SGT. PEPPER’S had a lot of sad stories on it and many of the stories including people addicted to drugs and alcohol. Who are the alcoholics on the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Album cover? James Joyce, W.C. Fields, and Tony Curtis are three we can start off with. W.C.Fields’ said, “I only have one regret. I wonder what it would have been like without alcohol.” Next we have to think about four other people who died prematurely in part because of alcohol and they were Lenny Bruce, Edgar Allan Poe, Dylan Thomas, and Marilyn Monroe.
The Beatles were heavily into drugs and some has said that Sonny Liston was addicted to drugs himself. Sadly he was found dead by his wife, Geraldine, in their Las Vegas home on January 5, 1971. Drugs were found at the scene.
_
A reviewer of Francis Schaeffer’s book HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE? noted:
In the mid-sixties, things began to come apart at an ever accelerating rate. It began in the schools, universities, and colleges, where generations of students had been introduced to the idea of man’s ultimate meaninglessness and that there were no absolutes in life. Those ideas brought forth their fruit in the form of violence and rebellion. It began with student disobedience on campus at Berkley in 1964 with the Free Speech Movement. This was a time of widespread student disobedience and it was also the time of the beginning of drugs as an ideology. The popularization of drugs by Aldous Huxley created a new, widespread phenomenon–drugs became a religion. People, students in particular, turned to drugs to find meaning. By giving up hope in finding objective truth they turned to drugs hoping that “drugs would provide meaning inside one’s head.” People such as Psychologists Timothy Leary and Gary Snyder, author-philosopher Alan Watts, and poet Allen Ginsberg were influential in making drugs an ideology and for some even a religion. “This drug-taking was really only one more leap, an attempt to find meaning in the area of nonreason.” For many in this era there was a thought, or as Schaeffer suggests a “utopian dream of the turned-on world,” that the problems of society and even civilization could be solved if enough people were on drugs. This even led to the idea of pouring LSD into the public drinking water of cities around the world. Schaeffer says: “This was not vicious, for the people suggesting it really believed that drugs were the door to Paradise. In 1964 and for some years after, the hippie world really believed this ideological answer.”
Francis Schaeffer observed, ” Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band…for a time it became the rallying cry for young people throughout the world. It expressed the essence of their lives, thoughts and their feelings.”
How Should We then Live Episode 7 small (Age of Nonreason)
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Great article breaking down who is on the cover of SGT PEPPERS
# Sri Yukteswar Giri (Hindu guru) # Aleister Crowley (occultist) # Mae West (actress) # Lenny Bruce (comedian) # Karlheinz Stockhausen (composer) # W. C. Fields (comedian/actor) # Carl Gustav Jung (psychologist) # Edgar Allan Poe (writer)
* Fred Astaire (actor/dancer) * Richard Merkin (artist) * The Vargas Girl (by artist Alberto Vargas) * Huntz Hall (actor) * Simon Rodia (designer and builder of the Watts Towers) * Bob Dylan (singer/songwriter)
# Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator) # Sir Robert Peel (19th century British Prime Minister) # Aldous Huxley (writer) # Dylan Thomas (poet) # Terry Southern (writer) # Dion (singer) # Tony Curtis (actor) # Wallace Berman (artist) # Tommy Handley (comedian)
