His father was an abusive alcoholic, and Liston eventually left the house during his teens. He never shied away from street fights. At the age of 13, he ran away to St. Louis, following his mother who had left earlier. in Sand Slough, Arkansas, USA , United States, Died on December 30, 1970 Perhaps no keener insight can be gained from those early years, though, than from what Sonny himself was quoted as saying: "The only thing my old man ever gave me was a whipping.". He defeated heavyweight contenders Roy Harris, Zora Folley, Eddie Machen, Cleveland Williams, Mike DeJohn, Henry Clark, and Chuck Wepner. The most noticeable being his win over Ed Sanders. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Reverend Stevens was both the prisons chaplain and sports director. Aligning himself with the Devil. Two Catholic priests who served as chaplains, Father Edward Schlattmann and Father Alois Stevens, helped to direct Liston toward the controlled violence of the ring. Tosches' explanation, of course, is that Liston was again dutifully following orders given by the mob. Womanizing. Apart from his demeanor, Liston was a charming man with a captivating smile. From the start, Liston was a devastating puncher. If there is a flaw in Tosches' book, it's that the author seems bent on carrying the theme of Liston and the mob beyond its logical parameters. Get in on the latest boxing conversations in our Forum and comment on articles. New York: Skyhorse, 2011. His wife found his lifeless body in their home on January 5, 1971. Sonny Liston is a 4 year old colt and has raced in 2022. Steen, Rob. In 1950, Liston was arrested at his apartment at 1006 O'Fallon Street for robbing the Unique Cafe on 1502 Market Street in St. Louis for 37 dollars. By all accounts, Liston had a woeful childhood. He knocked out the reigning world champion in the first round. After the court case, he was sentenced to a five-year jail term in the Missouri State Prison. Liston was the youngest heavyweight boxing champion to die (age 38). WebAnswer (1 of 2): At anytime in their careers Clay / Ali would have been too fast and elusive for Sonny. contient des milliers de photos et GeneaStars. The son of tenant farmer Tobey Liston and his second wife, Helen, Liston was the 24th of his fathers 25 children. Lets check, How Rich is Sonny Liston in 2020-2022? Or it would be history, if boxing historians would stop sweeping the legacy of Sonny Liston under the ring canvas. TM & 2023 BoxingScene.All Rights Reserved. Little Rock, AR. 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. Jack Dempsey and Roberto Duran are two cases in point. Sanders was the reigning Olympic heavyweight champion. Though it appeared that Liston had barely been grazed by Clay's right fist, the boxer went down just one minute and 45 seconds into the first round. Unfortunately, the same dark forces that forged Liston's destructiveness in the ring also fueled a distrust for the police and a bent toward criminal activity that would lead to two stints in the Missouri state prison system. The cover was one of the most famous images of the early 1960s, as Liston embodied the fears of White America during the days when Southern police officials had attacked the burgeoning civil rights movement with violence, a violence white Americans feared might be returned onto them. In his next fight he bounced back to TKO Chuck Wepner shortly before his mysterious death in 1970. He climbed back into the ring on June 29, 1970, registering a 10th-round technical knockout against Bayonne Bleeder Chuck Wepner. He quickly learned how to box and within three years was fighting on the amateur circuit. Soon caught (his crimes were inept, spur-of-the-moment, strong arm jobs) and charged with first-degree robbery and larceny, he was sentenced in 1950 to five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary. Sonny Liston was introduced to boxing while serving time in a Missouri State Penitentiary. There, he committed various muggings and robberies. Joe Louis rated Liston's jab one of the best in boxing history. All Rights Reserved. gnalogique Dowling avec plus d'un demi-million de parents, His parents were peasant farmers who grew cotton in the south. After winning most of his matches by knockout, he turned pro in 1951. He was one of many children one account lists 22 siblings and half-siblings. Some believed that the fight was fixed as reported