The coroner's report is easily the most credible source here. It's impressive how long it took folk to even start acknowledging it had been posted. I think the sense of mystique about Liston has driven elaborate speculation and theories in this case in spite of the fairly simple truth.
Why did Sonny Liston die ? His time was up ? He stopped breathing ? Both ? Nobody really knows, suspected but not proved drug overdose Ive heard, we will never know for sure.
Did the coroner check for any sexual assault? Sonny was found lying face down on his bed, naked on his bottom half.
Not Sonny Liston:deal.It's like very obvious he was killed or something like that.Either way somebody wanted him out of the way.
In the reconstruction on a tv show some years ago they did it with him face up in a shirt and shorts.
Let's reword that... Coronary artery disease was the real EFFECT of death. The CAUSE was a combination of alcohol, drugs, and stress. Just how much each contributed to the effect is what I don't know. How big and frequent of a drinker was Liston? Drinking increases chances for cardiovascular disease. If you believe that Liston did not use drugs then I'd predict: Liston's drinking made him susceptible to coronary disease. Stress in life made it worse. He either ingested heroin himself while very depressed in his last days OR the Mafia made him ingest the heroin. That heroin itself was not enough for overdose for a typical individual but Liston was particularly susceptible given his alcohol abuse & stress. Liston could have been healthy in terms of brawn and strength but there are many other ways to be unhealthy (high cholesterol, drinking problems etc). If you feel that even if Liston was afraid of needles he chose to snort or smoke cocaine / heroin then I'd say - his drug use, alcohol abuse, and stress finally caught up to him. Personally I believe the second scenario. Liston was judicious when it came to dealing with the Mafia and so while I don't rule out the possibility, I say it's less likely.
There's a very low probability of that happening though. It's like saying people get killed in auto accidents all the time. Sure they do - 50,000 a year in the US. But what is the probability of it happening compared to the whole population? Likewise, what is the probability of someone with Liston's fitness suddenly dying? It rarely happens.
I think it was cover up. For one I read that he was scared of needles so it wouldn't be drugs. They found drugs near the body....they also mentioned that he wouldn't fight overseas because he had to take shots before going over.
Might of had his pants down to stick himself in the ass with a needle? :think Or someone else to do it.
The signs of heroin use were minimal. It seems it wasn't an overdose. Sonny died of a heart attack apparently, and had coronory heart disease. He was known to drink a bit, was probably in his 40s, and I guess he ate a ultra-high-cholesterol diet and was probably raised on old-fashioned southern "soul food", the worst possible diet to aggravate a genetic cardiac disorder. He'd lived a hard hard life, and I reckon he'd encountered plenty of stress. Throw in genetic heart condition, a few cigars, whiskey and maybe some experimentation with hard drugs and it's no surprise that he passed away. I've known younger fitter guys to drop dead out of the blue. We are all mortal.