He later became a popular president of the United States. [73] The bout was stopped after the ninth round due to cuts over both of Wepner's eyes. Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (c.1930 December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. Referee Jersey Joe Walcott, a former world heavyweight champion, had a hard time getting Ali to go to a neutral corner. They then started to try to outdo each other by getting other musicians and celebrities to help promote their drinks. Roy Campanella was the all-star catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. Marlon Brando became a top movie actor when he received an Academy Award nomination for the role ofStanley Kowalskiin the 1951 film adaptation ofTennessee Williams' playA Streetcar Named Desire. He said they found Liston lying on his bed with a needle sticking out of his arm. The United States landed the first man on the moon. Liston became the world heavyweight champion after knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round. He was also highly personable and popular. The torn tendon had bled down into the mass of the biceps, swelling and numbing the arm. "He would do everything to avoid taking shots." [58] Despite Liston carrying an injury and being undertrained, Clay stated in 1975 that the first fight with Liston was the toughest of his career. Liston also appears in the sequel, Blood's a Rover. In April of 1961, newly-elected President John F. Kennedy allowed the attack on Cuba. Media Analysis of the Cold War Section: Score: _____/5 Directions: Analyze the following media pieces relating to the Cold War and . Liston knocked out Hermann Schreibauer of West Germany at 2:16 of the first round. Since the hearings were broadcast on national television, millions realized that these interrogations were not right. The group was comprised of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Governor Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School to keep the nine students from entering the school, because he believed black and whites should be segregated, despite Federal laws on integration. Pern pursued social policies aimed at empowering the working class. Have you no sense of decency, sir? She started singing and touring with the Les Brown Band at age 16 and made her first movie in 1948. Who needed that? Liston was a large, mean-looking boxer that struck fear in the hearts of his opponents. Each hired musicians to promote their drink. The fight ranks as one of the shortest heavyweight title bouts in history. And Tex Maule of Sports Illustrated wrote, "The blow had so much force it lifted Liston's left foot, upon which most of his weight was resting, well off the canvas. Sonny Liston, byname of Charles Liston, also called the Bear, (born May 8, 1932?, St. Francis county, Arkansas, U.S.died December 30, 1970, Las Vegas, Nevada), American boxer who was world heavyweight boxing champion from September 25, 1962, when he knocked out Floyd Patterson in the first round in Chicago, until February 25, 1964, when he Dennis Caputo of the Clark County Sheriff's Department was one of the first officers on the scene. Skeptics called the knockout blow "the phantom punch." This brought outrage from most of the white public. [66], Former champions Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Floyd Patterson and Gene Tunney, as well as contender George Chuvalo all declared they considered the fight to be a fake. 9, 1 March 2018, p. 8, New York Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions, "Photographic image of 'Tale of the Tape', "Sonny Liston vs. Floyd Patterson (Tale of the tape)", "From THE RING: The greatest heavyweight of all time", "25 Greatest Fighters of All Time (Heavyweight)", "ESPN Classic - Liston was trouble in and out of ring", "Jacob's Beach by Kevin Mitchell: review", "Hard Times, Good Times: Charles "Sonny" Liston - Boxing.com", "Dismayed D'Amato Is Expecting To Get Back Manager's License", "Esquire covers commemorate boxing's prime", "Cassius Clay-Sonny Liston I: 50 Years Later", "Sonny Liston vs. Cassius Clay (1st meeting) - BoxRec", "1964 Clay vs. Liston Judges' Scorecards from Miami Beach Bout. | Lot #80073 | Heritage Auctions", "Muhammad Ali's Toughest Fight Wasn't Against Joe Frazier", "Fifty Years Later: The Mystery of Muhammad Ali's 'Phantom Punch', "I WAS THERE: George Chuvalo Watches Sonny Liston Take a Dive - YouTube", "Fifty Years Later: The Mystery of Muhammad Ali's 'Phantom Punch' | Boxing News", "Daytona Beach Morning Journal - Google News Archive Search", "Sonny Liston the most talented Heavyweight in history", "George Foreman Discusses Friendship With Sonny Liston", "Sonny Liston: Say Goodnight to the Bad Guy Boxing News", "LOTIERZO'S LOWDOWN Sonny Liston: The Most Underrated Heavyweight Champ In History", "The Most Feared Fighter in Boxing History: Charles 'Sonny' Liston remembered", "Liston KO'd Popular Patterson for Title", "O Unlucky Man: Fortune never smiled on Sonny Liston", "Sonny Liston Meets the Press - Boxing.com", "Like Fights Against Ali, Liston Death a Mystery", "December 30, 1970: Mysterious Death of Sonny Liston", "19 YEARS LATER: Liston Death Remains Mystery to His Friends". Hostages were taken at the US embassy in Tehran and finally released 444 days later. Writer Jack McKinney said, "I watched Sonny. Filmed documentaries of the event circulated in Commonwealth countries for a long time after the event and every school child was taken to organized cinema screenings in school time. She was married to baseball hero Joe Dimaggio and later author Arthur Miller. People joked that the car looked like it was going backwards. Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it was "no phantom punch." The second round saw Liston continue to pursue Clay. Then he shot one of the youths again, as he lay on the floor, severing the spinal cord and paralyzing him. Wepner, who also fought George Foreman and Muhammad Ali, said after his career was over that Liston was the hardest puncher he faced. Liston knocked out Patterson in the first round, gaining the title of World Heavyweight Champion. Marshals enforcing the rules to integrate the school. The Murder of Sonny Liston: A Story of Fame, Heroin, Boxing & Las Vegas. The styling consisted of a torpedo front end and read window. Armed Cuban exiles sailed from Florida and landed at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. It's because they think it's a fix, that the mob's somehow involves. But others contend he just was not the same Liston. Liston was a professional boxer. He rounded out the year by stopping Nino Valdez and Willi Besmanoff. 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. Charles de Gaulle returned to power as the leader of France. He was known for wearing sequined tuxedos and having a candelabrum on his piano. Nixon repeated the show's running gag-line, "Sock it to me" a number of times. [64] Strict interpretation of the knockdown/count rule states it is the referee's count and not the timekeeper's that is the official count. Rogin wrote. Sonny Liston 215 lbs beat Floyd Patterson 194 lbs by KO at 2:10 in round 1 of 15Date: 1963-07-22Location: Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, USAReferee: H. Liston assaulted the officer, breaking his knee and gashing his face. James Dean was a movie star who became a symbol of young people for his role in the movie Rebel Without a Cause. "[69] The fact that Liston did not complain about the clear breach of boxing rules (being declared knocked out without a count) and Ali's obvious state of bewilderment, shouting at Liston "Nobody will believe this" and asking his handlers "Did I hit him? Famous author Ernest Hemingway committed suicide. What are you doing? and he was pointing at some little bandage over the needle mark in his arm. Asked by a young white reporter why he was not fighting for freedom in the South, Liston deadpanned, "I ain't got no dog-proof ass. Patterson died well after Liston from Alzheimers disease on May 11th, 2006. ", Liston appeared on the December 1963 cover of Esquire magazine (cover photograph by Carl Fischer) "the last man on earth America wanted to see coming down its chimney".[106]. Sept. 25, 1962 - With an arrest record as long as his list of knockout victims, Sonny Liston was . President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. The book is quite tame according to today's standards. [27][28], Liston's streak of nine straight knockout victories ended when he won a unanimous twelve-round decision against Eddie Machen on September 7, 1960. Comiskey Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States.Sonny Liston challenges F. At about 30 seconds into the round he hit Liston with several combinations, causing a bruise under Liston's right eye and a cut under his left, which eventually required eight stitches to close. He was strongly anti-American and anti-British, confiscating much of the British and American-owned assets in Argentina. He told McCarthy, "Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. On April 4, 1954, while conducting a radio broadcast of the NBC Symphony at Carnegie Hall in New York, Toscanini suffered a memory lapse during the performance. [30], Liston became the No. The hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) was developed under the guidance of Dr. Edward Teller. . Georgy Malenkov was a Soviet politician and Communist Party leader, and a close collaborator of Joseph Stalin. Patterson's fatal mistake was that he "did not punch enough and frequently tried to clinch with Liston. [15] In 1946, Helen Baskin, along with some of her children, moved to St. Louis to seek factory work. The hearings soon ending and McCarthy was left in disfavor. [88] On returning home from a two-week trip, Geraldine had smelled a foul odor emanating from the main bedroom and on entering saw him slumped up against the bed, a broken foot bench on the floor. Nixon tried to cover up the fact and soon he forced to resign from office because of that cover up. JFK blown away. . during the making of the song. The Soviet Union made the mistake of walking out on the U.N. vote, allowing the measure to pass. She also was rumored to have relationships with President John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, as well as mafia boss Joe Gianconna. After he piloted the first American manned orbital mission aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft, he was considered and American hero and given a tickertape parade. History. [67] Some felt the knockdown was real but the knockout was fake. Philadelphia wanted nothing to do with him. Singer Chubby Checker came out with the song The Twist, which started a national dance sensation. Banker said, "Sheriff [Ralph] Lamb told me, 'Tell your pal Sonny to stay away from the West Side because we're going to bust the drug dealers.'" Sputnik was the name of the first orbiting satellite sent into space by the USSR. I didn't want anything to do with him. The opening round was fought an extra eight seconds, since both fighters and referee Barney Felix apparently did not hear the bell. ", During an era when white journalists still described black athletes in stereotypes, Liston had long been a target of racially charged slurs; he was called a "gorilla" and "a jungle beast" in print. His fists measured 15 inches (38cm) around, the largest of any heavyweight champion. 