Tweet
Like many posters on here I suspect, I know very little beyond cursory details about Charles "Sonny" Liston. While his four most famous fights are against two fighters - Patterson and Ali - generally he sits in my mind as one of the boxers that sits in an earlier, pre-history age. All of the heavyweights we discuss daily are fighters of the AD (Ali Dominates) era, whereas Liston is on the cusp, very much from a BC (Before Clay) age.
It's perhaps not right to regard boxing history in such a way, but that's the way things go, I guess. Before Ali's crossover appeal, what took place over forty years ago is shrouded in vague mystery. I feel almost ashamed to admit it, but even reading up on the subjects and watching documentaries, I probably know more about John Ruiz than I do Johnson, Marciano and Tunney put together.
Yet I saw a nice BBC documentary about Liston, and one thing struck me - he doesn't live up to the stereotype. Historians paint him as a black-hearted beast that was a latter day Tyson, a brutal, monosyllabic monster with a ferocious temper. Look at the recent Ali biopic - his response to Clay's badgering is a chilling "I'm gonna f*** you up!"
Yet looking at genuine footage from the time, Liston seems wittier and drier than he's been portrayed, quite willing to play a forlorn father figure to Clay's brash youth and puncture his overreaching braggadocio with pithy one-liners. I particularly remember Clay getting laughs boasting to reporters that “you’re lucky to be looking at me.” Liston brings the house down by quipping “Clay – let’s hope you look the same when I get through with you.”
There are other lighter touches, such as Clay’s famous “eight” sign to indicate when the fight will end. Liston shoots back with two fingers. The Documentary has Liston acknowledge that he wasn’t the champion that people wanted, but they would have to make do with him until that man came along.
Everything I’ve seen of Sonny seems to present him as a likeable, thoughtful man who was considerate, quick and cared for his wife and was fond of children. A man who was in the sport for money and didn’t believe in getting himself hurt, rather than an unstoppable brute force. And a man who was exploited by people on either side of him – cops and gangsters – in a time when there was no serious protection from either.
So… who’s the real Sonny Liston?
It's perhaps not right to regard boxing history in such a way, but that's the way things go, I guess. Before Ali's crossover appeal, what took place over forty years ago is shrouded in vague mystery. I feel almost ashamed to admit it, but even reading up on the subjects and watching documentaries, I probably know more about John Ruiz than I do Johnson, Marciano and Tunney put together.
Yet I saw a nice BBC documentary about Liston, and one thing struck me - he doesn't live up to the stereotype. Historians paint him as a black-hearted beast that was a latter day Tyson, a brutal, monosyllabic monster with a ferocious temper. Look at the recent Ali biopic - his response to Clay's badgering is a chilling "I'm gonna f*** you up!"
Yet looking at genuine footage from the time, Liston seems wittier and drier than he's been portrayed, quite willing to play a forlorn father figure to Clay's brash youth and puncture his overreaching braggadocio with pithy one-liners. I particularly remember Clay getting laughs boasting to reporters that “you’re lucky to be looking at me.” Liston brings the house down by quipping “Clay – let’s hope you look the same when I get through with you.”
There are other lighter touches, such as Clay’s famous “eight” sign to indicate when the fight will end. Liston shoots back with two fingers. The Documentary has Liston acknowledge that he wasn’t the champion that people wanted, but they would have to make do with him until that man came along.
Everything I’ve seen of Sonny seems to present him as a likeable, thoughtful man who was considerate, quick and cared for his wife and was fond of children. A man who was in the sport for money and didn’t believe in getting himself hurt, rather than an unstoppable brute force. And a man who was exploited by people on either side of him – cops and gangsters – in a time when there was no serious protection from either.
So… who’s the real Sonny Liston?
... LOL!... No one's interested.
Cheeky *****! 
Comment