in later biographical works likeThe Devil and Sonny Liston(2000)by Nick Tosches. When Sonny KO'd Floyd Patterson in 1962 for The World Heavyweight Championship,he became the only challenger to win that title by a first round KO. Give a donation in someones name to mark a special occasion, honor a friend or colleague or remember a beloved family member. Liston didn't find gainful employment in St. Louis. Robert B. Cochran WebSonny Liston is 6 feet 0 inches tall. In 1996 when Mike Tyson KO'd Bruce Seldon in one round for the WBA Heavyweight Championship, Tyson had won the WBC Heavyweight Championship six months earlier and was seeking to unify the title. His dad was an abusive alcoholic and at the age of 13, Sonny left to live with his aunt in Sonny Liston Wife According to our records, Sonny Liston married to Geraldine Seithel. He was sired by Lawman out of the Galileo mare Stars In Your Eyes. First heavyweight title challenger to earn a purse of $1,000,000. . Scroll below and check our most recent updates about Sonny Liston Net Worth, Salary, Biography, Age, Sonny Liston was born on May 8, 1932 in Sand Slough, AR. Sonny Liston: His Life, Strife, and the Phantom Punch. His time at the summit was brief. But there is another side. He was one of many childrenone account lists twenty-two siblings and half-siblings. Even as a grown up, the physical scars were still visible. He quickly destroyed all the leading heavyweight contenders--Roy Harris, Zora Folley, Cleveland Williams--to earn a title shot against Floyd Patterson. Very little is known about his birth and his He compiled a career record of Sand Slough, Arkansas, United States of America, Sonny Liston is still regarded as the best heavyweight boxer with a taste of violence. In a short amount of time, he rose to prominence as a contender in the heavyweight division. Major children and living persons must directly contact the. Instead, he and some friends took to robbing people on the street and robbing gas stations with a loaded pistol. He has ranked on the list of those famous people who were born on May 8, 1932. 1932-1970 Sonny Liston was the heavyweight boxing champion from 1962 to 1964. Liston is another. In 1950, he was arrested by the police. When Liston died, he was rated 7th in the world heavyweight rankings by Ring Magazine. He organized a criminal gang that robbed and mugged locals. However, his career was marred by criminal activity and, later, accusations of mob connections and throwing fights, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Served time in prison for robbery and later for assaulting a police officer. Basically, for a guy like Liston, it meant that you either dealt with them, or you didn't deal at all. Family (1) Spouse Sonny Liston went from boxing champion and national anti-hero to a Las Vegas thug who drove around in a pink Cadillac and sold drugs. Liston, who posted a career record of 50 wins and 4 losses with 39 knockouts, reveled in this role of the fighter America loved to hate. 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Helen Liston 4 among heavyweights, on Dec. 4, 1961. Paroled in 1952, Liston quickly captured the local Golden Gloves championship. Nine years of steady fighting later, and following additional scrapes with the law (fourteen arrests between 1953 and 1958 and a conviction in 1956 for assaulting a police officer), Liston finally fought Floyd Patterson for the Heavyweight Championship. Much of what Tosches gleans about Liston's youth stem from interviews with people who lived on the Morledge Plantation in the 1930s and from Sonny's older half-brother E.B. Time magazine photograph of Ali standing over Liston, taunting him, is one of the most popularly published in boxing. Sonny never really had a Prime. Boxer Charles L. "Sonny" Liston was born in St. Francis County, Arkansas on May 8, 1932. WebPatterson defended against Liston in Comiskey Park, Chicago, on September 25, 1962, and the rest is history. Dowling | His ring style was the essence of simplicity; he displayed little finesse but much raw power, especially in his left hand. He was still a fringe contender at the age of 40 or so when he died under mysterious circumstances in December of 1970 at his house in Las Vegas. In September of 1953, he knocked out Don "Toro" Smith in two rounds in St. Louis, setting in motion a career which would span 17 years and bring Sonny to the pinnacle of success in his sport. WebListon retired on his stool citing an injured shoulder; After this fight Cassius Clay changed his name to Cassius X and then to Muhammad Ali; 1964 Ring Magazine Fight of the Year. Remembering Just Fontaine and His World Cup Record, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, Name: Sonny Liston, Birth Year: 1932, Birth date: May 8, 1932, Birth State: Arkansas, Birth City: St Francis County, Birth Country: United States. