How 'nice' was Sonny Liston?

Growing up in the racism, poverty, and violence Liston saw as a child , create the adult version of him. Especially if one has the physicality and mental aggression he was probably born with.
Monsters are usually created, not born.
But just like men like Dahmer, Bundy, Hitler, Attila the Hun , Idi Amin, and Donald Trump, I'm sure he had people in his life he was "nice" too.

 

"People aren't one thing."
--- Buck O'Neil

 

These comparisons to Dahmer, Hitler, etc are insane and flat out insulting.

 

I do remember hearing him talk about doing a tour of Scotland and being stunned with how nice the people were to him as he had never experienced that in America. Not to give him a pass for any bad thing he's done in his life but being a street guy, being taken advantage of, dealing with racism etc. can have a negative effect on someone's behavior. A bit like Mike Tyson, I don't think either of these guys were sociopaths or anything. If they had a different upbringing they would probably be pretty nice.

 

Wasn't ment as a comparison. Sorry you took it that way. But as how even truly evil men have someone that they are "nice" too. But again apologies.

 

I don’t know, but John Wayne Gacy was a terrible clown. I mean, he wasn’t funny at all.

 

Fair enough. All good. Maybe I overreacted. Liston was certainly no angel, I agree but nowhere near as bad as guys like Hitler, Dahmer Bundy, etc.

 

I'd have to go back and read the book.I always rather liked him,so I would be glad if it was false.
I' ll amend my post.

 

Liston was supposedly bothered by the fact that people didn't love him the way they loved say, Louis. I think he was a man carrying a lot internal pain and sadness. Just in interviews and by his overall demeanor, he never struck as the monster the media often portrayed him to be. I suspect that he had a good heart at his core, bur grew up in a world amid violence and bigotry.

 

Well i never heard Liston say that "If my sister was promiscuous I'd hang her."
or tell a female reporter that "I normally don't do anything with women unless I fornicate with them first. So you shouldn't talk anymore. Unless you wanna"

So fact is Champions are not always nice, Liston was product of his environment, he took the path of violence and by all accounts he was good at it.

Once Liston became champ folk expected him to present as a not so nice persona, in fact he scared fighters at stare downs, but those close to him reported he was a generous guy who was not the persona the public saw, other than if drunk, not the sort of guy who you would challenge to a fight outside a bar, unless you liked hospital food.

 

He certainly wasn’t the Messiah.

 

I think Jose Torres once said that Liston was one of the most intelligent people he ever met.

 

Yes but it is a bell curve-most people are not so bifurcated in their intentions & conduct as Sonny, let alone a serial killer. The latter where routine decency is still overwhelmed by both the severely destructive behavior-& their intentions are likewise overwhelmingly evil.

I have heard about Liston as a bully, but how was he a coward?