Sonny Liston - The Real Story Behind the Ali-Liston Fights

I'm not going to do a complete review. There are quite a few of those posted here already, and several of them are pretty good.I became a tremendous Ali fan when growing up, but the Liston fights were before my time. I only had a chance to see them many years later.The first fight is very interesting to me. Unlike the rest of his championship reign before his hiatus, the Liston fight was actually very close. Liston appeared to hurt Ali in the second part of the third round. If you read most of what Ali has said about Liston, before and after this fight, I think you might come away with the impression that Ali was indeed very concerned, and that he concluded that really the only way that he could beat Liston was to trick him.The trick, which Gallender describes very well, was to get Liston so overconfident, that he wouldn't train, or otherwise take Clay seriously. It worked magnificently.He also describes very well (I have read this from other sources) the great shape that Liston was in before Ali's hernia, and raises legitimately the question of what would have happened if this fight had come off. He also raises the point (quite obvious, though I had never heard it expressed so succinctly before) that the people that Ali beat in the first part of his career, on whom his all time greatest reputation is really based (he really had slowed down in the second part of his career) had already been absolutely destroyed by Liston.I think that Gallender also does magnificently in weighting Liston's background appropriately when evaluating his personality. I don't think that very many people think seriously about what it would have been like to have the father that he had, the beatings that he had, to be illiterate, etc - but have this huge strength which was the only way that he was able to succeed. I grew up middle class, had a good education, etc - but when I now think about liston's background, and think about how I would have survived it, I have tremendous empathy for Sonny.I also have always been impressed, when I've watched the brief interview snippets that are available, how good a wit he has. The man was not stupid. Not at all. To be illiterate is not to be stupid.I didn't give the book 5 stars because I thought that Gallender's love for Liston caused him to be unrealistic on some points. I simply do not think that he made a good case for Liston having been born in 1917. EVERY biography of LIston that I've read tell the tale of him leaving his father and going to find his mother in about 1946 (I think that's the year). That story makes some sense if he was a teenager. But if he were 30? Sorry, something is amiss there.He talks about Liston's abilities, that even when considering Clay/Ali an all time great, concludes that LIston would have seriously hurt Ali if he had been in shape and taken him seriously. I don't think he made a great case here. I think that he made a good case that the fight would have been close, but Liston simply didn't knock out everybody (nor has anyone in the history of the division) and one of the things that came out about clay/ali during his career was that he was special. Special in terms of fighting intelligently when he was hurt, and special in his recuperative powers.But - if you're into Ali and Liston, this really is a must read...

I was a young Liston fan when he held the title and I read every magazine article available and numerous newspaper articles on both Liston-Clay/Ali fights. I always believed Liston's explanation about his shoulder injury before the first fight was the truth. I always believed he threw the second fight, and I was convinced the Nation of Islam was involved. Paul Gallender's book on Sonny Liston goes further in depth on both fights than any other book or article I've read in over fifty years. If you want to know what actually happened before, during, and after each of the Liston-Clay/Ali fights, this is by far the best source!

Sonny Liston was the biggest and baddest Heavyweight fighter of them all. He had a jackhammer jab, a left hook that had KO written all over it, and he was generally impervious to opponent's punches. He dominated the heavyweights from 1956-1964 (up until Clay). Yet, because of his lurid prison past, the sportswriters disliked him and he never got his "due" as a truly great heavyweight champion. Well, author Paul Gallender tries to right this wrong with his excellent book on Liston. He argues that Liston was not the thug that most writers made him out to be. He makes a fair case of showing the "softer" side of Liston, but from my perspective, the evidence is pretty thin that Liston was anybody's boy scout.Whenever the name Liston comes up in boxing talk, fans want to know the answers to these three questions: 1. Did Liston quit due to a legit injury in the first Clay fight, or was he told to quit? 2. Why did Liston throw the second Clay/Ali fight? 3. How did Liston really die?While the author adequately and convincingly answers question #1, it is apparent that he sheds no definitive light on the next two questions. Yes, he has theories, but he offers no more than any other book on these last two issues. And for me, this is the reason I purchased the book - to learn more about the dive with Ali and his "mysterious" death. Gallender disappoints on these last two points. Overall, Gallender makes a fine case for considering Liston one of the greatest heavies ever, and posits that only Ali could have beaten him. After reading this book, I tend to agree.I devoured this book in one day. It is a very different look at Liston, although I believe his favorable presentation of Liston is quite biased. The author downplays Liston's assault on a St. Louis policeman and his conviction for armed robbery, as well as his numerous arrests. Did the police harass Liston? Yes indeed. Was Liston treated unfairly by the press - most likely. Was Sonny Liston a saint?Boxing fans will enjoy this unique look at the Big Bear, Charles "Sonny" Liston.kone

