I heard that Sonny's birthdate was May 8 1932, but he looked a lot older, especially in the first bout with Ali in 1964.
I think he led a very tough life. Big strong man. Lived hard. “If you go to the National Archives in Washington, DC and pull up the microfilm for Forrest City, Arkansas you will find Tobin Liston’s 1930 census family card. But Charles L. Liston is not on it. His mother, Helen, is listed, as are his sisters Clytee, Annie and Alcora, and his brothers J.T., Leo and Curtis, who is the youngest at six months. This means that Liston could not have been born before late 1930 and that the oldest he could have been when he fought Ali the first time was 33-years-old. The 1940 U.S. Census reports have been released. Tobin Liston and his family come into view on a rented farm in backwater Smith Township on April 23rd of that year. They moved there from backwater Johnson Township sometime between 1930 and 1934. Tobin was sixty-seven and working on the farm sixty hours a week despite his advanced age. Helen was minding the chores in and around the rented shack and it’s easy to conjure up a picture of her wiping her hands on an apron as she greets the census taker. It would have been her who gave the names and ages of the children: Leo (“17”), Annie (“15”) and Alcora (“13,” called “Cabbie”), and there, between eleven-year-old Curtis and two-year-old Wesley, “Charles L” appears on record for the first time. His age is given as “10” which means that 1930 is the likeliest year of his birth.”
Emanuel Steward always said Sonny was closer to 40 than 30 when he fought Ali, visually you'd have to agree with him.
There's no definitive proof and we will never know for certain. He looked old because he'd been through a lot of stuff and had problems with drugs and alcohol. General evidence and Liston's own recollections suggest that the general timeframe is 1928-1932 and I see no reason to dispute that.
Liston did not have just a problem with drugs and booze, he was a lifetime alcohol and drug abuser...........Louis turned out to be a Coke head and you bet your azz that Liston used coke which enables you to drink more and then used H to come down...........most likely he died/OD'ed from it eventually. Anyway, Liston drank /drugged to forget......he did not drink casually or had a drink to relax............no, he got hammered to forget because he could not take the demons in his head sober, end of.
Is it possible that you were not fully conscious or in a hallucinatory state? No offense, but even absent a major trauma like surgery & anesthetic, healthy people have dreams & confuse that with a waking state. Unless you believe it was a real inspirational visitation from The Great Beyond.
There is truth to what you are saying. It is possible to what you have said, it was a major surgery. But that cold stare, then the wink. Another Tech did see him leave but did not know his name, he never returned. But I suppose anything is possible, strange though.
I've said a lot of interviews with the guy and he doesn't seem like a fraud. He said he did around 20 years of research before he wrote the book. Personally, I think he was born in the mid 20s. But I wouldn't be that surprised if he was born in 1919 or in 1930, as the Census shows.
I think it's obvious what's happened here. Sonny Liston is immortal. In 1970 he realised that people were eventually going to start asking awkward questions about how he could possibly still be winning fights at the age of 53 and faked his own death. Then he finally pursued his lifelong dream of working in medicine. I like a happy ending.
Recently, I heard of a new claim that Liston was born shortly after the First World War 1918/1919 or even earlier around 1917. According to Paul Gallender, who wrote a book about Liston (which I haven't read till now), Liston was already 44 years old when he fought Ali. Well, I read "The Devil and Sonny Liston" by Nick Tosches some years ago. I can't remember it that well and it was a bit of a mess with all his siblings and possible birth dates. It seems unlikely that he was born before 1930 due to the census, but maybe it was inaccurate...siblings with similar or same names.... Of course, we will never know for sure... My personal estimation is, that Liston was born around 1930 (plus/minus 2 years). I am rather skeptical about 1919 or even earlier. It could be kind of sensationalized to attract interest. 1. He interrupted his career in 1956 because he had to go to prison. After he came back in 1958, he was stronger than before. I doubt whether such a strength-development would be possible if he was already in his late 30s or nearly 40. 2. I have seen a picture of him in the following video (right at the beginning, from the first second). I guess that could be a photo of his imprisonment in 1950. Maybe someone knows it better? I am not good in estimating ages. I think he looks quite young though. He looks more like in his early 20s than in his early 30s. Maybe he could even be 18 according to the photo. If he looks older...well he also had a tough childhood, a brutal father and heavy physical work. Anyway, if the photo is from 1950, then he'd aged a lot until 1960. This content is protected
