I thought this was a great read: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/48974341 Liston is an interesting character, if it hadn't have been for Ali emerging maybe he would have a far different status?
Not necessarily. The hunger Liston had as a contender wasn't there as a champ...it's pretty common to see, actually. Not sure he had the right makeup to reign for five or seven years with a title, but you wouldn't want to get in his way while he was climbing the ladder.
Mysterious more like murderous So sad sonnys story I'm sure his grave lies next to a airplane run way Thousands take off right by the champs grave and don't even know it The man , one of the greats
You may be right there. It seems as if he came late to boxing, given his physical gifts it's a pity he had such a chaotic early life, but maybe that gave him the fire to get to the top. If he was forced to throw that second fight with Ali it must've been difficult to live with.
Damn one of twenty-five kids. Haven't read the full article yet; all I'll say is there was a reason Cus d'Amato would never sit in a restaurant with his back to the door.
Definitely worth putting aside a few minutes for it. Fair play to BBC Sport online, they occasionally come up trumps...
Cheers mate, will do. Crazy thing is there are LOADS of boxing stories worthy and capable of being written about like this.
I believe he threw both fights and was murdered afterwards. Ali may still well have been too good for him at that stage of his career but he was involved with organised crime and I don't think it's implausible that they bumped him off to make sure he kept his mouth shut.
At the foot of his bed with his feet on the floor There was dope in his veins and a pistol on the drawer There was no investigation as such He hated needles but he knew too much This content is protected
The first fight wasn't fixed. It was a boxing lesson, game of reflexes, young vs old. The 2nd fight however......
I’m not sure about this one.. He had that aura of invincibility and put fear in all his opponents before the bell.. He just ran into a guy that was his matchup nightmare in his prime in Ali.. Ali turned out to be the greatest HW for a reason and Liston unfortunately won the title during his era.. Not to mention he was much older than he admitted to being.. The first fight exposed his limitation but no other HW in that era fought like Ali
Liston is overrated to make Ali look better. Sonny Liston beat Floyd Patterson a natural 180 pound guy and Liston beat slow plodding Cleveland Williams. That was pretty much it. Beating Patterson a guy who would be a small cruiser weight by today's standard and beating Williams doesn't make you a world class elite heavyweight. Liston was lucky to come around at the right time. If he would of turned pro doing the late 70's plus he would of never won a title and would of never been considered anything special. He wouldn't be able to intimidate guys like Joe Frazier, Ron Lyle, George Foreman who would of all smashed him. Guys like Jerry Quarry would of broke him down. Larry Holmes would of picked him apart. There is no footage of Al Jones known to exist but based off his record and size he would easily beat Liston. Hell even guys like Leroy Jones of been to much for him. Liston's whole deal was intimidating 180 pound guys back in the 50's and early 60's. These old time senile boxing fans just want to believe the era they grew up in was better than it actually was.
