Even Muhammad Ali Was Afraid Of Him!

[Music] welcome to the world of boxing [Music] today we will recall one of the most formidable punchers in the entire history of boxing his career and his rather tough life his name was Charles Sonny Liston Sonny Liston born to be a big fruit boxer we'd have these terrible sparring matches he was the only man to ever stand up to me no one has ever stood up to me [Music] [Music] [Music] Charles Sonny Liston was born on May 8 1932 in the most deprived district of the city of Little Rock in one of the poorest state of Arkansas the family had 25 children from one father and two women who were unlucky to be his wives in turn his father Toby Liston tried to grow cotton on ratted land though he didn't really know how to do anything in his life except how to make babies apart from the fact that both wives and children were mercilessly beaten most of all he hated Charlie who was beaten almost every day in the end he got tired of such alive and he moved to his mother so we was given a nickname Sonny which eventually replaced his real name Sonny Liston spent a lot of time on a street he often fought and was regularly taken to the police station one day he was sent to prison for attempting to rob a gas station and on January 15 1950 he was sentenced for two robberies of the first degree from minor things all the way to armed robbery he eventually went to prison in Missouri for armed robbery in prison there was a priest who noticed big and strong Sonny this man would soon become one of the closest friends of Sonny Liston very soon Liston began knocking out everybody in the prison hall without any problems Liston got released with a clear conscience at the end of 1952 he is settling the city of st. Louis Missouri during the year he defeated the strongest amateur boxers and on September 2 1953 Sonny Liston became a professional boxer he wanted to go and goes here and we went to the national championships where he had three fights none lasted more than three minutes so what do you do with him then you got to turn on pro there's no point keeping on amateur so we did Sonny Liston won his first six fights but in the seventh one he lost to Marty Marshall by a split decision Liston's jo was broken in several places but in spite of this he ended the fight on his feet Santa did not break after this defeat and began when and again defeating a rival for a rival he had two bright victories over famous Cleveland Williams and over Zora Foley in your next engagement the man got the title mr. Floyd Patterson currently the heavyweight champion let us ask you this Sonny what do you what have you heard are your chances of getting that title fight I think it's very good from what I hear Manny didn't want this battle to take place but the last word of Floyd Patterson was decisive in this matter they didn't want me to find them either because there was a good chance of him winning the fight and I guess if he should win the fight he would represent the black race I just felt that he is a man who was healed a very similar life to mine and I felt that he should get a chance so I overrode my manager and I gave him a shot I think he's proved himself as far as being a number one contender's concern I personally think that he has every right to fight for the championship despite his pride his unwanted background Kaz D'Amato had no choice and the battle took place on September 25 1962 in Chicago the entire boxing community including President Kennedy demanded that Patterson want but - everybody's disappointment there was enough about two minutes for less than to knock out Patterson and become a new super heavyweight champion of the world [Music] sonny liston moves out to face the big chance of his 28 years of a turbulent life [Music] the final blow in the battle was Liston's monstrous left hook [Music] [Applause] captain [Music] just seemed to sag with the recognition that there was no welcome here for him [Music] liston gaze did the enemy like an executioner who loves his work there was no set isn't at all it was just aggression concentrated to the limit Manny listens rivals recalled that the expression on his face before the fight and during the battle had never changed as some of his rival said who was a kind of a mask only it was putting out in the face but directly on the skull [Music] [Music] would you like to fight him again the rematch with Patterson took place on July 22 1963 in Las Vegas sunny for the second time left no chance of winning to Floyd Patterson [Music] that's just the tickler point I can honestly say tonight and the first time and also tonight Liston was a much better fighter than I was the public is not with me now but they have to swung along until somebody else come along to be funny less than a few days ago catch any okay he's gonna be the world kale the world temps to be pretty like me don't you have any respect for him at all as a fighter as a fighter I think he should be locked up impersonating a fighter [Music] while sunny had the state as a world champion one very bright promising and self-confident character appeared in the world his name was Cassius Marcellus clay it was he who was the main contender for the World crown at the beginning of 1964 despite journalists and fans loved Ali his chances were rated by seven to one [Music] unfabulous in miami gathered a number of sports and showbiz stars as well as 9,000 fans in the stands and millions watching TV most offense predicted lessons easy victory in the early rounds but all of em made a mistake