not any of the above mentioned. Sonny had won the world heavy weight championship in convincing fashion; as no one could have any doubts that he deserved to be after knocking out the then champion Floyd Patterson. First in a title bout and then in a rematch which like the first bout also ended in a first round knock out, with the only difference being that the second bout lasted a full two seconds longer.

This however was not to be as "Sonny" Liston's past was not behind him, a fact which was clearly evidenced when he after having won the title flew back home to his adopted city of Philadelphia, to find absolutely nobody waiting for him at the airport. Sonny naturally having just been crowned world champion expected to find people from the press for whom he had even prepared a statement for, perhaps even the mayor but contrary to what should have been he was ignored completely by everybody, including those from the city he was living in at the time. It was clear that people did not respect him or even what he had accomplished believing that he; the evil man had beaten Patterson, who was the good man.

It was true he fought for the mafia but then again so did many other fighters at the time as they were the ones whose money basically promoted the sport but for some reason this was seen as evil in the case of "Liston" though it had not been in the case of Carnera. One could even look at the casinos in Las Vegas which were also controlled by the mafia and furthermore it was these casinos which invited many of Hollywood's stars to perform. Stars such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and others who by virtue of headlining in places controlled by the mafia in a sense were also working for them but yet those stars who did so were not looked down upon as was "Sonny" Liston.

"Sonny" Liston tried to intimidate his opponents with his stare and brawn before fights but this was nothing which had not been done by other fighter before or since such as Dempsey many years before or Tyson; after all boxing is what could be called a blood sport where the point is to physically beat one's opponent. Yet, this was another reason why Liston was not liked by the boxing public.

"Sonny" Liston's reign however did not last long, despite him being a boxer who many considered to be invincible, after all he had won all but one of his nearly forty fights. As it turned out in his second title defense, "Sonny Liston" would loose to a young boxer, at that time going by the name of Cassius Clay. This a boxer who after becoming champion would change his name to Mohamed Ali.

Much has been said about Liston's fights vs. Ali, ranging from that the fights were fixed because the mafia bet against Liston and even that Liston himself bet on Ali to cover his gambling debts however I for my part fail to understand something. Liston was an 8 to 1 favorite to defeat Ali, yet why is something I have never heard anybody ask. Looking at the facts; Ali was 21 at the time, which with us not knowing Liston's exact date of birth would have made Ali at least 10 years younger then Liston or perhaps as much as 15. As it is possible; based on what Liston's mother claimed, who would have had no reason to lie that Liston might have been born in 1928, which would have made him 35 at the time of his first fight with then Cassius Clay. Liston apart from being considerably older then Clay was also a boxer who was less technically sound, slower and 3 inches shorter. Clay at that time for his part had a record of 21 and 0 and was an Olympic champion, which made him more then the unknown many were calling him at the time. Of course Liston did have certain advantages over Clay. One of them being the ability to hit harder then Clay and with both hands. Another being an equally long or if not longer reach then Clay, as he was known for having a very long reach even for his height, which was slightly over the six foot mark. Liston also had fists measuring fifteen inches which till very recently were considered the biggest in boxing history. All of this making me believe that perhaps the odds should have been even or perhaps slightly in either man's favorite but not 8 to 1 in Liston's, unless somebody was thinking of making a lot of money by betting on Clay.

Liston went on to loose to Clay twice, after which he naturally lost his belt though he did not quit boxing afterwards. Liston in what could be considered his post Ali bouts fought 16 times out of which he lost one fight while winning the remaining fifteen against opponents such as Henry Clark, ranked 5th at the time. Actually "Liston" might have even won back the heavy weight title when Ali was striped of it, in a tournament which was organized among the top contenders with Liston being chosen among them. Liston however would not be champion again as it was in this tournament that he was knocked out by Leotis Martin in the 9th round, after Liston had dominated the previous 8 rounds.

As an interesting note, Liston won his last bout by TKO against a fighter by the name of Chuck Wepner. The man who in 1975 would go on to battle Mohamed Ali for 15 rounds in a fight that would serve as inspiration to a then struggling actor by the name of Sylvester Stallone to write the film "Rocky". This a film whose plot is loosely based on Chuck Wepner's bout against Ali with its main characters being taken from those of Wepner and Ali. Regarding the film Rocky however I would say that Rocky's personality is not as close to Wepner's as his opponent's (Apollo) is to Ali's.