I was about nine years old when Sonny Liston fought Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay as he was then) for the first time. Everybdy I knew seemed to think the result would be a foregone conclusion. Apart from my Dad.The author (obviously a Liston fan) gives a good account of why he thinks Sonny Liston lost: why he lost the rematch is not so straight forward; I've formed my opinion you will have to form yours by reading the book.My interest in Sonny Liston was sparked by the track "Song for Sonny Liston" on the CD "Shangrila" by Mark Knopfler (worth buying for its own sake). The book makes the case that Liston ought to have gone down in history as the most powerful world heavy weight champion bar none; I agree.

Sonny Liston was one of the most fearsome heavyweight fighters in history. The author ranks him alongside Ali as the two greatest heayweights of all time. He was also one of the most disliked and unpopular heavyweight champions. Paul Gallender believes this to be largely unfair and that the press image of Liston as a dumb brute was not accurate. Liston did not like boxing and fought because that was the only way he could make a decent living, he grew up in a time when the cards were very much stacked against African-Americans. The author believes that Liston was much older than his offical age and argues that he was probably in his 40s at the time of the Ali fight. There is no conclusive evidence on this anymore than there is with many of the other circumstances surrounding Sonny Liston's life. Although Liston will always remain a somewhat shadowy figure this book is a fine attempt to shine some light on the real man behind the image.

A very well researched and brutally fair , balanced look at a remarkable man who rose from abject poverty to become arguably the most ferocious heavyweight boxer of them all but who was never allowed to leave his past behind and was constantly maligned, ridiculed and abused by gutter press, certain police departments, city council's, and anyone who was trying to make a name for himself by sniping at a man who was hardly ever in a position to defend himself against their intolerable injustices.He was no Angel as he'd had a terrible start to life and been to prison but he was later a magnificent man who did countless charitable acts on the quiet , a real champion of the children, down and outs and anyone he saw who needed a hand.In my opinion Paul Gallender has done a great deal to restore the reputation of Sonny Liston , too late for him , but at least his remaining family ,friends and the general public can see Sonny for who he was a flawed but fantastic human being and for the Boxing world his name should deservedly be at or near the very top of the Greatest Heavyweight s in history