# Marilyn Monroe (actress) # William S. Burroughs (writer) # Sri Mahavatar Babaji (Hindu guru) # Stan Laurel (actor/comedian) # Richard Lindner (artist) # Oliver Hardy (actor/comedian) # Karl Marx (political philosopher) # H. G. Wells (writer) # Sri Paramahansa Yogananda (Hindu guru) # Sigmund Freud (psychiatrist) – barely visible below Bob Dylan # Anonymous (hairdresser’s wax dummy)
# Stuart Sutcliffe (artist/former Beatle) # Anonymous (hairdresser’s wax dummy) # Max Miller (comedian) # A “Petty Girl” (by artist George Petty) # Marlon Brando (actor) # Tom Mix (actor) # Oscar Wilde (writer) # Tyrone Power (actor) # Larry Bell (artist) # Dr. David Livingstone (missionary/explorer)
# Johnny Weissmuller (Olympic swimmer/Tarzan actor) # Stephen Crane (writer) – barely visible between Issy Bonn’s head and raised arm # Issy Bonn (comedian) # George Bernard Shaw (playwright) # H. C. Westermann (sculptor) # Albert Stubbins (soccer player) # Sri Lahiri Mahasaya (guru) # Lewis Carroll (writer) # T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”)
# Wax model of Sonny Liston (boxer) # A “Petty Girl” (by George Petty) # Wax model of George Harrison # Wax model of John Lennon # Shirley Temple (child actress) – barely visible, first of three appearances on the cover # Wax model of Ringo Starr # Wax model of Paul McCartney # Albert Einstein (physicist) – largely obscured #A Fukusuke, Japanese china figure #A stone figure of Snow White
# Bobby Breen (singer) # Marlene Dietrich (actress/singer) # An American legionnaire # Diana Dors (actress) # Shirley Temple (child actress) – second appearance on the cover # Cloth doll by Haworth of Shirley Temple wearing a sweater that reads “Welcome The Rolling Stones”
sgt pepper’s // Art-directed by Robert Fraser, designed by Peter Blake and his wife Jann Haworth, and photographed by Michael Cooper.
Sonny Liston – ESPN Boxing Documentary
Published on Oct 21, 2013
Documentary on World Champion Heavyweight Boxer Sonny Liston.
Charles L. “Sonny” Liston (c. 1932 — December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer known for his toughness, punching power and intimidating appearance, who became World Heavyweight Champion in 1962 by knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round. Liston failed to live up to his fearsome reputation in an unsuccessful defense of the title against Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali); underworld connections and an early death—along with his unrecorded date of birth—added to the enigma. He is ranked number 15 in Ring Magazine’s 100 Greatest Punchers of All Time.
Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) vs. Sonny Liston (Full Fight, 25th February 1964)
Sonny Liston
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sonny Liston
Liston in 1963
Statistics
Real name
Charles L. Liston
Nickname(s)
Sonny
The Big Bear
Rated at
Heavyweight
Height
6 ft 0.5 in (1.84 m)
Reach
84 in (213 cm) (2.13 m)[1][2]
Nationality
United States
Born
unknown
Sand Slough, Arkansas, U.S.
Died
December 30, 1970
Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Stance
Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights
54
Wins
50
Wins by KO
39
Losses
4
Charles L. “Sonny” Liston (unknown – December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer known for his toughness, punching power and intimidating appearance. A long-avoided contender, he became world heavyweight champion in 1962 by knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round, repeating the knockout in a defense of the title. Although widely regarded as unbeatable, Liston lost the title in 1964 to 7–1 underdogMuhammad Ali. Controversy followed with claims he had been drinking heavily the night before the fight. In the rematch Liston suffered a shocking first round knock-out that led to unresolved suspicions of a fix. He was still a world-ranked boxer when he died in mysterious circumstances. Underworld connections—along with his unrecorded date of birth—added to the enigma. The Ring magazine ranked Liston as the seventh greatest heavyweight of all time.