1963. John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States in 1960. He also took his gun. British rock group the Beatles took over the music scene, with numerous hit records on the Top-40 charts. His mechanic rode with him. "[35] However, in 1963 in the aftermath of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Liston broke off a European boxing exhibition tour to return home and was quoted as saying he was "ashamed to be in America. Special to ESPN.com. [22], Early in his career, Liston faced capable opponents. Goetz escaped but later turned himself in. Several of his staff members were sent to prison as a result of the affair. Their long hair stylesor "Beatle haircuts"initiated the style among your people the world wiide. He later went on to be nicknamed "The King" as the most popular singer ever. It was a good punch, but I didn't think I hit him so hard that he couldn't have gotten up. Richard Nixon was a member of the House of Representatives from California when he became involved in the trial of Alger Hiss, who was accused of being a Communist and a spy. They later moved to Los Angeles. "[18] The only backers willing to put up the necessary money for him to turn professional were close to underworld figures, and Liston supplemented his income by working for racketeers as an intimidator-enforcer. With Clay quickly ducking his head left, right or away, Liston's leading left jabs largely failed to land. Alois Stevens, suggested to Liston that he try boxing, and his obvious aptitude, along with an endorsement from Stevens, who was also a priest, aided Liston in getting an early parole. Sep. 25, 1962. The grave's marker-plate bears the dedication: "A Man. He claimed he was innocent of killing Kennedy and was being set up as a patsy. We cooked up that shoulder thing on the spot. After repeated overnight detention by the St. Louis police and a thinly veiled threat to his life, Liston left for Philadelphia. ", Ali clearly did not think he knocked Liston out. U.S. President Eisenhower ordered U.S. Marines into Lebanon at the request of Lebanese President Chamoun to help stop riots that were occurring in the country. Liston KO'd popular Patterson for title. [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. Unfortunately for Martin, however, his career ended after that fight due to a detached retina he suffered during the bout. Liston's noticeably more muscular left arm, crushing left jab and powerful left hook lent credence to the widely held belief that he was left-handed, although he fought in an orthodox stance. He also went with a new manager in 1958: Joseph "Pep" Barone, who was a front man for mobsters Frankie Carbo and Frank "Blinky" Palermo. His presidency, from August 1948 to April 1960, remains controversial, affected by Cold War tensions on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere. Although Liston was widely regarded as unbeatable, he lost the title in 1964 to Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay), who entered as a 71 underdog. Nelson and Winthrop Rockefeller were the only brothers in U.S. history to serve as governors at the same time until the late 1990s when George W. Bush and Jeb Bush became governors or their states. However, there were again rumors of alcohol abuse in training. Liston Beats Patterson (1962) At 2:06 of round number one, boxing's worst nightmare became a reality. Also, Liston is ranked 15th out of 100 as one of the greatest punchers of all time. Patterson wanted a chance to redeem himself, so they met again on July 22, 1963, in Las Vegas. And he does not like to be hit in the gut." When Liston managed to get clear, McCarter says, he timed the jab and beat Sonny to the punch. [20], Liston signed a contract in September 1953, proclaiming: "Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do. Larry Merchant, then a writer with the Philadelphia Daily News, wrote: "A celebration for Philadelphia's first heavyweight champ is now in order. Ali initially stood over his fallen opponent, gesturing and yelling at him, "Get up and fight, sucker!" blown away, what else do I have to say? So I went down. He was captured hiding in a movie theatre. He dropped his "slave name" and changed his name to Malcolm X. He was also mentioned in the song Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel. The Wheel of Fortune TV show became a favorite. Every punch McCarter threw was a counter to Sonny's lead. [12], Liston never complained about prison, saying he was guaranteed three meals every day. When Walcott got back to Liston and looked at the knockdown timekeeper, Francis McDonough, to pick up the count, Liston had fallen back on the canvas. (Thanks to Jim Cable of New Zealand for his input). His real name was Malcolm Little, and he was the son of a lay Baptist minister. But according to Sonny's trainer, Johnny Tocco, once there, his path led to prison: In his 1965 rematch with Ali, Liston suffered an unexpected first-round knockout that led to unresolved suspicions of a fix. [105], Singer/Songwriter Rod Picott wrote and recorded a song titled "Sonny Liston" for his 2022 album "Paper Hearts and Broken Arrows. The Ring magazine ranks Liston as the tenth greatest heavyweight of all time,[4] while boxing writer Herb Goldman ranked him second and Richard O'Brien, Senior Editor of Sports Illustrated, placed him third. Liston is not a notably swift and flashy hitter, but that final left hook crashed into Patterson's cheek like a diesel rig going downhill, no brakes. The French lose control over Indo-Chinanow known as Vietnamwith the fall of the city Dien Bien Phu. 