Here is my reason. Sonny Liston wasn't accepted because of his criminal past and the fact he didn't like the media.You have to think back to the times Sonny fought in which were the 50's and 60's.Back then you didn't become more popular for going to jail like you do now and people didn't want to accept someone like that as a champion.The black community at the time didn't accept him because he represented everything they wanted to distance themselves from.Black people were trying to advance in society and they saw Liston as someone who could set them back.If Sonny were around now he would fit right in,he would be a huge star for being a jail bird and having a shady background. We seem to promote that kind of character these days,which should tell you something about how things have changed. Liston was also a very quiet person and didn't like the media much at all because he could see them for what they really were. Much of the media can be very biased towards people that don't give them what they want.What Sonny failed to give them was story or quotes or a marketable personality.Since they didn't get that from him he wasn't promoted or written about with the same adoration as guys who did play ball with them.Since Sonny wasn't marketable he didn't make much money as champion and combined with his dominance he was a tough sell.More important those running Liston's career weren't making money either and that was the end of Sonny's championship reign.Certain fighters are christened as media darlings from the start,for either their personality or their looks or sometimes both.Then other guys are never given a fair shake by the media because they don't provide them with good material.Liston was quiet,uneducated and had a criminal record,he just happened to dominate everyone he fought and the journalists and sports reporters at the time couldn't make a name for themselves off of his life.You see how the media's influence can change people's perception of a fighter.It's why to this day we still have overrated/underrated arguments about fighters and other athletes.It's also why HBO commentators are very pro HBO fighter no matter how average or bad that fighter is looking during their fight.
Part of the problem was that Liston was essentially a shy man, and this made him behave in a way that some people interpreted as surly/threatening. If a fan offered him a gift, he would take it like an Emperor accepting a tribute from a beaten opponent, and part of that was because he wasn’t comfortable dealing with the situation. Liston was comfortable in the company of children, because he was intimidated by adults.
good post but i don't think anyone indtimidated Liston. This was a man who would beat cops up and the cops breaking nightsticks over his head didn't do anything to him.
Nobody intimidated him physically, but practically everybody intimidated him socially. He was only comfortable around children, the elderly, and gangsters.
He also shied away from groups because he was afraid he would be asked to read or write something and he couldn't read or write. He was illiterate. His wife taught him to write his name so he could sign autographs.
I am not even sure how much time Sonny actually did, I heard 5 years but in state jail parole back then was 60% which means he may have only been in the slammer 2 years or so.....not a lot of time at all...they call it a skid bid
Sonny was one of the scariest looking Heavyweights ever and with the dead-pan face and the Jailbird reputation and as black as he was not their poster boy