Early life[edit]
Family[edit]
Charles “Sonny” Liston was born into a sharecropping family who farmed the poor land of Morledge Plantation near Johnson Township, St. Francis County, Arkansas. His father, Tobe Liston, was in his mid-40s when he and his wife, Helen Baskin, who was nearly 30 years younger than Tobe, moved to Arkansas from Mississippi in 1916. Helen had one child before she married Tobe, and Tobe had 13 children with his first wife. Tobe and Helen had 12 children together. Sonny was the second youngest child.[3][4]
Date of birth[edit]
There is no record of Liston’s birth, though in the 1940 census he was listed as a 10-year-old boy.[5][6] It has been suggested Liston may not have known what year he was born, as he was not precise on the matter. He finally settled on a date of birth of May 8, 1932 for official purposes but by the time he won the world title an aged appearance added credence to rumors that he was several years older than he was by then claiming.[6][7][8][9][10]
Youth[edit]
Tobe Liston inflicted whippings so severe on Sonny that the scars were still visible decades later. “The only thing my old man ever gave me was a beating,” Liston said.[11] Helen Baskin moved toSt. Louis, Missouri, with some of her children, leaving Liston—aged around 13, according to his later reckonings—in Arkansas with his father. Sonny thrashed the pecans from his brother-in-law’s tree and sold them in Forrest City. With the proceeds he traveled to St. Louis and reunited with his mother and siblings. Liston tried going to school but quickly left after jeers about his illiteracy; the only employment he could obtain was sporadic and exploitative.[3]
Liston turned to crime and led a gang of toughs who committed muggings and armed robberies. He became known to the St. Louis police as the “Yellow Shirt Bandit,” due to the shirt he wore during robberies. Liston was caught in January 1950. He gave his age as 20, while the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported that he was 22.[3] Liston was convicted and sentenced to five years inMissouri State Penitentiary. His time in prison started on the first day of June 1950.[7]
Liston never complained about prison, saying he was guaranteed three meals every day.[12] The athletic director at Missouri State Penitentiary, Alois Stevens, suggested to Liston that he try boxing, and his obvious aptitude, along with an endorsement from Stevens, who was also a priest, aided Liston in getting an early parole. Stevens organized a sparring session with a professional heavyweight named Thurman Wilson to showcase Liston’s potential. After two rounds, Wilson had taken enough. “Better get me out of this ring, he is going to kill me!” he exclaimed.[13]
Amateur boxing career[edit]
After he was released from prison on October 31, 1952, Liston had a brief amateur career which spanned less than a year. Liston captured the Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions on March 6, 1953, with a victory over 1952 Olympic Heavyweight Champion Ed Sanders. He then outpointed Julius Griffin, winner of the New York Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions, to capture the Intercity Golden Gloves Championship on March 26. Liston was dropped in the first round, but he came back to control the next two rounds and had Griffin hanging on at the end.
Liston competed in the 1953 National Amateur Athletic Union Tournament and lost in the quarterfinals to 17-year-old Jimmy McCarter on April 15. Liston would later employ McCarter as a sparring partner.[14]
Liston boxed in an International Golden Gloves competition at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis on June 23, and knocked out Hermann Schreibauer of West Germany at 2:16 of the first round. The previous month, Schreibauer had won a bronze medal in the European Championships.[15] At this time, the head coach of the St. Louis Golden Gloves team, Tony Anderson, stated that Liston was the strongest fighter he had ever seen.
Professional boxing career[edit]
Liston signed a contract in September 1953, exclaiming: “Whatever you tell me to do, I’ll do.”[13] The only ones who had been willing to put up the necessary money for him to turn professional were close to underworld figures, and Liston supplemented his income by working for racketeers as an intimidator-enforcer. The connections to organized crime were an advantage early in his career, but were later used against him.[16]
Liston made his professional debut on September 2, 1953, knocking out Don Smith in the first round in St. Louis, where he fought his first five bouts. Though not particularly tall for a heavyweight at 6 ft 0.5 in (1.84 m), he had an exceptionally powerful physique and disproportionate reach at 84 inches (2.13 m)[1][2] Liston’s fists measured 15 inches (38 cm) around, the largest of any heavyweight champion. Sports Illustrated writer Mort Sharnik said his hands “looked like cannonballs when he made them into fists.” Liston’s noticeably more muscular left arm, crushing left jab and powerful left hook lent credence to the widely held belief that he was left-handed but utilized an orthodox stance.
