We all wanted him to be... at least in the future, but back in his day, no he wasn't loved, though now his story of triumph is a story of tragedy and triumph
Liston could barely write any "autobiography" let alone his own name, anything written on Liston where written by people who where at some point complete strangers to Liston like Paul Gallender and Shaun Assael.
I like this guys history, great stories, should be a film 🎥. This would make a great movie 🎥, imagine if somebody wrote a book than a film, he’s so interesting. Italian music Liston goes down. Nobody seen him of the plane of Philadelphia, that would make anyone cry. Moved to Las Vegas, great move.
Google the story about Sonny liston when he visited Scotland. He was involved with Peter Keenan a Scottish boxer and promoter. It's fascinating and shows a better side to Liston.
Sonny liston bonecrushing punching power;; invincible in primemid ( 1950 very early 1960s) muhammad ali lucky didn't face in 1960 Olympics or 1962 instead of Floyd Patterson
@@j_ko9 According to the reputable “Ring” Magazine.Sonny Liston is ranked the 10th greatest heavyweight of all time and ranked at number 9 is Mike Tyson
The most misunderstood and mistreated champ in boxing history. All he wanted was one shot in his life to be a good guy and do the right thing and they wouldn't let him have that chance. All I can say is, what would you do if you had his life? It's sad they refused to at least give him one chance in his life.
The wicked powers that be used and exploited Sonny Liston and then murdered him, after they got done with him!! Wicked demons))))!! He was only 38 years old when he lost his life!! Very convenient his wife and son were out of town when he died 🤔
Liston was a great fighter and any good boxing fab knows the truth. The fact was he was in his 40s when he fought Ali. And did not train for the 1st fight and frew the 2nd one. Liston is top 5
@@aracelyemmett3493 Is that the same "FBI" that condoned & let Whitey Bulger get away with over 20 murders from 1975-1995. I grew up in the D-St Projects in South Boston during the 60's & 70's and Whitey Bulger ruled the streets with an ironfist. He always seemed to be 1 step ahead of Law Enforcement. It wasn't until 1994, that we learned he was a "Rat" for the FBI. But i digress. Sonny Liston had injured his left shoulder in training camp by tearing a tendon & rotator-cuff and he had a gimpy left knee that prevented him from roadwork & sparring. Sonny's handlers, doctors & lawyers filed a petition for a medical postponement to the Florida Boxing Commission and it was denied. So it turned out to be a perfect storm for a 22 year old Ali who had trained hard & watched a lot of boxing films of Liston fighting. While Sonny was barely training because of his injuries. Even though Liston had won rounds 2, 4, and 5 and got the best punches in the fight, by the end of round 5, Sonny had torn his left shoulder tendon completely off the bone where it bled into the mass of his left bicep causing it to swell & become none, he fought the 6th round & he was struggling to block Ali's punches. By the end of the 6th round, Sonny couldn't lift his left arm up so he retired on his stool, beaten & a broken man. So, yes, the 1st fight was fixed because if it wasn't, the Florida Boxing Commission would've granted Sonny a medical postponement & enough time for his shoulder & knee to heal.
Sonny is very intimidating but has a great ❤ liston deserves respect fancy being arrested on Christmas day😢 maybe he does afew press ups and gets himself prepared 4what is coming viva las Vegas ❤❤❤ love you sonny (Charles) liston x
Does any1 think that ali was scared? No i dont think so this was the stat of the greatest era in boxing the 1970s was unbelievable i always respected the agility of ali
Liston was a tough customer Ali had about two inches in height over Liston , but Liston had three inches in reach over Ali the speed is what made the difference because Cleveland Williams was every bit as tall as Ali and hit even harder who Sonny had manhandled twice already Ali pulverized both of them speed was the difference and the ability to punch while moving away from an opponent is what made the difference something to see youth their reflexes were slow compared to Ali and so a boxing legend was born big mouth and all .
We don't know that for sure, if he started boxing earlier in his life and found the right trainers than that is a certainty, but, his life took several wrong turns.
Sonny was a great man and a great champion, what he endured in life he was lucky to make it to 10, in a racist society, he kicked ass the police hated him, all of boxing commentators had nothing good to say about him, all!!!, white people didn’t like him, black people loved him, because they knew he was stereotyped, not educated but tremendous specimen of a man, he never got the respect as a man only a villain an that crushed his spirit and will to live, if your not a man then what are you, and what is your life worth????, R.I.P. Sonny Liston you were a CHAMP
Even I can't approve of that. Liston had the potential to be a good figure if he followed down the righteous path. Ali's Legacy and philanthropy blustered the position and the standing of black people, he was one of the key figureheads in that era which helped the Civil Rights Movement to pass the Civil Rights Act into legislation, Ali's rhyme's arguably where created towards creating the rap music genre which became extremely influential. He's been citied creating 10,000 orphanages throughout Africa and was the one of the first major figures of the West to point the figure of world poverty on the West and blamed masochist legislation for having policies which forced children into war on the behalf of the US. Ali was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bill Clinton,The Medal of Freedom by President Obama. The Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act improved on the overall welfare of boxers lives. Ali was the ultimate credit to his race.
philly , like what in the world Sonny ever do to yall, nothing changed all these years , smell the coffee Jimmy Butler, city of so called brotherly love still not right..
