Sonny Liston Quotes

Here's some quotes I got from the Liston Book, "The Devil and Sonny Liston." The book itself is hardly a great one and it's downright strange at times, but it nonetheless gives you a look into Listons' life and there a lot of interesting nuggets in there.

After finally beating Patterson for the HW title he really opens up. He waited so long for the shot and finally becoming the champ took a lot of weight off of him.
"I have reached my goal as Heavyweight Champion. When you reach your goal, you have to be proud and dignified. You represent something and you have a responsibility to live up to it. As Champion, I have the opportunity to do things that otherwise might not be possible otherwise.

Him going into how he'd conduct himself as champion by trying to be like his hero, Joe Louis.
"'Who I think was the greatest champion of all and my idol. He did everything I want to do. I intend to follow the example he set and would like to go down as a great champion, too."

Sonny even goes into his childhood, really rare for him.
"I had nothing when I was a kid but a lot of brothers and sisters, a helpless mother, and a father who didn't care about any of us. I promise everyone that I will be a decent, respectable champion."

How does the media and public respond to this? They don't even wait for him when he gets off the plane after dethroning Patterson and they continue to hound him about his background. The way he was portrayed by the media is disgusting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I love this part, it's a quote from a friend of his named Davey Pearl. They're stuck in traffic and Liston orders him to stop the car. Pearl protests, and Liston says it again and he has no choice but to obey.

"I stopped the car, and he runs out and there's a little woman sitting on a dolly selling pencils. He emptied out both pockets and gave it to her, just dropped it on her tray. And it was a white woman, so there was no racial thing."

This story shows the good side of Sonny. This was far from the only act of kindness he had, there's an endless number of people who were touched by his generosity and love of giving. Children especially. I think that the way in which he grew up and the beatings his "father" laid on him resulted in his kindness and love of children, he wanted to help kids out after what he went through.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
For those who think of Liston as just another dumb pug, here's a quote from Jose Torres, former Light Heavyweight Champion.
"I have never met an athlete in baseball, basketball, or football who is smarter, more intelligent than Sonny Liston."

He was illiterate and had to have his wife read the newspaper to him, but that's a result of his upbringing and lack of education, not lack of intelligence. Sonny is one of the smartest fighters in heavyweight history in the ring, he was always thinking in there about his next move and was very patient. He doesn't deserve to get bunched with guys like George Foreman or Tyson who fought one way from start to finish without the ability or brain to change it up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's some interesting quotes from him after being asked what he'd do if he won the title shortly before his first bout with Floyd.
"If I win, I might fight Johansson. But first he must fight Cleveland Williams. There is a one-year return match in the Patterson fight, but my plan is to make him not want a return fight. I hear Johansson say I'm slow. I saw him fight Patterson twice. He was lucky. He should be locked up for impersonating a fighter."

Liston would of battered Ingo and he makes mention again of the man who hurt him most, Cleveland Williams. Ingo never would of accepted a fight with Sonny and never should of opened his mouth in the first place when he was too coward to even fight him.

"I don't think Patterson will run. I caught Machen, and I don't think anybody can run as fast as him."
He was half right, Patterson didn't run. But sadly for him he'd be sharing the ring a couple years later with one of the few who could run faster than Machen, The Greatest himself.
Really, really bad luck, he finally gets the title and then has to defend it against a guy who has the perfect style to beat him, and also happens to be one of the two greatest Heavyweight Champions of all time.

He goes into Big Cat Williams again,
"Williams was the hardest puncher I've fought. No one wants to fight him. He can punch as hard as I can, but he can't take it like I can."

Liston had a great deal of respect for Williams. Unlike a lot of others from the era, Liston had the guts to fight him and had two memorable brawls with him. Williams prior to the gun shot may have been better than Ingo and Patterson both in my honest opinion but never really had the chance to prove it. His results against Machen and Terrell say a lot about his skills and power.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, figured some people would enjoy seeing what Liston and others said about him. Really interesting and mysterious life, no one knew the date of his birth, or death. He was, like it says on his grave, "A Man."

 

Informative and I'm glad I have it. The writer isn't really all there though, going into the size of Liston's package and getting quotes from numerous people to back it up was plain weird

However, the stories and quotes he got from people regarding Liston make it informative and interesting. Tosches put a huge amount of effort into writing this, that much is pretty clear.

Any Liston books/bios that you recommend?

 

Here's an interesting one about his loss to Marty Marshall.

"I was told to take it east for a couple rounds. Marshall's a clown, they told me, who'd bounce around and flick punches from all sides. I was standing there, kinda wondering, when all of a sudden he lets out a yell, and with my mouth wide open, gaping, he slugged me right in the jaw. It didn't hurt, but I couldn't close my mouth. I had to fight the last 6 rounds with my mouth open. After a while it hurt bad."

I just find this one interesting because, like Tosches says, who are the people so important and so influential over Sonny that he listened to them and carried Marshall?
People doubting that Sonny would of/could of taken a dive in at least one of the Ali fights need to read up on the man. Sonny had connections with more than a few important people....
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's one from Marty Marshall, after getting battered in the rematch.
"He hit me like no man should be hit. He's tough. That's one thing nobody can deny about that man. He hurts when he breathes on you."

Marshall would drop Liston in the 4th round though even in the rematch, something Liston always denied. Here's Marshall talking about it,
"I'm sorry to this day about that. Man, am I sorry. He hit me after that like - nobody should be hit like that. I think about it now and I hurt."

Bill Appleton, an official who did one of Liston's fights, was quoted as saying this after Liston's rematch with Johnny Summerlin,
"At this stage of his career, I'd say he's a better prospect than Joe Louis at a comparable point."

Cool stuff.

 

Liston's sort of a quiet Clubber Lang with regards to the media, if that makes sense.
I just get reminded of Mr. T knocking the cameras down in his dressing room

 

I thought that to as I typed my post. Although as you know I'm sure, Liston had more than a few connections to shady characters and there were weird things going on during the time of the Ali fights. A lot of fans tend to dismiss any chance that Liston may have layed down for Ali, which is a laughable position to take.

Maybe I'll post some quotes or info that proves my point later on.