Early in his career, Liston faced capable opponents. In his sixth bout, he faced John Summerlin (18-1-2) on national television and won by an eight-round decision. In his next fight, he had a rematch with Summerlin and again won an eight-round decision. Both fights were in Summerlin’s hometown of Detroit, Michigan.[17]
Liston suffered his first defeat in his eighth fight on September 7, 1954, losing against Marty Marshall, a journeyman with an awkward style. In the third round, Marshall nailed Liston—reportedly while he was laughing—and broke his jaw. A stoic Liston finished the fight but lost by an eight-round split decision. On April 21, 1956, Liston defeated Marshall in a rematch, dropping him four times en route to a sixth-round knockout. They had a rubber match on March 6, 1956, which Liston won by a lopsided ten-round unanimous decision.
Liston’s criminal record, compounded by a personal association with a notorious labor racketeer, led to the police stopping him on sight, and he began to avoid main streets. On May 5, 1956, a cop confronted Liston and a friend about a cab parked near Liston’s home. Liston assaulted the officer, breaking his knee and gashing his face. He also took his gun. Liston claimed the officer used racial slurs. A widely publicized account of Liston resisting arrest—even after nightsticks were allegedly broken over his skull—added to the public perception of him as a nightmarish “monster” who was impervious to punishment. He was paroled after serving six months of a nine-month sentence and prohibited from boxing during 1957. After repeated overnight detention by the St. Louis police and a thinly veiled threat to his life, Liston left for Philadelphia.[18]
In 1958, Liston returned to boxing. He won eight fights that year, six by knockout. Liston also got a new manager in 1958: Joseph “Pep” Barone, who was a front man for mobsters Frankie Carboand Frank “Blinky” Palermo.
The year 1959 was a banner one for Liston: after knocking out contender Mike DeJohn in six rounds, he faced Cleveland Williams, a fast-handed fighter who was billed as the hardest-hitting heavyweight in the world. Against Williams, Liston showed durability, power and skill, nullifying Williams’ best work before stopping him in the third round. This victory is regarded by some as Liston’s most impressive performance. He rounded out the year by stopping Nino Valdez and Willi Besmanoff.
In 1960, Liston won five more fights, including a rematch with Williams, who lasted only two rounds. Liston’s physique was artificially enhanced with towels under his robe when he entered the ring.Roy Harris, who had gone 13 rounds with Floyd Patterson in a title match, was crushed in one round by Liston. Top contender Zora Folley was stopped in three rounds and the run of knockouts led to Liston being touted as a “champion in waiting.”
Liston’s streak of nine straight knockout victories ended when he won a unanimous twelve-round decision against Eddie Machen on September 7, 1960. Machen’s mobility enabled him to go the distance. However, Machen’s taunting and his spoiling tactics of dodging and grappling—at one point almost heaving Liston over the ropes—so alienated the audience that Liston received unaccustomed support from the crowd.[19] Before his bout with Liston, Muhammad Ali consulted Machen and was advised that the key to success was to make Liston lose his temper.[19]
Boxing style[edit]
Writer Gilbert Rogin assessed Liston’s style and physique after his win over Foley. He said that Liston was not quick with his hand- or foot-work, that he relied too much on his ability to take a punch, and that he could be vulnerable to an opponent with more hand speed. “But can he hit!” Rogin wrote. “There is power in both his left and his right, even though the fists move with the languor of motoring royalty or as if passing through a gaseous envelope more dense than air.” Rogin called Liston’s body “awesome—arms like fence posts, thighs like silos.” His defense was described as “the gate-crossing of arms a la Archie Moore.”[20]
