Sonny Liston one of the greatest

[JAB5239]

Pro wrestlers, Power lifters, Body builders, Sumo Wrestlers, NFL Offensive Linemen, NBA Centers; also "infinitely bigger, stronger".....Can't fight a lick, especially in the ring with all the shortcuts blocked off.

Sonny Liston, Cleve Wolliams, Zora Folley would Pele Reid the stiff and upright Vitali Klitschko, I'm afraid.

Perfect response!!

[solidman]

I rate Liston high as a fighter, but the only problem is that he never got off the canvas to win a fight.

[Ben Bolt]

Sonny and Ingemar Johansson jam together in Stockholm 1967. It says, Liston’s visits to Sweden were
among his happier days. He wasn’t treated like a criminal, but with the respect of a sports hero.

Of note: In the early 60s, Ingo said that if he regained the title from Floyd, he wouldn’t give Sonny a title
shot because of Sonny’s shady background. For Ingo, gentlemanly behavior was important.
So it's nice to see this pic from years later, that the guys are getting along well.

gettyimages-515182718-2048x2048.webp

[billeau2]

Perfect response!!

Yeah but what of Valuev?

[solidman]

I rate Liston high as a fighter, but the only problem is that he never got off the canvas to win a fight.

I like this picture

[solidman]

Sonny and Ingemar Johansson jam together in Stockholm 1967. It says, Liston’s visits to Sweden were
among his happier days. He wasn’t treated like a criminal, but with the respect of a sports hero.

Of note: In the early 60s, Ingo said that if he regained the title from Floyd, he wouldn’t give Sonny a title
shot because of Sonny’s shady background. For Ingo, gentlemanly behavior was important.
So it's nice to see this pic from years later, that the guys are getting along well.

gettyimages-515182718-2048x2048.webp

I like this picture

[Willow The Wisp]

That's a great picture of Ingo and Sonny.

[Ben Bolt]

I like this picture

That's a great picture of Ingo and Sonny.

sonny 3.webp We know about Sonny's disappointment when he arrived in his then hometown of Philadelphia after winning the title from Floyd.
Wiki: Upon winning the world heavyweight title, Liston had a speech prepared for the crowd that friends had assured him would meet him at the Philadelphia airport. But upon arrival, Liston was met by only a handful of reporters and public-relations staff. Writer Jack McKinney said, "I watched Sonny. His eyes swept the whole scene. ... You could feel the deflation, see the look of hurt in his eyes. ... He had been deliberately snubbed. Philadelphia wanted nothing to do with him."

Liston must have felt relief during his trips to Europe, where he escaped his bad reputation. I remember reading a biography in which the author described “the best day of Liston’s life” when Sonny rode a white horse in front of a cheering crowd. I looked it up now, and found that the story with the horse took place in the UK 1963.

Boxing News: Liston arrived in the North East city on the night before the [exhibition] show, and was mobbed by fans when he left the train at Newcastle’s Central Station. Next morning, after a bacon and egg breakfast in his suite at the Royal Station Hotel, he took a stroll around the city. Soon recognised, an entourage of several hundred curious admirers followed him back to his hotel. Later that day, a huge throng gathered outside the hotel to see Sonny depart on a white horse, which he rode to the afternoon weigh-in.

The North of England and Newcastle were pretty harsh areas at the time, so one can guess that the citizens felt some kind of kinship with this boxer who, like them, had never had anything served on a silver platter.

sonny 1.webp

[JAB5239]

sonny 3.webp We know about Sonny's disappointment when he arrived in his then hometown of Philadelphia after winning the title from Floyd.
Wiki: Upon winning the world heavyweight title, Liston had a speech prepared for the crowd that friends had assured him would meet him at the Philadelphia airport. But upon arrival, Liston was met by only a handful of reporters and public-relations staff. Writer Jack McKinney said, "I watched Sonny. His eyes swept the whole scene. ... You could feel the deflation, see the look of hurt in his eyes. ... He had been deliberately snubbed. Philadelphia wanted nothing to do with him."

Liston must have felt relief during his trips to Europe, where he escaped his bad reputation. I remember reading a biography in which the author described “the best day of Liston’s life” when Sonny rode a white horse in front of a cheering crowd. I looked it up now, and found that the story with the horse took place in the UK 1963.

Boxing News: Liston arrived in the North East city on the night before the [exhibition] show, and was mobbed by fans when he left the train at Newcastle’s Central Station. Next morning, after a bacon and egg breakfast in his suite at the Royal Station Hotel, he took a stroll around the city. Soon recognised, an entourage of several hundred curious admirers followed him back to his hotel. Later that day, a huge throng gathered outside the hotel to see Sonny depart on a white horse, which he rode to the afternoon weigh-in.

The North of England and Newcastle were pretty harsh areas at the time, so one can guess that the citizens felt some kind of kinship with this boxer who, like them, had never had anything served on a silver platter.

sonny 1.webp

Great stuff. Not sure I've ever seen a picture of Liston the that big and genuine of a smile before.

[BKM-]

Very interesting. The story of Sonny's heart breaking from being snubbed at the airport is quite well known, and in those pictures above he is quite happy with the love he's shown in Europe. It would appear that he really wanted adoration from people for what he accomplished in the sport which paints a different picture of the man.

He would have fit in well in this era with his bad boy image. If I look at all the people who love Mike Tyson despite his wrong doings in life(having done things much worse than Sonny).