Paul Gallender lays Ali-Liston II at the doors of the Nation of Islam

My own theory :
The fight was on the level. Aliens abducted Liston's family the day of the fight. It was a mere coincidence.

 

Bring back Senor Pepe, that's what I say.

 

I think the truth will come out.
There are still people alive who know what happened. There aren't many and they won't be around much longer.
People have a tendency to talk in their last days when they have nothing to lose.

Angelo Dundee admitted before he died that Liston had not intentionally tried to blind Clay in the first fight- he called it "a crock". This was after 40 years of claiming otherwise.

 

On the bright side, Mystic Josie, who probably couldn't give two shits about boxing, was up to speed on the esoteric Sonny Liston knowledge within 2 weeks, where it took Gallender 35 years !
(so the good information is probably on the internet.)

Now, that gal knows how to research. :deal

 

Dundee always claimed there was an astringent substance in Ali's eyes which he felt himself experienced when he used the towel to wipe his eyes. He said it was probably from some linament applied to Liston's shoulder injury.I 've seen several interviews with Dundee over the years, never seen one in which he claimed the injury was intentional .
Its very possible, the same thing happened to Marciano against Walcott in their first fight. Marciano never blamed Walcott ,but he did believe his corner had intentionally used the linament to damage his vision.

 

I got too bored to listen to this fellow drone on, but a couple of questions occurred--

Is Marilyn Resnick alive? What has she said in interviews? At best, this evidence is hearsay.

The plot concerns kidnapping Sonny Liston's son. Is the son still alive? Does he back up this story?

What evidence does he provide that Liston was born in 1917 or 1919? Liston on film in 1958 certainly does not look at all like a man past forty. In his commercial with Andy Warhol from 1968 Liston looks to be in his thirties, not his fifties.

My reaction off what I could stand listening to--and the lack of pointed questions from the interviewers aided the tedium--nothing much here, and this fellows Liston superman fixation is rather striking. If we buy what he says, no one but Ali has even a shot at beating Liston although none of us, including this guy, would even have seen Liston fight before he passed forty.

The real "superman" lost to light-heavy Marty Marshall and The Ring in its review of another fight thought the decision he got over Johnny Summerlin to be unjustified.

*on how talented Liston was, I recall an episode of I've Got a Secret in which a general sports columnist who was not particularly into boxing was sent by his paper to cover the fight. He watched Liston and Ali train and spar, and picked Ali even though all the old boxing hands told him Ali had no chance. His reasoning was, although he did not claim to know much about boxing, that he didn't see how a man who was so obviously the much better athlete wouldn't have a good chance.

 

The Sailor Liston rumour has been around since at least 1965 (I've seen it in a newspaper in the aftermath of the Maine debacle). The article said he fought Deacon Leo Kelly in 1933 as a kid, and old-timers said it was Sonny, but that is not listed in Kelly's record on boxrec.

Sailor Liston is however listed on boxrec, now as Sailor (Harold) Liston. And he was fighting at the same time as Deacon Leo Kelly, so they perhaps did fight.

 

Although this Sailor Liston was already a veteran fighter by the 1930s, and was in the navy in the Great war, according to boxrec.

[url]http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=79851&cat=boxer[/url]

[url]http://boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Human:79851[/url]

 

McGrain and Unforgiven

Thanks.

This is bigfoot or Loch Ness monster level "evidence" except he doesn't even have a hazy photograph to show us.


Sailor Liston "was in the Great War"

That means Sonny was actually in his sixties when he won the title. Seems reasonable.

 

I think sailor Liston was a white guy...

 

"I think Sailor Liston was a white guy"

Some folks are certainly picky about details.

If Liston's ghost says he fought as Sailor Liston in the thirties, that is good enough for me. Let's not be obdurate about this.