Title challenge delay[edit]
Liston became the No. 1 contender in 1960, but the handlers of World Heavyweight Champion Floyd Patterson refused to give him a shot at the title because of Liston’s links to organized crime.[21]Ironically, Patterson’s manager, Cus D’Amato, associated with racketeers and had his manager’s license revoked by the New York State Athletic Commission for alleged misconduct in connection with the Floyd Patterson–Ingemar Johansson title fight in June 1959.[22]
Civic leaders were also reluctant, worrying that Liston’s unsavory character would set a bad example to youth. The NAACP had urged Patterson not to fight Liston, fearing that a Liston victory would hurt the civil rights movement.[23] Many African-Americans disdained Liston. Asked by a young white reporter why he wasn’t fighting for freedom in the South, Liston deadpanned, “I ain’t got no dog-proof ass.”[24] However, in the aftermath of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Liston broke off a European boxing exhibition tour to return home and was quoted as saying he was “ashamed to be in America.”[25]
United States President John F. Kennedy also did not want Patterson to fight Liston. When Patterson met with the president in January 1962, Kennedy suggested that Patterson avoid Liston, citingJustice Department concerns over Liston’s ties to organized crime.[26]
Jack Dempsey spoke for many when he was quoted as saying that Sonny Liston should not be allowed to fight for the title. Liston angrily responded by questioning whether Dempsey’s failure to serve in World War I qualified him to moralize.[27] Frustrated, Liston changed his management in 1961 and applied pressure through the media by remarking that Patterson, who had faced mostly white challengers since becoming champion, was drawing the color line against his own race.[28]
Liston vs. Patterson[edit]
Patterson finally signed to meet Liston for the world title on September 25, 1962, in Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois.[29] Leading up to the fight, Liston was an 8-5 betting favorite, though many picked Patterson to win. In an Associated Press poll, 64 of 102 reporters picked Patterson. Sports Illustrated predicted a Patterson victory in 15 rounds, stating: “Sonny has neither Floyd’s speed nor the versatility of his attack. He is a relatively elementary, one-track fighter.” Former champions James J. Braddock, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Rocky Marciano and Ingemar Johansson all picked Patterson to win. Muhammad Ali (at the time a rising contender named Cassius Clay) predicted a knockout by Liston in the first five rounds.
The fight turned out to be a mismatch. Liston, with a 25-pound weight advantage (214 lb (97.07 kg) to 189 lb (85.73 kg)), knocked out Patterson at 2:06 of the first round, putting him down for the count with a powerful left hook to the jaw. Sports Illustrated writer Gilbert Rogin wrote: “that final left hook crashed into Patterson’s cheek like a diesel rig going downhill, no brakes.” It was the third-fastest knockout in a world heavyweight title fight and the first time the champion had been knocked out in round one.
Rogin wrote that Patterson backers expected him to “go inside on Liston, fire away and then run like a thief in the night. He would not close in until the accumulated inside damage and Liston’s own frustration had sapped the challenger’s strength and will.” Patterson’s mistake was that he “did not punch enough and frequently tried to clinch with Liston….In these feckless clinches he only managed to tie up one of Liston’s arms. A grateful Liston found there was no need to give chase. The victim sought out the executioner.” Rogin discounted speculation that Patterson had thrown the fight, writing: “The genesis of all this wide-eyed theorizing and downright baloney was the fact that many spectators failed to see the knockout blows.”[30][31]
Heavyweight Champion of the World[edit]
On winning the Heavyweight Championship of the World, 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.”
