The Four Who Baffled Liston Feb 1964 article.

:good good post

 

Okay then. Rather than saying this story is total and utter hogwash shall I from now on say "it is unlikely" that laughter was responsible for Listons broken Jaw? There seems to be no mention of it in another version.

In Rob Steen's "Sonny Liston"
Marshall is quoted:
"It was a right cross. It's not true I jumped through the air and whooped and that we were laughing it up all through the fight"

So in this version Marshall says there was no laughter, or that he "whooped".

And Liston is quoted:

"Marshall 's a clown. They told me- who'd bounce and flick punches from all side's. I was standing there, kinda wondering, when all of a sudden he lets out a yell and, with my mouth wide open, gaping, he slugged me right on he jaw. It didn't hurt, but I couldn't close my mouth. I had to fight 6 rounds with my mouth open."

So in this version, this time, Liston is not saying he is laughing but gaping.

The fact is Sonny's jaw was broken. He was punched. This all parties agree on. So this happened.

Marshall says there was no laughter, whooping or jumping. Liston says he was gaping with astonishment in this version but in another version says he was laughing. This side of things is more unlikely.

 

Well I dont think the writer disputes any of this Susan. Right at the start he outlines that "Liston has improved" "perhaps none could do as well against Liston today".

 

When it's a case of one word against another the choice is "it might or might not have happened" or if one party changes the story perhaps it then becomes "unlikely". Either way it is a "legend has it" kind of story. Who knows? Not me. Not you.

 

I now accept the school of thought that "nobody really knows". It might not be hogwash, there is all ways that chance, but then again it might be hogwash after all. There's nothing "jelly and fork" in saying this. Liston told the story two different ways.

Is it a hard fact?