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Sonny Liston was born on May 8, probably 1932, to Tobe and Helen (Baskin) Liston, African-American sharecroppersin rural St. Francis County. The continual conflicts with the police. For additional information: Read our Privacy Policy. Sonny had to put the proper face forward to the public. His mother believed he was born in January, 1928, but Liston would later claim his birth date to be May 8, 1932. General Melvin Krulewitch, chairman of the New York Boxing Commission in the 1950s, refused to issue Liston a license to fight in New York because he was guilty of associating with "questionable" characters. For those interested in knowing more about the life and times of one of the most enigmatic and troubled heavyweight champs, the book "The Devil and Sonny Liston," by Nick Tosches (Copyright 2000, published by Little, Brown and Company), is a wealth of knowledge. The author begins appropriately at the beginning with his subject, providing more comprehensive information about Sonny's childhood than probably even Sonny himself knew. During the years that Liston was champ, the mob was in retreat. Trivia He was convicted of robbery and larceny. He died circa December 30, 1970, in Las Vegas, Nevada. London: Aurum Press, 2008. He compiled a career record of 50-4, competing against such boxing legends as Muhammad Ali and Floyd Patterson. Relationship with Timothy Michael Dowling (Sosa/Ahnentafel #1), Relationship with Geraldine Clark (spouse), Browse using this individual as Sosa/Ahnentafel #1, , born in1872 - Choctaw Co., MS, deceased, , born inApril1873 - Montgomery Co., MS, deceased, Sources: Dowling Family Tree - Tim Dowling - rootsweb, 2001-2015 - - electronic - I435533, Marriage (with Geraldine Clark) - St. Louis, MO, List of all individuals in the family tree, {{ 'gw_downgraded_access_back_to_max'|translate }}, Born 8May1932 - Sand Lough, St. Francis Co., AR, Deceased 30December1970 - Las Vegas, Clark Co., NV, He became a professional fighter in 1953. The Devil and Sonny Liston. Liston went down in the first round, felled by a punch few saw. Auspiciously, the massive man is known as The Bear then won his first nine fights before dropping an eight-round decision to Marty Marshall. WebHalf-siblings. Won his last fight on June 29, 1970, at the Jersey City Armory, stopping. Tosches insists that films of Liston losing to Clay reveal that Liston was missing punches intentionally. In 1957, he was sentenced to nine months in the St. Louis workhouse for assaulting a police officer. Along with his many siblings, Liston grew up However, his career was marred by criminal activity and, later, accusations of mob connections and throwing fights. As Toches brings out, Liston's brooding temperament can be explained in part by his insecurity. Additional support provided by the Arkansas Community Foundation. Gambling. In June of the following year, Liston won the rematch with another knockout. He had earned the title shot with an impressive string of 195960 victories over top contenders Cleveland Williams, Nino Valdes, Roy Harris, Zora Folley, and Eddie Machen (all knockouts except for Machen). | He became a professional fighter in 1953. Foes like the murderous-punching Cleveland Williams, Mike DeJohn and Nino Valdez succumbed to Liston's heavy fists. William Friedkin was intended to direct his biopic "Night Train" with Ving Rhames as Sonny Liston. Before his sentencing, Liston had been arrested more than twenty times. If you can, provide 1-2 sources of information backing up this correction. He told them that he had no education, couldn't write and worked as a child to help feed his 24 siblings. Full body measurements, dress & shoe size will be updated soon. His opponent abandoned the match midway. Liston celebrated the speedy reinstatement of his license with an impressive 1-round knockout of German baker Albert Westphal, who was ranked No. 