I'm positive the mafia had Liston put out of his missery, they really are not going to put up with him throwing a fight, and that's exactly what that had to of been.
The mafia wouldn't put up with him throwing a fight? Where do I begin? I'll just keep it simple, since you obviously are operating on the fewest brain cells needed to function. THAT IS WHAT THEY DO.
wow I just couldn't believe Sonny Liston had no Date of birth is all unknown my favourite fighter and boxer is Muhammad Ali his birth was founded on Census records according to his mother.
So many in the comments weeping tears for Sonny: "He only wanted love & acceptance." If he'd actually wanted "acceptance" so bad, then he was his own worst enemy. Glowering, growling & scorning the press, the public, his peers, his opponents and the rest of the world, was a counterproductive way to curry favor with people. Kinda reminds me of Trump's adversarial handling of the press: Treat them like shit, and then bemoan, and puzzle over the fact that they hate you.
In Trump's case you have it backwards. The press treated him like shit from day 1 long before he took issue with the false stories and started responding by ripping many of the phonies like the CNN losers like Fredo. A liberal press created the adversarial relationship.
Liston s wife said he did engage reporters early on but they printed whatever wanted so he said what’s the point of answering as you’ll just print what want ,,treated crap denied title shot of course pissed off then when got shot and won title not one person to say well done on return it’s reckoned that really crushed Sonny,,I’ve studied Liston great boxer and fascinating character and in interviews not seen any thing wrong from Sonny,Sonny liked kids and helped poor ;people who had no agenda against him !,
Not fair for Liston! Everybody deserve second chance! Same thing with Tyson. America didn't wanted champions like Dempsey, Liston, Tyson, specially Liston. Then Tyson. That's not fair!!! Specially because those three fighters are the top 3 fighters of all times! Then, on 4th place is Ali.
I remember when I was nine years old and Liston was set to fight Cassius Clay, as he was then known, for the title. My dad remarked that many people were rooting for a convicted thug - Liston - to beat a clean living young man like Clay because of Clay’s big mouth and connection to the Black Muslims. Muhammed Ali became a very beloved and respected figure later on but in the 60’s, the white establishment hated him! First he was friends with Malcolm X and then he refused the draft! That’s why they stole his title from him and took away his boxing license. Funny how I can still remember that from when I was a kid. Those were some interesting times!
Indeed! From the 1930's-the early 1960's (Pre-Ali)the Heavyweight Champions; Liston, Patterson, Marciano and Joe Louis were humble & gracious Champions. Marciano & Louis had both served their country during WWII. Joe Louis was the greatest heavyweight champion & a great man outside of the ring, that had given his boxing earnings from Boxing exhibitions and his last fight against Max Schmeling to the U.S. Defense Relief fund and the US Government/IRS stabbed Joe in the back by saying that Joe should pay taxes on his donations to the Defense Relief fund. No good deed goes unpunished. But i digress. Ali was brainwashed by the Nation of Islam's leader, Elijah Muhammad to hate all white people and even after Malcolm X exposed Elijah Muhammad as a fraud that was having sex with underage females and the fact that he didn't even have basic knowledge about the traditional Islam Religion. Malcolm tried to encourage Ali to leave the NOI and to join hands with him & MLK Jr in peaceful protests and civil rights marches.
@@richardmilliken8705 I think he eventually came to regret the way he treated Malcolm. It’s a shame he got mixed up with NOI. I respect his decision to refuse induction into the army. I think it was a principled and courageous decision and he paid a very heavy price for it. It’s incredible he came back from a three and a half year layoff to eventually regain his title.
@@stevenyourke7901 I'm more impressed with Joe Louis coming back from a 52 month layoff from Pro-Boxing due to WWII. The fact that Joe Louis donated $$ from his 2nd fight earnings against Max Schmeling as well as $$ he helped raise from exhibition fights to the Defense relief fund and to the Navy fund, and that the U.S. Government /IRS went after him for not paying taxes on those donations is disgraceful. That's even worse than FDR not congratulating Jessie Owens for winning 4 Olympic Gold Medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. FDR invited the white Olympic medalist to the Whitehouse but no Black Olympic Medalist were invited. Jessie Owens said in an interview that Hitler not only personally shook his hands & congratulated him, but he had photos taken of them together & Jessie carried that photo in his wallet and Jessie was treated like a "King" in Germany. It was actually a German Long Jumper that helped Jessie with his footing & takeoff so he wouldn't foul in the long-jump. I wish that Ali treated his fellow black boxers with more respect. Ali treated Liston, Patterson, Frazier, Norton and Foreman badly. Ali's meanness & cruelty towards them went beyond trashtalking & boxing promotion. To me, it was not only disrespectful, it was extremely cruel. Ali had no problem respecting and talking in positive words about Rocky Marciano, then he should've showed his black opponents with more respect. Vietnam is a war that we never should've been in and i respect the Vietnam Veterans who were lied to about the war. And i respect the Americans who protested the Vietnam War & everyone that marched hand in hand, in the Civil Right's Movement with MLK Jr.
