Sonny Liston biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Boxer. Born May 8, 1932 (there is some uncertainty about his year of birth-sources range mostly from 1929 to 1932), in St Francis County, Arkansas. The son of tenant farmer Tobey Liston and his second wife, Helen, Liston was the 24th of his father's 25 children. Along with his many siblings, Liston grew up working in the local cotton fields. His father was an abusive alcoholic, and Liston left at age 13 to live with an aunt in St. Louis, Missouri.

In St. Louis, Liston quickly encountered problems with the local police. At the age of 16 (over six feet tall and weighing 200 pounds), Liston became a menacing presence in his neighborhood, occasionally working as a strike-breaking labor goon. He was arrested more than 20 times. In 1950, he was convicted of two counts of larceny and two counts of first-degree robbery; he spent more than two years in the Missouri State penitentiary in Jefferson City. While Liston was incarcerated, prison athletic director Father Alois Stevens introduced him to the sport of boxing.

Boxing Success

Paroled in 1952, Liston quickly captured the local Golden Gloves championship. He became a professional fighter on September 2, 1953, when he knocked out Don Smith in a single round in St. Louis. Auspiciously, the massive man known as "The Bear" then won his first nine fights before dropping an eight-round decision to Marty Marshall. Liston's career was interrupted for nine months beginning in December 1956, when he was sent to the St. Louis workhouse for assaulting a policeman and stealing the officer's gun. After completing his term, Liston relocated to Philadelphia, where his career quickly flourished again.

Liston won 26 consecutive bouts and moved inexorably toward the heavyweight championship. Known for his scowling at opponents, he combined an intimidating ring presence with awesome power. His heavyweight-title-winning victory on September 25, 1962 was indicative of his powerful style. After a mere two minutes, he knocked out Floyd Patterson, which marked the first time in history that a reigning heavyweight champion was counted out in the first round. As the top fighter in the world, Liston became an easy target for sports columnists who remarked frequently on not only his menacing demeanor and vicious punching power but also his criminal background. Liston, who posted a career record of 50 wins to four losses with 39 knockouts, reveled in this role of the fighter America loved to hate.

Defeat to Cassius Clay

Liston scored another knockout in a rematch with Patterson, but his 17-month reign as heavyweight champion ended at the hands of a brash fighter named Cassius Clay. Liston, who was viewed as nearly invincible before the fight, was unable to answer the bell for the seventh round, and Clay (soon to take the name of Muhammad Ali) became champion on February 25, 1964. The subsequent rematch with Clay on May 25, 1965 included the infamous "Phantom Punch." Although it appeared that Liston had barely been grazed by a Clay right hand, Sonny went down after one minute, 45 seconds of the first round and never got up.

Comeback

In 1966, following the Clay defeat, Liston began a comeback. He won 11 consecutive fights by knockout through 1968 and added three more wins in 1969 before losing a brutal bout to Leotis Martin. He climbed back in the ring against the "Bayonne Bleeder" Chuck Wepner, and registered a tenth-round technical knockout on June 29, 1970.

After being unable to reach Liston for 12 days, his wife Geraldine returned to their Nevada home on January 5, 1971, at which time discovered Liston's dead body. The official cause of death was lung congestion and heart failure, although Liston had fresh needle marks on his arm and police discovered heroin and a syringe in the house. Liston was buried in Paradise Memorial Gardens in Las Vegas beneath a simple gravestone with the epitaph "A Man."

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