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. Sonny Liston had a controversial boxing career, winning 54 of 58 bouts from 1953 to 1970. Paroled in 1952, Liston quickly captured the local Golden Gloves championship. Sonny Liston prefers not to tell the details of marital status & divorce. He was one of many At the age of thirteen, he ran away to St. Louis, Missouri, following his mother, who had left earlier. His trademark shirt during his illegal raids was yellow. . View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. Served 7 months in jail for beating up a police officer over a parking ticket in St. Louis in the mid-1950s. Armed robbery. He became a professional fighter in 1953. Tired of being exploited as a manual laborer, Sonny Liston turned to crime. Before Fame He sold pecans from his brother-in-law's tree in order to reunite with his mother and his siblings. Biography, Net Worth, Gossips, Salary, News & Much More. For all his womanizing, Liston had a respect for his wife Geraldine and was faithful to her in his own way. Family The son of tenant farmer Tobey Liston and his second wife, Helen, Liston was the 24th of his fathers 25 children. In 1962, Liston went officially from being the poverty-stricken, illiterate child of an abusive tenant farmer in Arkansas to being the heavyweight champion of the whole world. Pressure resulting from appearing before the committee, and from the diatribes of Patterson's manager Cus D'Amato, caused Liston to buy out the contract of his manager, Pep Barone, who was considered to be an undesirable, and name old-time Philadelphia political hack George Katz as his manager. Charles "Sonny" Liston's life and death began and ended in the same manner: as a mystery. 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. In St. Louis, he quickly encountered problems with the local police. He was thirty-eight years. He got little good press, even from sports columnists, and was routinely subjected to overtly racist slurs in print: in 1964, Look ran a story titled Sonny Liston: King of the Beasts. Liston moved to Las Vegas in 1966 and was found dead there on January 5, 1971, when his wife returned to their Las Vegas home from a Christmas visit with her mother. Owing to his bold physique and strict upbringing, Liston loved training. (There is some speculation about his year of birth, but most sources state sometime from 1929 to 1932.) James Ellroy portrayed Sonny Liston as a fight loser, a heroin addict, a black racist, and a Mafia jawbreaker in his novel "The Cold Six Thousand.". Primary Income source Boxer (profession). Less than a year later, on February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach, Florida, a heavily favored Liston lost his title to upstart Cassius Clay (soon to be Muhammad Ali) when he refused to answer the bell for the seventh round, claiming a shoulder injury. Because of this alliance, which was public knowledge, Liston was called before the committee investigating organized crime that had been established by Tennessee Democratic Senator Estes Kefauver. The subsequent rematch with Clay on May 25, 1965, included the infamous "phantom punch." Before he was 18, Liston was convicted of six muggings. During his two-plus years in the state penitentiary, Liston attained a new nickname, "Sonny," and a new vocation, boxing. Lets check, How Rich is Sonny Liston in 2019-2020? According to Wikipedia, Forbes, IMDb & Various Online resources, famous Boxer Sonny Listons net worth is $82 Million before He died. He earned the money being a professional Boxer. He is from AR. {{ mediasCtrl.getTitle(media, true) }} Please try again. Sonny, who was known by his proper name Charles while growing up, rarely attended school and never learned to read or write, a fact that haunted him as an adult and fed a lifelong problem with insecurity. His mother worked several jobs to support her children. Check back often as we will continue to update this page with new relationship details. The match was held in Miami Baech, Florida. To give back to society, he supported many children. Let's check, How Rich is Ivn P, Mario Daser estimated Net Worth, Biography, Age, Height, Dating, Relationship Records, Salary, Income, Cars, Lifestyles & many more details have been updated below. WebParents and Siblings Charles L. "Sonny" Liston 19321970 Geraldine Chamber 19252005 Spouse and Children Charles L. "Sonny" Liston Male19321970 Male