@@richardmilliken8705 Hitler didn’t shake hands with Owens. He didn’t shake hands with any gold medalists after August 2, 1936 because he was told that he had to congratulate all the winners and not just the German winners. Hitler chose not to congratulate any winners rather than congratulate non-German winners. Hitler may have saluted Owens from his box but he didn’t shake hands with him or anyone else from that day forward. He didn’t snub Owens or others personally but he was not happy about black athletes beating Germans. Goebels wrote in his diary that it was unfair that the US used primitive subhumans to compete in the Olympics. I think Ali’s habit of trash talking about his opponents was obnoxious. It was entertaining at first like when he said that Sonny Liston was too ugly to be world champ and called him a big ugly bear. But sometimes it got nasty, especially calling Frazier an Uncle Tom and a gorilla and ignorant. Frazier never forgave him for it.
@@stevenyourke7901 I don't trust the U.S. Government / Propaganda Machine back then & i don't trust them now. How can you trust a Government/ CIA that assassinates its own President- JFK & Civil Rights Leader MLK Jr. FDR had forewarnings that the Pearl Harbor attacks were going down and he allowed it to happen. This is the same President that refused to sign the antilynching bill into legislation, while at the same time, condoning his fellow Southern Democrats to enforce the Jim Crow Laws. FDR refused to integrate the U.S. Military prior to WWII. I was too young for Liston, but i remember the first ALI vs Frazier Fight. I believe that it is still the most popular & likeable Heavyweight Championship of All-time. I believe Jessie Owens, Sports Reporter Siegfried Mischner who wrote a book about the 1936 Olympics and WWII Test Pilot Captain Eric Brown who claims that he was at the 1936 Olympics and the story of Hitler snubbing Owens is false and that he personally witnessed Hitler shake hands with Owens & congratulate him. The link that i'm providing only states that Hitler was not at the Olympics on the 2nd day. Jessie Owens won Gold Medals in the 100 meters, 200 meters, Long Jump and the 4x100 meter relay. My Great Uncle, Glen Cunningham won a silver medal in the 1,500 meters at the 1936 Olympics and he was a former World Record holder in the mile & 800 meters. I remember his Glen Cunningham Youth Ranch for needy & abused children. His life story is amazing & he was a great man. I was a decent miler myself, but never in his league. www.winterwatch.net/2019/01/the-hidden-truth-about-jesse-owens-experience-at-the-1936-berlin-olympics/
Lots of media mythology about Ali getting in Listons head and Ali beating Liston with speed. Listons so called friend Ash Resnick was a fixer of fights and point shaver of NBA Basketball games and most likely behind Listons death.Wilt Chamberlain often cavorted with Resnick as well. The FBI at the time was watching Resnick at the time of this fight and bugged Listons Camp and KNEW the fight was fixed at the time and released it in a report in about 2011. No suprises here to anyone who knows boxing. The second fight a even worse attempt at fixing a fight. Ali who never had a first round knockout was going to knockout Liston who was never even floored before and only one other time 4 years later by a man was Listons sparing partner Leotis Martin who was well behind on points in the 9th when it happened. I have little respect for myth of Muhammad Ali the fighter. He was a fake Muslim hero and a cartoon character in our media and in Muslim countries. Ali was the dirtiest heavyweight champion ever who got alot of get out of jail free cards from referees, Ali held behind the neck over 100 times against Foreman with one brief warning. He laced peoples faces with his gloves rabbit punched an nearly everything else short of biting. Without mafia influence Ali would be nothing. Ali was a gate draw mainly because of copying off of wrestling and the wrestler Gorgeous George. Alot of Alis antics are a result of him being nearly retarded and like Liston Ali was robbed by promoters. Watch Ali in any long interview and its obvious he is not very bright but very charasmatic. To me he was a savant in charm in short doses.
Ali is the greatest and wasn’t the one involved with the mob you dummy. Ali wasn’t the one who took the dive you cuk. His records stands. Get lost hater
@@ssminowjohnson9687 The nation of islam isn't the boy scouts. Ali was a cash cow and sadly was exploited and is a not much better than a wwe champion.
Maan Sonny was Nothin. All he was was intimidating to those who were "Cowardly" Already, like that Bum #FloydPatterson. But Lo and behold, here comes a "Young, Full of Heart, Brave" #MuhammadAli, who gave sonny the Whoopin of his life, Hahaha. Ali the GREATEST!👑🥊👍🤣