During an era when white journalists still described black sportsmen in stereotypes, Liston had long been a target of racially charged slurs; he was called a “gorilla” and “a jungle beast” in print.Larry Merchant, then a writer with the Philadelphia Daily News, wrote: “A celebration for Philadelphia’s first heavyweight champ is now in order….Emily Post would probably recommend a ticker-tape parade. For confetti we can use torn-up arrest warrants.” He also wrote that Liston’s win over Patterson proved that “in a fair fight between good and evil, evil must win.” Some writers thought Liston brought bad press on himself by a surly and hostile attitude toward journalists. He also had a reputation for bullying people such as porters and waitresses.[32]
Liston’s run-ins with the police had continued in Philadelphia. He particularly resented a 1961 arrest by a black patrolman for loitering, claiming to have merely been signing autographs and chatting with fans outside a drug store.[33] One month later, Liston was accused of impersonating a police officer by using a flashlight to wave down a female motorist in Fairmount Park, although all charges were later dropped. Subsequently, Liston spent some months in Denver where a Catholic priest who acted as his spiritual adviser attempted to help bring his drinking under control. After he won the title, Liston relocated to Denver permanently, saying, “I’d rather be a lamppost in Denver than the mayor of Philadelphia.”[24]
Liston vs. Patterson II[edit]
Patterson and Liston had a rematch clause in their contract. Patterson wanted a chance to redeem himself, so they had a rematch on July 22, 1963, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Patterson, a 4-1 betting underdog, was knocked down three times and counted out at 2:10 of the first round. The fight lasted four seconds longer than the first one.[24] Liston’s victory was loudly booed. “The public is not with me. I know it,” Liston said afterward. “But they’ll have to swing along until somebody comes to beat me.”[32]
Liston vs. Ali[edit]
Main article: Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston
Liston made his second title defense against Muhammad Ali—at the time Cassius Clay—on February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach, Florida. Liston was a 7–1 betting favorite. In a pre-fight poll, 43 of 46 sportswriters picked Sonny Liston to win by knockout. Some were surprised during the referee’s instructions to see that Ali was a couple of inches taller than Liston, the so-called “Big Bear.”
Liston charged Ali at the opening bell, looking to end the fight quickly and decisively. However, Ali’s superior speed and movement were immediately evident, as he slipped most of Liston’s lunging punches, making the champion look awkward. Ali clearly gained confidence as the round progressed. He hit Liston with a combination that electrified the crowd with about 30 seconds left in the round and began scoring repeatedly with his left jab (the round lasted an extra 20 seconds because referee Barney Felix didn’t hear the bell).
Liston settled down somewhat in round two. At one point, he cornered Ali against the ropes and hit him with a hard left hook. Ali later confessed that he was hurt by the punch, but Liston failed to press his advantage. Two of the official scorers awarded the round to Liston and the other had it even.
In the third round, Ali began to take control of the fight. At about 30 seconds into the round, he hit Liston with several combinations, causing a bruise under Liston’s right eye and a cut under his left, which eventually required eight stitches to close. It was the first time in his career that Liston had been cut. At one point in this attack, Liston’s knees buckled and he almost went down as he was driven to the ropes.[34] A clearly angered Liston rallied at the end of the round, as Ali seemed tired, and delivered punishing shots to Ali’s body. It was probably Liston’s best moment in the entire fight.[35] Sitting on his stool between rounds, Liston was breathing heavily as his cornermen worked on his cut.
During the fourth round, Ali coasted, keeping his distance. However, when he returned to his corner, he started complaining that there was something burning in his eyes and he could not see. “I didn’t know what the heck was going on,” Angelo Dundee, Ali’s trainer, recalled on an NBC special 25 years later. “He said, ‘cut the gloves off. I want to prove to the world there’s dirty work afoot.’ And I said, ‘whoa, whoa, back up baby. C’mon now, this is for the title, this is the big apple. What are you doing? Sit down!’ So I get him down, I get the sponge and I pour the water into his eyes trying to cleanse whatever’s there, but before I did that I put my pinkie in his eye and I put it into my eye. It burned like hell. There was something caustic in both eyes.” Biographer Wilfrid Sheed wrote in his book, Muhammad Ali: A Portrait in Words and Photographs, that Ali’s protests were heard by ringside members of the Nation of Islam who initially suspected Dundee had blinded his fighter and that the trainer deliberately wiped his own eyes with the corner sponge to demonstrate to Ali’s approaching bodyguards that he had not intentionally blinded him.
