Here is his marriage license witnessed on June 10, 1950 in Arkansas. He was born December 14, 1928. Just as his mother claimed '1928.' End of controversy! click on the link below which will display the document maximum size. http://www.flickr.com/photos/5020748...n/photostream/ This content is protected Sonny Liston marriage doc. by rchunah, on Flickr
Sonny Liston was really a masqueraded Jack Johnson who faked his death to avoid the publicity while aiming for another shot at the championship.
No ****? Encyclopedia Britannica (i think) had him as old as 50 for that fight, possibly. The point I want to make is that Sonny isn't defined by these documents. Some think he wasn't even WHO he claimed to be. He came from nothing and nowhere, had a brief few years where he really was someone, then went back to nothing. Nobody knows when he died and nobody can be sure when he was born. And that's all we can really know. We have two "official" documents floating the site that contradict each other completely. There will be others again. Researchers into Liston produce possibilities only, as a general rule. They "put" his age at this, or that. Nobody knows.
I have yet to see any date prior to 1927 or later than 1932 given as his year of birth. So, 1928, as listed on his marriage license seems just about right to me.
Liston always looked old though. Even in pictures where he was clearly quite a young man he has an old face - his eyes, he looks old. I don't know if it means all that much, just saying.
There are a few fighters whose age is uncertain. For a long time,Ken Norton's year of both was listed as being 1945,but in more recent times,it's down as 1943.
I hate myself for this but I find myself being drawn like a moth to the flame... The enigma of Liston is capturing my interest again. A mysterious convict who spent his prime years behind bars, came out and way past his best managed to pick up the championship, who knows what he was capable of? Kinda like that dewey bozella fella but with a championship victory in the story somewhere. I suppose this kinda stuff makes a good break from who the top 25 bantamweights should be
Very interesting but, as Legend rightly observes, this isn't evidence of Liston's age, it's just evidence of one of many claims Liston made about his age, which we already knew about. A couple of years later he was claiming to be 20 in applications to amateur tournaments. Even assuming Liston knew his own birth date, he may well have had his reasons for wanting people to believe he was 21. At the moment, for instance, if you're under 21 you can't get an Arkansas marriage licence without a passport or birth certificate. Or maybe he just wanted to be able to get a drink at a bar. The fact that he's not listed on the 1930 census, on the other hand, and that he's listed as a 10 year old on the 1940 census, is independent documentary evidence compiled by people who had no possible reason for dishonesty. I think any newcomer to the debate would agree that it's a far more reliable source of information.
Wish someone could find the source and post it but a few years back i remember reading something somewhere which claimed a 17 or 18 yr old black heavyweight by the name of Charles Liston was used as a sparring partner by Two Ton Tony Galento in the run up to the Joe Louis fight - I'm being totally serious and whoever it was making the claim was being pretty adamant about it - don't known whether you'd heard that one? Might've even been in a book i think which was called 'Dark shadows' but can't be sure - anyone else ever hear that?
I thought it was because he didn't have a birth certificate. He was born in a rural area and they just cut down a tree to mark his birth.
The Marriage License "Bond" shows Liston spelled with a "Y" ......not an "i" (i.e. Lyston). Also. Liston was supposedly "illiterate" and could not write at that stage of his life. The "person" signing the affidavit used the name Chas. D. Lyston. The real Liston middle initial was "L" per the 1940 Census. Charles "Sonny" Liston.....a mystery man.
Charles Liston went to jail (Missouri State Penitentiary) on January 15, 1950. His birth date is conjectural, as even the Missouri board of records have no exact documentation of birth, at his time of incarceration. Sam Eveland, Charles Liston's boxing trainer (in prison) stated, 'Mr. Liston was 'around' 22 or 23 when I met him, but he could have been as old as 25 or 26. I honestly don't know. This content is protected
