Discrepancies over some boxers ages.

Samuel Peter rumoured to be quite a bit older than published.

Many over the years have lied about their age enabling them to commence profession boxing earlier than the law would have allowed them.

 

Then there's Sonny Liston's age? How old is he really when he fought Clay?

 

Either do I. I was just offering other examples.

 

Hagler!!

 

Bernard Hopkins went to prison when he was four years old. Clerical error.

 

I'm seeing a lot on Jess Willard saying he was 27 or 28 when he fought Johnson, but secondary sources say he was in his early 30s.

 

Peter Maher is always given as born in 1869 when in fact he was born in 1866.

 

There are several different types of age lies in boxing. Some make themselves older so that they can box legally when they are too young to do so. Some make themselves younger when they don't want to seem too old to get backers or seem washed up. Then there are those who make themselves older so their victories seem even more spectacular - the old man still beating the young pup theme. The truth has always been pliable in boxing. Then there are reporters who simply get it wrong, and then others who perpetuate the inaccuracy, because let's face it, most writers don't have the time or inclination to research every single factual allegation, and often rely on other writers who themselves might have been wrong.

 

I find it a bit odd that Hagler was world champion before he 'discovered' his true age too.
He'd gone his whole life thinking he was exactly two years older?

 

I am sure us Brits remember Dennis Andries. Officially 35 when he won his first alphabet title in 86. Some have him as much as a decade older, and I see now on boxrec it is claimed he was 32...

 

Corrie Sanders 1965 or 1966 ? I iven sot i wanc so it ez 1964
I olso herd dyuring fait komenteishens zat McCallum mait b older .

Zat b-saids ze olredi menshend Liston, Hagler , Norton , Wright.

 

As someone who has done quite a bit of research, I found the number of American fighters who had age discrepancies to be astounding, especially among fighters born before 1900. But it appears that such age discrepancies were very common among people in the general American population one hundred or more years ago.

While looking at U.S. Census records on Ancestry.com, I found that it is very likely that Sonny Liston wasn't born until the early 1930s. I found one Charlie (an illegible middle initial) Liston, 10 years of age, in the 1940 census records, but not in the records for 1930. Moreover, Liston's brother, Curtis was found in the 1930 U.S. Census as a 6-month-old and in the 1940 records as an 11-year-old. Taking into account Curtis' age (during 1930) and the fact that the Liston Family was enumerated for the 1930 U.S. Census on April 23, 1930, it is hard to make a case that Sonny was born before June or July of the same year.

- Chuck Johnston