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Charles "Sonny" Liston (May 8, 1932 –
December 30, 1970), was a boxing|boxer who became
List of Heavyweight Champions|world Heavyweight
champion, and whose life and personality were
always obscure. As a boxer, his nickname was The
Big Bear.

Ring Magazine named him number fifteen all time
among boxing's best punchers in 2003.

== Early life ==
There is considerable uncertainty about when
Liston was actually born. Liston gave his year of
birth as 1932, However, many believe that he was
born in 1927. Liston was born the son of a
sharecropper in Arkansas. He was one of seventeen
children. Liston endured frequent beatings as a
child. He started to work early as his father's
opinion was: "if he can sit at the table, he can
work". 

At the age of 13 he escaped from his father to St.
Louis to reunite with his mother. His childhood
experience sent him on a violent path that led to
prison. He had a bad reputation, but at home he
was gentle and loving. His mean appearance in
interviews was simply a result of bashfulness. 

When he was sentenced for the armed robbery of a
gas station, his boxing talent was discovered by a
Catholic priest. Boxing helped him leave jail
early. On Halloween night of 1952, he was paroled,
and during a brief amateur career that spanned
less than a year, he won several awards, including
Golden Gloves.

== Professional boxing career ==
Liston made his professional debut on September 2,
1953, knocking out Don Smith in the first round in
St. Louis, where he campaigned for the first five
fights of his career. In his sixth bout, in
Detroit, Michigan, he faced John Summerlin, who
was 22-1, on national television. Liston won a
narrow eight round decision. In his next bout he
beat Summerlin in a rematch, and then, he suffered
his first defeat, at the hands of Marty Marshall
on another eight round decision, also in Detroit.

In 1955, he won six fights, five by knockout.
Among the fights won, there was a rematch with
Marshall, whom he beat in six rounds. 

A rubber match with Marshall in 1956 saw him the
winner by a ten round decision, but in May of that
year, he ran afoul of the law once again, when he
beat up a police officer in an incident that was
unclear, many rumors and allegations of how it
happened coming into the public light. He was
forced to stay away from boxing during 1957 while
serving a nine month sentence. He was paroled
after six months in jail. 

In 1958, he returned to boxing and began slowly
but steadily raising the quality of his opponents.
He won eight fights that year, including one over
Ernie Cab, and accused the top heavyweights of the
era of dodging him. 

1959 was a good year for Liston. He knocked out
Mike DeJohn in six, number one rated challenger
Cleveland Williams (who would later challenge for
the world title) in three and Nino Valdez in
three. In total, he fought four times, winning all
of them by knockout.

In 1960, Liston won five more fights, including a
rematch with Williams, who only lasted two this
time, wins over Roy Harris, Zora Folley and Eddie
Machen.

In 1961, he had trouble with the law again, and
his license to box was suspended by United States
boxing commission for one fiscal year. He had
difficulty getting a deserved shot at Floyd
Patterson whose handlers tried to use Liston's
links with the mafia (Carbo and Palermo) as an
excuse against the fight.

In 1962, Liston was finally signed to meet world
heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson for the
title. The fight was going to be held in New York,
but New York's commission denied him a license
because his suspension was still in force. As a
result the fight moved to Comiskey Park, Chicago,
Illinois, where it was agreed that the fight would
be held as soon as the suspension was lifted.
Liston and Patterson  met on September 25 of that
year, and Liston became world champion by knocking
out Patterson in the first round. Liston was very
disappointed though that on his comeback to
hometown Philadelphia, the fans did not come to
cheer him. He wasn't a liked champion.

During his time as a world champion, rumors of
Liston's connections with members of the
underworld and gamblers were common. These rumors
would be strengthened later on in his life.
Nevertheless, Liston enjoyed the kind of fame he
could never dreamt of:  he was a household name,
appeared on the cover of Ring Magazine and even
made a television commercial for Trans World
Airlines. 

Patterson and Liston signed up for a rematch, to
be held in 1963, on the evening of July 22 in Las
Vegas, Nevada. This time the fight lasted exactly
four seconds longer than the original fight,
Liston once again the winner.