"Sonny" Liston's image, in what could even be considered a slightly ironic twist would go on to appear on the cover of The Beatles album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", this despite Liston's refusing to meet with them when they came to America while he was the champ. Liston actually claiming The Beatles were "punks" which was in contrast to Cassius Clay (later Mohamed Ali), who not only meet The Beatles but had photos taken with them. This happening despite neither the Beatles fully knowing who Ali was nor Ali knowing who the Beatles were. Ali in fact would go on to ask someone after the photo session "Who were those little fagots?", which might have lead to his not being included on the cover of the "Sgt. Pepper" album. As perhaps the Beatles don't mind so much being called "punks" even if their music was miles from that sort of music but take more exception to being called by a name that refers to them as not being heterosexuals or one which the British use for cigarettes.

Liston died in 1971 but like with his date of birth the exact date of his death is also not known as his body was found after he had been dead for at least a few days. The victim of a so called "heroin overdose" though in my opinion I think it is easier to find someone who would believe the world is flat then somebody who could believe Liston overdosed on drugs given the following facts.

1) Liston though courageous in the ring was terrified of needless being stuck in him to the point of refusing to go on a tour of Europe which could have made him a lot of money, simply because he had to be given shots. Injections which he was too afraid to get even from a doctor which makes one think were he would have found the courage to inject himself.

2) Bags of heroin were found near Liston's body however drug paraphernalia was not apart from a syringe, which would not have been enough for anybody to inject him or herself with. This because other devices are required such as an appendage to wrap the arm and a spoon to cook the heroin in.

3) Liston, did however have needle marks which were from an injection but these were confirmed by medical records to have been given to him by a recent hospital stay due to having been in an car crash a few days before he supposedly took the heroin that killed him.

4) An autopsy of Liston's body found no traces of heroin, what so ever! It is this factor that should convince anybody that Liston could not have possibly died of a heroin overdose. This reminding me of a woman who tried to sue McDonald's, on the grounds that she almost chocked on a bone, only to find out that the Fish Mac does not contain any fish what so ever. This due to its being made of products that do not include fish but more or less taste like fish. Liston however had traces of morphine and codeine in his body but not in an amount that would have made them deadly.

One might say with all this evidence how could any person, with some degree of intelligence claim that Liston died of a heroin overdose? Yet, despite all the above mentioned factors the police listed Liston's cause of death as a heroin overdose which as we can plainly see was probably a cover up for a murder.

It is with the aim of proving a point which I have already made in another article (Not Always Finding The Truth Or Facts In American History) that I wrote this one and that being that it is not always wise to believe the truth we are told for it might turn out that what is presented to us as such is in fact something else. With regards to "Sonny" Liston I must say when I heard him speak on the ESPN program on his life, he did not give the impression of being stupid or anything of the sort or even inarticulate. On the contrary he seemed friendly and even modest despite being world champion at the time when the interview took place. Liston's perhaps were simple words but what he said made sense and his sentences were by no means incoherent but rather of a man of ideas.

Liston, however is remembered for many things such as being a quitter, after his first fight with Ali though he once fought with a broken jaw. He is also remembered for being a bully though this he only was in the ring, unlike other boxers like Tyson who once hit another boxer in the eye in barroom brawl and later raped a woman or was convicted of it or Monson (Argentina) who threw his wife out a ten floor window. Liston, when looking back was an aggressive boxer but not a dirty one like GoBota from Poland who would stoop to hitting below the belt. Of course Liston is also remembered for dying of a heroin overdose which given the now known facts is impossible that such could have been the case. I however in spite of not being a boxing or Liston fan for that matter, feel Liston deserves better then to be remembered for the above mentioned. This because Liston to a certain extent like Obama, (Current President elect of the USA) was somebody who overcame many obstacles to become a world champion in boxing in a time when life in America was truly difficult for blacks or African-Americans.



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