What is the best Sonny Liston book?

His publishers must have loved it when he came out with a pearler like that. Seriously, that must have cost him a hell of a lot of sales.

 

Thanks just ordered it. I will post a review of it on here after I read it.

 

Devil and sonny Liston blows

 

I know nothing about Baseball,
a sports writer said that when he was a cub reporter he went to interview Mantle and another top player the other guy was nice but Mantle was rude and nasty.

 

Mantle was rude to fans.
He resented any off the field intrusion.
He autographed one kid's program with "You're a lucky kid- Your Mom has nice tits"

 

Here is the review of the book I wrote:

The former Heavyweight champion of the World Sonny Listen was a former convict who learned how to box in prison and become one of the most feared boxers in boxing history. He was just 6 foot 1 inch but had an incredible fist circumference of 15 inches, larger than former Champion 6 foot 9 inch Primo Carnero’s hands.

At prison he met Prison Staff Priest, Alois Stevens, who introduced him to boxing and arranged for an early release for Sonny in 1952. Sonny started with a successful Amateur career winning the Chicago and New York Golden Gloves championships. He then turned professional in September 1953 knocking out Boxer Don Smith in round one. He won his next 6 bout before dropping a split decision to Marty Marshall. He won his next 26 bouts in a row, 22 of them by Knock out. The current Champion Floyd Patterson’s manager, Cus Damata, did not want to give Sonny a shot at Floyd’s championship.

Trouble swirled around Listen during these years. He had been arrested for speeding and assault but was always released due to his connections with Gangsters Frankie Carbo and Blinky Palermo who ran Sonny’s boxing career from behind the scenes.

However, public pressure forced a match between Champion Floyd Patterson and Sonny. September 25 1962 they met in the ring where Sonny destroyed Floyd with a first round knockout becoming the new heavyweight champion of Boxing in the destructive aftermath. A rear later a rematch happened with the same result -KO round 1.

There was no one in boxing that could come up with a contender who could beat Sonny when a young former Olympic Champion demanded his shot at the title. Very few at the time knew that this man would become one of the greatest of all time - Muhammad Ali.

Ali’s record was 19-0 when he fought Sonny for the Championship. He was also a huge underdog, some even fearing for the young man’s life.

They fought February 25th 1964 in Miami. From the start of the fight Muhammad plastered Sonny with jabs then moved out of the way before Sonny could hit him with his thunderous punches. By the end of the 6th Sonny’s face was a mess. It was puffy and bloody. Then astonishingly Sonny Liston quit, never getting off his stool to proceed to round 7. He claimed that his shoulder was injured but he lost his championship, none the less, as a TKO.

The rematch happened May 25, 1965 and it went down as as one of the most controversial matches in boxing history. In the very first round Ali caught Liston with a short fast punch that floored Sonny. Sonny laid there as Ali stood over him. The referee, another former champion though retired, Jersey Joe Walcott, did not start the 10 count until Ali moved into a neutral corner. Afterwards he started the count and then the time keeper yelled that 10 seconds had passed already ( The fighter has 10 seconds to rise or else he is considered knocked out). Jersey Joe stopped counting and declared Ali the winner. The punch that dropped Sonny is known as “the phantom punch” because it is hard to see the power it delivered.

Naturally some of the press clamored that is was a fix. The truth is that a young Muhammad Ali with his superior quickness and iron clad jaw would beat Sonny Listen every time they boxed.

Sonny boxed 9 more fights winning all but one by knock out before being knocked out himself by Leotis Martin in December 1969. He fought once more defeating Chuck Wepner and afterwards retired.

His unsuspected death December 30, 1970 at the age of either 38 or 40 (his birth date was never established) brought more controversy. The coroner listed the cause of death as a natural death. However, his age and the very good condition of his body made almost everyone doubt that opinion. Some speculated his death was due to a drug overdose others that he was murdered by some mobster that he may have offended. The case was never reopened. As such, Boxings most feared champion laid rest for the final time.

 

Paul Gallender released his follow up book this year.
About Liston in the afterlife !!!

[url]https://www.amazon.co.uk/SONNY-LISTON-New-Light-Afterlife/dp/099853840X[/url]

WARNING : This is what can happen when you take your "fanboyism" to the extremes, kids.

 

Oh my god. Including "Four excerpts from Sonny Liston today"...

I can't help thinking Sonny really would be grinning like he is on the front cover if he knew anything about this.

 

I don't think it would make any difference to him since he couldn't read.

 

Good point.

I'm not sure Sonny would approve of such a candy ass front cover do you?