Charles 'Sonny' Liston may have set a record for the amount of 'law-suits' a Heavyweight Champion can accumulate. Okay a simple one. August 1963 - Sonny Liston signed a contract with Joseph Glaser (Associated Booking Agenncy), to partake in a European Boxing Tour for September and October 1963. Sonny was to arrive in Copenhagen, Denmark - then visit Stockholm, Sweden - then Helsinki, Finland, - before doing '5' exhibitions in England. Then move on to Scotland, Germany and South Africa. Associated Booking Agency, who represented 700 theatrical professionals and other athletes, guaranteed Sonny Liston a 'small fortune' for these exhibitions. Joseph Glaser, the Champion can make as much as a celebrity, for a brief performance of skipping rope, and some light sparring in a make-shift ring. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday - May 25, 1965 Associated Booking Corporation of New York City. This fine 'booking agency' signed Sonny Liston to perform in several boxing exhibitions in England and Scotland in September 1963. This firm won a Supreme Court Case in New York, to garnish Sonny Liston's 'Live Gate Fight Purse' in his Lewiston, Maine bout. The suit states, that Associated Booking was trying to retrieve $54,815 of the $69,815 it was owed. This company had been attempting to get their money back since October 1963, after Sonny Liston reneged on his boxing exhibition commitment. A spokesman for Associated Booking who did not want to be indentified, stated, 'Sonny Liston is a 100% phony. A certified fraud. The most ungrateful man I have ever met. He comes to us to help his image, and we get him $5000 a night to skip rope, and spar 3-Rounds with a fellow of his choice. Then he stabs us in the back, and walks out on his contract.'
December 22, 1961 In a Philadelphia Park, Sonny Liston impersonated a Police Officer, and assaulted Mrs. Dorothy Ellis. That arrest, cost Sonny Liston his boxing license in Pennsylvania, as well as New York. By September 1963, the law suit with a minimum $5000 in damages was not settled.
March 29, 1962 Top-ranked Heavyweight Challenger - Sonny Liston was arrested for malicoulsy assulting and beating Mrs. Pearl Grayson, the wife of his Personal Body-Guard - John 'Moose' Grayson. As of October 1963, a new court date was set. Mrs. Pearl Grayson was seeking $50,000 in damages from the assault and battery, and an additional $50,000 in exemplary damages.