they saw the champions opponent was a boxer with lightweight speed the heavyweights don't fight like this said the commentators and young clay flattered around the ring without lead and less than even touch himself note there's a cafe over at the end of the fourth round a strange situation happened to Cassius Clay something got in his eyes and he was almost blind and was on the verge of stopping this fight but his coach calmed the boxer down and tried to wash his eyes telling him just to run away from Weston in the fifth round after the battle many said that the reason for the situation were Liston's gloves that they were greased with some kind of ointment in his corner so Angelo Dundee his trainer he said he was blind we couldn't see he wanted to quit Dundee sent him back out there he said if you can't fight run Angelo just told him he said just stay away from until it'll go away having spent the fifth round in defense Cassius Clay's vision was restored in the 6th and it confidently continued leading in the fight between the 6th and the 7th round Sonny Liston refused to continue the fight [Music] because I'm into it well a play wanna give me a rematch I'll take it then FB don't imagine how forget it [Music] the rematch took place on May 25 1965 and raised even more questions than the first battle [Applause] what was it the blow of a phantom as the journalists call it or skimming the battle bison Elliston the answer to this question remains unknown until day there was a punch and a hard punch that landed in a vulnerable place there is footage that shows Liston's neck being snapped back by that punch the thing that bothered me is listening to take a hell of a punch I'd seen him fight guys that what devastating punches I see the fight those guys I've seen those guys knocked the daylights out of him for a while but he will always come one to knock them out where'd you think of the fight last night pickles are faked right very fake what did you think I thought it was a phony [Music] after the second defeat from Ally list and begin living his life again apart from life of the world champion he never fought for the champions title again sunny continued fighting in the rain though at a lower level without major problems he dealt with middle class boxers until in December 1969 he met with Leo Diaz Martin who was not afraid of Liston's terrible gaze and managed to knock out the former world champion [Applause] it's not tote this place will be over in Bellaire his last fight Liston hadn't June 29 1970 with the famous boxer Chuck Wepner and defeated him for this fight Liston earned $13,000 but he didn't get a sound of this money a few weeks before the fight Sonny asked his friend lam banker Tibetan his behalf $10,000 and macfoster who wasn't a bad heavyweight and who was supposed to beat the white heavyweight Jerry quarry however in the sixth round Quarry knocked out Foster Sani has banged her for a short delay and when he received money after defeating Wepner the first thing he did was that he returned $10,000 to banker the remaining 3,000 were spent at the corner man coaches sparring partners and other people from his team Sonny was left with nothing On January 5th 1971 Sonny Liston's wife Geraldine returned home and immediately felled the smell of a decomposing body she realized that Sonny was long dead Geraldine found Sonny's body at 8:30 p.m. she called up the police and closer relatives I called my attorney and told him that Sonny was dead you say how you know he's dead I said well he's laying I can see he swallowed up you know so he said you were locked up and don't say anything the police arrived in three hours and determined that Liston died about six days ago Sonny Liston the former heavyweight boxing champion was found dead last night in his Las Vegas home by his wife he was 38 he had been dead for at least a week an autopsy failed to show the cause of death and further studies will be made police said that they found small quantities of what appeared to be heroin and marijuana in the home the was officially stated that the cause of death was an overdose of heroin all his life Liston was afraid of injections and he even canceled fights to Europe in order not to be vaccinated few of his surroundings believed that Liston could take drugs where was the surgical tubing that he would have probably used to wrap around his arm to expose a vein where was the spoon used for cooking had it been moved none of this stuff was present scars on the arms of Sonny Liston which at that time appears and were interpreted to show needle marks people say well he couldn't have done drugs he was afraid of needles nobody knows for sure when he was born just as nobody knows when he died he was a mystery to others and even to himself but he managed to leave a bright mark on boxing history as a person whose opponents were afraid of looking into his eyes [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Your Boxing Guide

Views: 1,357,887

Rating: 4.7168036 out of 5

Keywords: Sonny Liston, heavyweight, puncher, boxing, Liston, documentary, tribute, patterson, Muhammad Ali, Cassius Clay, training, highlight, power, boxing heavyweight, best heavyweight, boxing knockouts, boxing ko, KOs, knock out, cleveland williams, zora folley, Ali vs Liston, Greatest Punchers Of All Time, SportsMix, Movie, boxing history, best moments, recap, interview, youtube, Boxer, formidable punchers, history, muhammad ali

Id: pb8FNofaku4

Length: 17min 40sec (1060 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 12 2019