Liston did not box again that year, and in 1964,
he met a young contender named Muhammad
Ali|Cassius Clay on the evening of February 25 in
Miami, Florida. During training for the fight,
Liston was taunted mercilessly by Clay, who
alleged to his corner that Liston blinded him in
the third round using an unknown substance smeared
on his gloves. No evidence was found to
substantiate the allegations, and Liston lost his
title when he quit in his corner before the start
of the seventh round, after dislocating his
shoulder. Some experts believe that the shoulder
has not been the real cause (upon the analysis of
video and the punches thrown). Instead, Sonny
might have simply lost his heart for fight having
his face beaten to a pulp with Clay's jabs.
Liston also was known in London for drinking with
the Krays,Liston punched one of the twins in the
face.
Liston was charged for over 250 offences in his
life.



=== The Phantom Punch ===
Liston's next fight was a rematch. It proved to be
an event that overshadowed the rest of his career.
The fight was held in a small high school gym in
Lewiston, Maine, before 1,254 paying customers. It
was the smallest crowd ever for a world
heavyweight championship bout, but it was telecast
nationwide.  

Liston lost by a knockout in the first round. The
punch with which Ali knocked out Liston became
known as The Phantom Punch because it was barely
visible, even when it was shown in slow motion.
Even Clay was surprised, yelling "Get up and
fight! Get up!". Rumors that Liston threw away the
fight as a way of repaying a debt to gamblers
would taint Liston's reputation in the years
ahead. However, no concrete evidence of these
allegations were found. According to Liston's
wife, the punch was real, but not strong enough to
put him out for good. However, when on the canvas,
Liston realized he was not able to win the fight
and decided to toss the outcome.

=== Subsequent fights ===
Liston took one year off from boxing, returning in
1966 and 1967, winning four bouts in a row in
Sweden, including one over Amos Johnson. In 1968,
he won seven fights, all by knockout, including
one in Mexico.

In 1969, he had three wins and one loss. Among his
wins was a 10 round decision over Billy Joiner at
St. Louis, but in his last bout of that year, he
lost by a knockout in nine to Leotis Martin at Las
Vegas.

== His death ==
Liston seemed to be ready to mount another
comeback in 1970, having beaten future Ali world
title challenger Chuck Wepner (who also became
Sylvester Stallone's inspiration for him to write
the first Rocky movie), by a knockout in ten.
However, on the evening of December 30 of that
year, his wife found him dead in their apartment.

She had gone to her parents' home for Christmas.
As he didn't return her calls, she returned early.
The smell in the house made her think that Sonny
must have cooked something bad. She found him dead
in bed. Police found no signs of foul play. Some
drugs, including marijuana, were found in the
house. His blood contained traces of morphine and
codeine. The precise cause of Liston's death is
mysterious: the police declared it a drug
overdose. There were rumours he died with a
syringe in his arm (not confirmed by his wife who
found him). His friends also said he had a phobia
of needles. All this prompted rumors that he could
have been murdered by some of his underworld
contacts.

Liston is interred in Paradise Memorial Gardens in
Las Vegas, Nevada.

== Trivia ==
*Liston's image appears on The Beatles's album
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
*Liston made a cameo appearance as a boxer in the
1968 in film|1968 film Head (movie)|Head.
*Several books about his life have been published,
and his life has also been documented on TV
documentaries and a TV movie. 
*Mark Knopfler penned the biographical and
somewhat sympathetic "Song For Sonny Liston" for
his 2004 album Shangri-La (Knopfler
album)|Shangri-La.
*Liston's name appears in The Mountain Goats song
'Love Love Love' on the album 'The Sunset Tree',
and in The Dictators' song "Borneo Jimmy" on the
album Bloodbrothers.
*Sonny has a adopted son, Paul Liston
*The 1995 song
"http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~moz/lyrics/othermor
/sunny.htm Sunny" by British pop singer Morrissey,
is reportedly about Liston.

== See also ==
*Ali versus Liston

== Reference ==
*Nick Tosches, The Devil And Sonny Liston, 2000,
Little, Brown, USA, ISBN 0316897752
== External links ==
*http://www.ibhof.com/liston.htm International
Boxing Hall of Fame - Sonny Liston
*http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/sliston.htm
The Cyber Boxing Zone - Sonny Liston

start box
succession box |
  before= Floyd Patterson |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion |
  years= 1962–1964 |
  after= Muhammad Ali|Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali)

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