The commotion wasn’t lost on referee Barney Felix, who was walking toward Ali’s corner. Felix later said Ali was seconds from being disqualified.[36] The challenger, his arms held high in surrender, was demanding that the fight be stopped and Dundee, fearing the fight might indeed be halted, gave his charge a one-word order: “Run!”
Many theorized that a substance used on Liston’s cuts by Joe Pollino, his cutman, may have inadvertently caused the irritation.[37]
Ali later said in round five he could only see a faint shadow of Liston during most of the round, but by circling and moving frantically he managed to avoid Liston and somehow survive. At one point, Ali was wiping his eyes with his right hand while extending his left arm—”like a drunk leaning on a lamppost” Bert Sugar wrote—to keep Liston at bay.[38] By the sixth round, Ali’s sight had cleared, and a clearly enraged Ali fought a blisteringly aggressive round landing combinations of punches at all angles seemingly at will.[39]
Liston failed to answer the bell for the seventh round, and Ali was declared the winner by technical knockout. It was the first time since 1919—when Jack Dempsey defeated Jess Willard—that a World Heavyweight Champion had quit on his stool. Liston said he quit because of a shoulder injury. Dr. Alexander Robbins, chief physician for the Miami Beach Boxing Commission, diagnosed Liston with a torn tendon in his left shoulder. However, David Remnick, for his book, King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero, spoke with one of Liston’s cornermen, who told him that Liston could have continued: “[The shoulder] was all BS. We had a return bout clause with Clay, but if you say your guy just quit, who is gonna get a return bout. We cooked up that shoulder thing on the spot.”[40]Hall of Fame matchmaker Teddy Brenner also disputed the shoulder injury, claiming he saw Liston use the same arm to throw a chair in his dressing room after the match.[41]
Personal life[edit]
Liston married Geraldine Chambers in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 10, 1950. Geraldine had a daughter from a previous relationship, and the Listons subsequently adopted a boy from Sweden. Liston biographer Paul Gallender claims that Liston fathered several children, though none with his wife. Geraldine remembered her husband as, “Great with me, great with the kids. He was a gentle man.”[24]
Micky Fawcett (right) with Ronnie Kray (left) & boxer Sonny Liston,
Death[edit]
Following the win over Wepner, Liston was going to face Canadian champion George Chuvalo, but the fight never happened. “When I signed to fight him (in December 1970) he’d been dead for a week,” Chuvalo stated years later. “He passed away after I’d sent a telegram to the promoter, agreeing terms to the fight at the Montreal Forum. A day or so later a news report flashes up saying former heavyweight champion of the world Sonny Liston found dead at his Las Vegas home. I’d actually signed a contract to face a dead man.”[49]
Liston was found dead by his wife, Geraldine, in their Las Vegas home on January 5, 1971.[50] On returning home from a two-week trip, Geraldine had smelled a foul odor emanating from the main bedroom and on entering saw Sonny slumped up against the bed, a broken foot bench on the floor. Authorities theorized that he was undressing for bed when he fell over backward with such force that he broke the rail of the bench. Geraldine called Sonny’s attorney and his doctor but didn’t notify the police until two to three hours later.[51]
Sergeant Dennis Caputo of the Clark County Sheriff’s Department was one of the first officers on the scene. Caputo found a quarter-ounce of heroin in a balloon in the kitchen and a half-ounce of marijuana in Liston’s pants pocket, but no syringes or needles. Some found it suspicious that authorities could not locate any drug paraphernalia that Liston presumably would have needed to inject the fatal dose, such as a spoon to cook the heroin or a tourniquet to wrap around his arm. However, former Las Vegas police sergeant Gary Beckwith said, “It wasn’t uncommon for family members in these cases to go through and tidy up…to save family embarrassment.”[52]
Following an investigation, Las Vegas police concluded that there were no signs of foul play and declared Liston’s death a heroin overdose. “It was common knowledge that Sonny was a heroin addict,” said Caputo. “The whole department knew about it.” The date of death listed on his death certificate is December 30, 1970, which police estimated by judging the number of milk bottles and newspapers at the front door.