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 champion. He was called "Elvis the Pelvis" because of the way he shook his hips while dancing. Women adored Liberace, because of his sweet smile and wavy hair. In the same stadium where Joe Louis forty years before washed clean the sins of Jack Johnson, Sonny Liston rekindled the flame of hatred that had burned so brightly in opposition to Jack Johnson that a quarter century passed before a black was . Muhammad Ali (at the time a rising contender named Cassius Clay), however, predicted a knockout by Liston in the first five rounds. The film starred Ving Rhames as Liston and was produced by Rhames, Hassain Zaidi and Marek Posival. "Sonnyboyliston | Race Record & Form | Racing Post", "Moonfire (1972), a film by Michael Parkhurst -Theiapolis", NYSAC World Heavyweight Champion - BoxRec, Lyrics to a song about Liston by Mark Knopfler, FBI Records: The Vault - Charles Sonny Liston, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sonny_Liston&oldid=1150657213, International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees, 20th-century African-American sportspeople, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2016, Pages with login required references or sources, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Hackman, Timothy. Tocco left the house before the police did. "[98], Some claim Liston was murdered. In the 2001 film Ali, Liston was portrayed by former WBO Heavyweight Champion Michael Bentt. The novelty song The Ballad of Davy Crockett became the number-one song in 1955. "He told me in the strictest confidence, but it was like he wanted to get it off his chest." After Britain and the USA withdrew their financial support for the Egyptian Aswan dam project, General Nasser nationalized the important Suez Canal. Former movie actor Ronald Reagan became President of the United States. His career was cut short by a paralyzing car accident. He was still a world-ranked boxer when he died under mysterious circumstances in 1970. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space as a member of the Space Shuttle crew in 1983. Moving toward Communism, he alienated the United States. [45][46] A clearly angered Liston rallied at the end of the round when Clay seemed tired, delivering punishing body shots. to their future fights against Muhammad Ali and Liston's tragic end. Learn more about your . He died in 1955. So I get him down, I get the sponge and I pour the water into his eyes trying to cleanse whatever's there, but before I did that I put my pinkie in his eye and I put it into my eye. When caught in January 1950, Liston gave his age as 20, while the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported that he was 22. You could feel the deflation, see the look of hurt in his eyes. I know!" The countries also exchanged prisoners-of-war as a result of the Panmunjom negotiations. That got him killed. Jack Kerouac was the author of the best-selling book On the Road, which epitomized the Beat Generation of the late 1940s and early 1950s. He said that Liston was not quick with his hand or footwork, that he relied too much on his ability to take a punch, and that he could be vulnerable to an opponent with more hand speed. 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. Boris Pasternak was a Russian poet and writer. In 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea, starting the Korean War. Nixon presented evidence that help prove Hiss guilty in 1950. Liston vs Patterson is a boxing match to remember. Tocco called the police, and they broke into the house. Liston won his final fight, a tough but one-sided match against future world title challenger Chuck Wepner in June 1970. Apparently, three of Malcolm's uncles and his father were killed by white men. ", Still, some found it hard to believe that the punch could have floored a man like Liston. The ending of the fight remains one of the most controversial in boxing history. Because everyone hates Sonny Liston. Color was introduced in 1951, but it was years later until color television became universally popular. Panmunjom, Korea is where negotiations between the United Nationsled by the United Statesand the Communist North Koreans to end the Korean War took place. Liston won 14 consecutive bouts, 13 by knockout, before fighting third-ranked Leotis Martin, previously beaten by Clark, in December 1969. Controversy followed with claims that Liston had been drinking heavily the night before the fight and had entered the bout with a lame shoulder. The 1962 movie Lawrence of Arabia starring Peter O'Toole won the Academy Awards. Nikita Khrushchev emerged as a leader in the Soviet Union after the death of dictator Josef Stalin. The official time of the stoppage was announced as 1:00 into the first round, which was wrong. Former Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann was arrested in Argentina and brought to Israel, where he was convicted of war crimes and executed. Signature Bout. 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. He was affectionately known as "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper" until he retired in 1952. He was best known for his work chairing the Senate Committee on Government Operations, which focused on suspected communists in the government. [84], Liston married Geraldine Chambers in St. Louis, Missouri, on September 3, 1957. [39] Leading up to the fight, Liston was an 85 betting favorite, although many picked Patterson to win. In June 1989, thousands of protesters marched in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. On May 7, backers of the rematch ended the court battle by pulling the fight out of Boston. 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."

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