Before Spence's recent fight against Peterson, he was talking about how he was a lion stalking his prey. It seemed so forced, memorized, and uncomfortable. Zero charisma, with no life in his voice. Completely embarrassing. Good fighter, though.
Wierdly enough, while Ward is boring in the ring, he is very charismatic in interviews. The dude is seriously well spoken.
Liston couldn't read or write. His wife did his real "communication" work for him. She taught him to read later on in life. Liston, in reality, was a sad situation from an outsiders' point of view.
Was Geraldine an attorney? I'm surprised. I have heard her in interviews and she doesn't give the impression that she would hold a professional job down. That probably says a lot about my prejudices but, being realistic, a woman, let alone a black woman in the 50s who used the language of poor, black people, would surely have had a hard time climbing the legal ladder. She seemed intelligent but it was like Sonny's; a 'mother wit' was how I read it described once. In layman's terms, lots of common sense, street smarts and perceptiveness but no real signs of much formal education.
I want to say the Klitschko brothers, but it may be that English isn't their first or even second languages. Watching the movie about them,they come across more openly, and they were always more popular in Germany and the Ukraine where they did tv commercials, so maybe it was a language barrier thing.
I was probably thinking of Martha Louis, wife of Joe Louis, who was an attorney. My friend Doug Lord (Mgr of WW Champ Cirtis Cokes, once used Liston as a referee, out in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1963. He said he gave Liston post-fight $1800 in hundred dollar bills as payment for his services. Sonny got up to $800, then turned to his wife and said: "Here, you count it ...and be "bam" sure it is right". Something on Liston's wife "Gerldine": Geraldine Liston Biography Mini Bio (1) Geraldine Liston is known for her work on Unsolved Mysteries (1987), ESPN SportsCentury (1999) and Sonny Liston: The Mysterious Life and Death of a Champion (1995).
Good shout. Actually, Ward perfectly exposed me as an emotional guy. Disliked him before Kovalev 2, liked him afterwards. Funny how that happens. All of a sudden i liked him. I may not know as much as some of the guys on this forum, but I can admit when my emotions get the better of me. After Kovalev 2, this Ward character suddenly became more palatable to me lol
I disagree with the charismatic part. At least for me but yes he is very articulate and it's not surprise hbo gives him on air work. Good points.
I'm a Kovalev fan and when I first saw the Ward interview load up on youtube I thought "Oh gawd, here we go another gold chains pimp brotha from da hood". What a surprise. To me he came over almost like a motivational speaker. I still wanted Kova to win, but maybe not break him, anymore.