Paul Gallender is angry. He is angry because of the appalling treatment he believes Sonny Liston has received at the hands of history and the media. “Sonny Liston – The Real Story Behind the Ali-Liston Fights” is his immensely detailed and mostly enjoyable attempt to redress the balance, according to which, Liston was, among other things . . . .. . . a highly intelligent man, who merely suffered from lack of education. Here we may note that Liston spent time in prison as a young man after committing a series of muggings. Unfortunately, he chose to wear the same distinctive yellow shirt each time, winning him the title of “Yellow Shirt Bandit”. I’m not sure this can plausibly be put down to a lack of education.. . . a loving, caring husband to Geraldine, who obviously adored him, and a man who loved children. A sensitive Gallender mostly spares the reader the trifling details of Liston’s endless & notorious infidelities, and only briefly mentions that the Listons adopted a boy from Sweden, a fact made all the more extraordinary by the fact that he was almost certainly Sonny’s illegitimate son (if you don’t think it extraordinary, consider what your wife might have done under the same circumstances).. . . a charming, witty conversationalist, always smiling and joking in his private life. The only reason he looked so grumpy in the ring was that once had his jaw broken when punched while laughing.. . . only on the most distant of terms with organised criminals – though the reader cannot help but be impressed how many of the warm endorsements of Liston come from close business associates with names like “Vinny”, “Fingers” or “The Hat” (Frank Sinatra himself spoke very highly of Sonny, if you know what I mean).. . . in possession of an enormous penis.In reality, Liston was no saint. He had a lifelong problem with drink, drugs and bad company, possibly right up to his last moments (he was found dead with a needle in his arm and traces of heroin in his system: rumour suggests that this had been caused by people on whose behalf he had been collecting debts). Besides associating with racketeers and gangsters he was, at times, a violent criminal and a drug dealer.But we shouldn’t be too hard on Gallender for writing mostly in whitewash rather than ink. With a passion & thoroughness bordering on obsession he compels the reader to admire a man whose roots are so obscure that no one knows when he was born or even how many siblings he had, but rose to become heavyweight champion of the world – at a time when there was only one such champion, and it really meant something. What’s more, he makes clear Liston’s tremendous resilience and patience in waiting so long for his chance to get that title, mainly because previous champion Floyd Patterson refused to fight him. The reason Patterson gave, namely the extent of Liston’s underworld connections, was entirely bogus. For one thing, this argument was propagated not by Patterson himself but by his trainer & manager, Cus D’Amato, who eventually lost his own licence due to his own connections to organised crime. (Incidentally, we still lack a proper* biography of D’Amato, one of the most interesting, complex people in all of sport, never mind boxing: a project Gallender could usefully consider.) And the real reason for Patterson’s reluctance to fight was that he was terrified. At any rate, Gallender makes it clear that whatever the reality of his life outside boxing, Liston was a magnificent physical specimen, a tremendous fighter, and – when his time finally came – truly a great champion.What’s more, it is impossible not to feel sympathy for the way he lost the title. Forced to quit during his first fight against Ali mainly because of a terrible shoulder injury (though admittedly also because he was undertrained, having underestimated Ali’s speed, power and chin), Liston lost his chance at a fair rematch when Ali developed a hernia at just the wrong moment. When the rematch finally happened, Liston went down in the first round following a notorious “phantom punch” which no one saw. Ali himself later told stories about the crucial punch being so fast that everyone blinked and missed it, but while Liston was on the canvas Ali stood over his prone form – a moment made immortal in Neil Leifer’s photograph – reportedly shouting “Get up and fight, sucker! No one’s going to believe this!”. The true story of this event is maddeningly unavailable, but Gallender’s theory is that Liston’s family were being held hostage until he hit the canvas, and that both the Mafia and the Black Muslims were involved. Whatever we think of this theory, what is clear is that hardly anyone thinks it was on the level, and remarks made by Sonny himself later in life seem to confirm as much. Liston fought on, but never regained the highest levels of the sport, and never got another crack at the title before meeting his premature and undignified end.Without ever reaching the same heights as the greatest of boxing writing, Gallender’s book wins on thoroughness & compassion. Liston’s reputation deserves a reappraisal, and this is an excellent, if sometimes one-sided start.*According to my extensive research – which means I both Googled it and looked on Wikipedia – D’Amato has inspired a “stage and screenplay” and a “biographical novel” (check it out at [...]), but not a biography in the usual sense.

I feel this book will probably be overlooked and disregarded despite all the hard work that went into it, which is sadly poetic in that it mirrors the life and career of Sonny Liston. It is without exaggeration the best book on boxing i've ever read and the epilogue honestly left me teary-eyed. Paul Gallender does an excellent job of setting a vivid scene or portraying Liston's state of mind at any given moment, the years of research he put into this comes across beautifully. Of course there are facts and details we'll never know but Gallender does his best to piece together the truth and present us with all possibilites. This includes well-reasoned speculation regarding Liston's dive in the second Ali fight and his mysterious death. What i liked most about the book is that Liston isn't defined by the two Ali fights, he was a man in his own right and this book treats him so. I could write paragraph after paragraph about how delighted i am that i bought this book but i'll just leave you with two words, buy it.