How old was Liston when he fought Ali the first time?

I once watched a documentary on Sonny Liston, and according to some of the interviewees, Liston did not even know his true age. Sonny came from a financially broke family in the south during the 1930's consisting of 20+ children, and not all of whom were even born to the parents. His household was more of a foster home or orphanage if you will, rather than a typical American family setting, ( even for a black southern family during the depression. ) In those days, exceptionally poor families sometimes gave birth to children in their own homes, and not in hospitals or clinics. Additionally, it was common to have poor record keeping of birth dates or none at all..

My take.....

Some have listed Liston as being as old as 40 for the Clay fight, but I think this is a stretch. On the otherhand, he was reported as being around 32 by the tale of the tape, however he certainly looks a bit older to me on film and in photographs. I'm thinking 35-37 sounds reasonable, but again this is all guess work....

 

Probably around 32, definitely not late 30s or early 40s.

 

37

 

sonny looked like he was 40 when he was in his 20s. some people look a lot older than they actually are. 32 he was said to be for first fight v clay.

 

I've always said 34 or so ...

 

some fighters like Archie Moore and others had to make themselves older because they were too young to enter the amatuer ranks. Archie was acually younger than listed. Liston had an older face but did not appear to have gray hair up into the Leotis Martin fight. I would guess he was in his 30's, 32-38 but would not be suprised if he was older. Still I do not think age would be a factor vs Ali, it would be the difference in speed factor and mental resiliance.

 

liston had a daughter in her late teens when he was a contender

 

:bart
No, he didn't! The girl in question was Geraldine Liston's daughter from her previous marriage.

 

He was 85 and used to spar with Peter Jackson.

Ripe soil for more imaginary sproutings in the world of make believe.

 

'Sonny' - not his real name was born in 1910. Sonny Liston and Elmer Ray were actually 1 and the same, promoters told Elmer 'your not getting a title shot, not because your too good, or because your too black, but because your called Elmer, what sort of name is that for a title fight'. So Elmer changed his name to a bad ass name - Sonny Liston

Young Sonny

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Old Elmer

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