Coroner Mark Herman said traces of heroin byproducts were found in Liston’s system, but not in amounts large enough to have caused his death. Also, scar tissue, possibly from needle marks, was found in the bend of Liston’s left elbow. The toxicology report said his body was too decomposed for the tests to be conclusive. Officially, Liston died of lung congestion and heart failure.[53] He had been suffering from hardening of the heart muscle and lung disease before his death.[54] Liston had been hospitalized in early December, complaining of chest pains.[55]
Many people who knew Liston insisted that he was afraid of needles and never would have used heroin. “He had a deadly fear of needles,” said Davey Pearl, a boxing referee and friend of Liston’s. “There was nothing Sonny feared more than a needle. I know!” said Liston’s Philadelphia dentist, Dr. Nick Ragni. “He was afraid of needles,” echoed Father Edward Murphy. “He would do everything to avoid taking shots.” According to Liston’s trainer, Willie Reddish, Liston cancelled a planned tour to Africa in 1963 because he refused to get the required inoculations. Liston’s wife also reported that her husband would refuse basic medical care for common colds because of his dislike of needles.[56]
“The month before he died, some guy ran into Sonny while he was making a left turn. He had a whiplash, so they took him to the hospital,” said boxing trainer Johnny Tocco. “He said: ‘Look what they did!’ and he was pointing at some little bandage over the needle mark in his arm. He was more angry about that shot than he was about the car wreck. A couple weeks later, he was still complainin’ about that needle mark. To this day, I’m convinced that’s what the coroner saw in his exam—that hospital needle mark.”[57]
Many believe Liston was murdered. There are several theories as to why: (1) Publicist Harold Conrad and others believed that Liston was deeply involved as a bill collector in a loan-sharking ring in Las Vegas. When he tried to muscle in for a bigger share of the action, Conrad surmised that his employers got him very drunk, took him home, and stuck him with a needle. (2) Professional gambler Lem Banker insists that Liston was murdered by drug dealers with whom he’d become involved. Banker said he was told by police that Liston had been seen at a house that would be the target of a drug raid. Banker said, “Sheriff [Ralph] Lamb told me, ‘Tell your pal Sonny to stay away from the West Side because we’re going to bust the drug dealers.'” Banker later learned that the police told Liston the same thing to his face. He apparently was at the dealers’ house shortly before they got busted. Because of that, the dealers may have thought Sonny ratted on them and they shot him with a hot dose as retribution. (3) The mob promised Liston some money to throw the second Ali fight but they never paid him. As the years passed and Liston’s financial situation worsened, he got angry and told the mob he’d go public with the story unless they gave him the money. That got him killed. (4) Liston was supposed to take a dive when he fought Chuck Wepner six months earlier, and killing him was payback for his failure to do so.[55]
Some believe the police covered up what happened. On January 1, Liston’s wife called Johnny Tocco and said she hadn’t heard from her husband in three days and was worried. A few years before he died, Johnny Tocco allegedly told his good friend, Tony Davi, that he went to Liston’s house and found the door locked and his car in the driveway. Tocco called the police, and they broke into the house. Tocco said that the living room furniture was in disarray but the house did not yet smell of death. He said they found Sonny lying on his bed with a needle sticking out of his arm. Johnny left the house before the police did. “Johnny wasn’t a braggart,” Davi told Liston biographer Paul Gallender. “He told me in the strictest confidence, but it was like he wanted to get it off his chest.” Gallender claims, “A lot of officers knew Sonny was dead before Geraldine returned home on January 5, but they chose to let him rot.”[55]
Sonny Liston is interred in Paradise Memorial Gardens in Las Vegas, Nevada. His headstone bears the simple epitaph: “A Man.”
Professional boxing record[<a title="Edit section: Professional boxing record" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sonn