The dismissal of Sonny Liston from boxing history.

WARNING​

Intense coping is about to take place, this is simply a post to voice my outrage.

Sonny Liston was viewed as the most menacing and strong boxer ever in his day. His power and pressure was simply too much for any boxer to handle, he destroyed the heavyweight division and easily claimed the pinnacle of boxing prestige, during a time when boxing was the sport of America. This being the case, why is he never mentioned and usually outright ignored? Well theres two possible reasons for this

1- listons relationship with the press:
During a time when the civil rights movement was a major player in society and sociopolitical discussions, the current champion floyd patterson was a beacon of hope for all black people. He was charismatic, charming, and just barely talkative enough to make him the perfect face of black people. “With such a great figure head they’ll have to start thinking of us as people!” They thought. But all that changed when the big bad bear entered and after EASILY becoming the #1 contender he was forced to wait months for his rightfully earned title bout, which he cleared promptly of course. This hulking behemoth of a man was seen as cruel, destructive, and quite frankly evil. But what they didn’t know, or attempted to ignore was their own hypocrisy. Liston was born in Arkansas with nothing on a farm he was forced to work on. From there he was in a chokehold by poverty and a lack of education which borderline forced him to steal for survival. After being arrested and taught to box in prison, he rose to the pinnacle of the sports world. Any other person would be praised and loved and admired for decades if not centuries to come, but not Liston. He was shamed. After escaping hellish abuse from his father, extreme poverty, and the life of a thug all he got was shaming and boos. How could this have been the result? What went wrong to take us here? Well, sonny wasnt an extremely social man, he once said something along the lines of “I dont talk to my wife, why would I talk to her.” He spoke when necessary and if asked something he didn’t like he would ignore the question or deploy his glare to neutralize you. Eventually due to a hatred of him for what he had “done to black people” and his lack of interaction with the press, the press began to simply make things up. Listons wife said he soon after stated something like “why even talk to them? They’ll hear whatever they want to.” Which further drove a stake in the heart of Sonnys public image. Sonny was a funny man, and a loving one. He made many jokes in his time on the cameras and laughed with several of his interviewers the whole time. But those he didn’t like, got nothing. After years and years of slander, it was done. Sonny Listons legacy was dead and he was forever viewed by the masses as an evil figure.

2- revisionist history:
The objective truth is that Ali was NEVER supposed to beat Liston in their first bout. The fact he did was entirely due to a bias against the fighter. Listons shoulder was obviously very damaged which was confirmed by various medical professionals but a proposition to delay the fight by a mere 5 weeks for the shoulder to heal was declined without any thought given to it. The thought of having Liston fall was far greater than a fair fight, and of course in a fair fight he would never lose. This portion of history has been completely cut out from any piece of media which goes over the legacy of Ali and its frankly disgusting. Not only is the first fight consistently misrepresented but the second is either ignored or a blip in the story, maybe a passing mention. But the truth is that the second bout with Liston was the world at the time. With so much political tension and so many parallels between the two this fight between two fighters who have reached and remain FAR above the skill of any previous fighter was something which would seem impossible to be anything other than a remarkable day in history. But the dive Liston submitted to for the sake of his families lives(if confused refer to paul gallenders interview with fayz boxing) was buried deep, deep in the history of boxing. No casual boxing fan would hear of the intricacies of the even, simply the fact Liston had fallen. Exactly like designed. This portrayal of events allowed that photo to rack up millions of dollars every year and has been immortalized in boxing history.

Conclusion: Liston has been wiped from boxing history outside of circles dedicated to boxing for unfair reasons. He deserves to be praised but sadly that will never be due to evil people who have changed the past.
(I am a meat rider)

 

I agree Liston definitely thought be would’ve won with the injury but its indisputable that he tried to postpone for the injury to heal. He underestimated Ali for sure but had he been fully healed he would’ve decimated him

Liston was definitely above cheating. He had the pride of a fighter and was a good man. No incentive to cheat whatsoever considering all(if not most) his winnings would go to the mob anyways, he died not a very wealthy man. You could say maybe his pride but I dont subscribe to that. I dont believe he would’ve cheated but if you do i cant rlly convince you otherwise

 

If u think he would win or not is up to you but personally I think the matchup is worse for Ali than Liston considering the INSANE reach difference. Seems hard for an out-boxer to overcome.

 

He deserves more.

 

All of the above. He did have horrible company (which he hated working for) but he was trapped. It was fight for them or dont fight at all. Not to mention they basically owned his entire contract.

 

Its a shame well never see how well these modern day boxers stack up against the earlier ones. Maybe if we band together on this forum we can make a time machine and bring Liston and some others over here haha

 

Very vast.