And given his actions when knocked
down, it appears that the punch upset
Liston’s equilibrium. Liston didn’t
remain on the canvass, which the famous
photo might lead one to believe.
He rose and continued to fight, until
the hapless referee Jersey Joe Walcott
stopped the fight on the instructions of
the sports writer. Nat Fleischer had a
problem with Sonny Liston and didn’t
include him among the top heavyweight
fighters of all time. Though the Ali
biographers tend to breeze by Liston’s
1960 fight with Eddie Machen,
Machen’s strategy provided the blueprint
for Ali. Machen ran, ducked and
fought in flurries. He showed that
Liston was vulnerable to an overhand
right as evidenced by the egg-like
swelling over Liston’s left eye.
16
Liston wasn’t able to knock Machen
out as he had done with other
contenders and became so frustrated
that he delivered three low blows.
It gave the final round to Machen.
After the fights with Ali, Liston was
never again given the opportunity
to fight for the championship, but
continued to bust up some contenders.
His reputation was destroyed by
sports writers and commentators, who
then, as now, believe that they know
more about boxing than the fighters.
Like those who broadcast Floyd
Mayweather’s second fight with Marcos
Maidana. They said that Mayweather
had been helped in his defeat of
Maidana with the aide of the referee.
They also disputed Mayweather’s claim
that he’d been bitten by Maidana.
“How,” they asked, “could he have been
bitten when he was wearing gloves?”
Paulie Malignaggi had to explain to
them that he’d been bitten by a boxer
while wearing gloves and it hurt.
BRN-SPRING-2015.indb 16
Similarly, while sportswriters who
have never entered the ring, like Jazz
critics who fake it, accused Liston of
being in on a fix, three champions,
Rocky Marciano, José Torres and James
Braddock, “The Cinderella Man,” said
that it was a legitimate punch that
knocked Liston down.
They say that for an aging champion,
and Liston might have been forty
when he fought Ali, power is the last
asset to go. And so it was with Liston.
His last fight was with Chuck Wepner,
whose knock down of Ali was the basis
for the Rocky films. Liston beat him
so badly that Wepner was to say that
“every time he hit me in the face, he
broke something.” Liston received
thirteen thousand dollars for that fight.
He was supposed to have received
fifteen thousand. So was Liston an
animal? Liston had a dry wit and a
shrewd intelligence. He loved ch ildren
and there is an account that the mob
frightened Liston by kidnapping one of
his children if he didn’t take a dive.
Liston gave money to charity and was
known to do good works. Most of
those who knew him vouch for his
good character and his intelligence.
Few mention his witty repartees to Ali’s
clever verbal jabs, in the hundred or so
worshipful books about Muhammad
Ali. They feature his clever goading of
Liston, which got Liston so angry that
he fought a clumsy first fight with Ali.
His spouse Geraldine said that he was
a good husband. But like many, he
could be a mean drunk and there are
a couple of accusations of rape. Liston
continued to have bad luck. He was
often harassed by the police. Two of
these jokers thought that it was funny
to give him a traffic ticket every day for
a hundred days. He was once given a
traffic ticket when he wasn’t even driving
the car. He busted up a drunken cop
who called him a “black ass nigger.“
During a second incident involving the
police, he deposited a cop into a trashcan.
He was persecuted by the police in
Philadelphia, St.Louis and Denver.
He was arrested, capriciously, by both
the Philadelphia and Denver police.
Certainly he got into trouble with the
law during his youth, but so did
Patterson and other fighters like George
Foreman and trainer Emanuel Steward,
who trained for their careers by
participating in street fights. A judge
sent Floyd Patterson to the Wiltwyck
School for Boys.
When Liston’s body was found, it was
surrounded by drug paraphernalia.
But his friends said that he didn’t touch
drugs. Geraldine Liston said that he was
afraid of needles. Moreover, wouldn’t
his drug use have been detected when
he was examined for the Wepner fight,
three months before his death? Emanuel
Steward and Khalilah (Belinda)
Muhammad told me that he was
probably murdered.
3/29/15 11:41 AM