Fifty years ago today in Las Vegas, Charles ?Sonny? Liston defended his heavyweight title by knocking out former champ Floyd Patterson at 2:10 of the first round. The bout lasted four seconds longer than their first fight ten months earlier. Liston, a hugely unpopular, black ex-convict with organized crime associations not of his making, had an unbreakable grip on the most prestigious individual title in sports.
Trainer Angelo Dundee said Liston stood over the heavyweight division like a colossus. Joe Louis called Sonny ?the greatest heavyweight champion in history,? while Archie Moore described him as ?something extraordinary with a pair of Everlast gloves.? Compliments simply do not come any better than that and you?ll never find a boxer who was more respected and feared by his peers than was Sonny.
Much of the country was less than thrilled by this state of affairs. Calls for the abolition of boxing were heard in all parts of the country, and Sonny thought he knew why: ?Because they know that no white man is going to be heavyweight champion for a long time to come. And they don?t go for that.?
Liston had long been a lightning rod for racism. Sportswriters insulted him so viciously that John Q. Public perceived him to be a species unto himself. Among other things, Sonny was called an inferior Negro, less than human, slow-thinking, a primitive in a primitive profession, a latter-day caveman, a savage, glaring-eyed gorilla, a rogue elephant, a congenital thug, a cop hater, and stronger than a yoke of oxen and just as dumb. Sonny was basically too big, too black, and too damn good for most of white America.
On the morning of his mandatory rematch with Patterson, Sonny played with young white children at the Thunderbird Hotel pool. A few hours later, he and his wife Geraldine dined in the casino?s restaurant and could have passed for tourists. The rush of excitement that surrounds a heavyweight title fight was absent because the outcome of this match was never in doubt. As far as Sonny was concerned, it was just something he had to do.
After comedian Shecky Greene finished the first of his two shows at the Riviera Hotel that evening, he took a cab to the fight. ?Keep the motor running,? Shecky told the taxi driver. ?I?ll be right out.? Sure enough, Shecky was back at the Riviera in plenty of time for his second show.
When Sonny entered the ring, the booing was so intense that journalist A.J. Liebling thought the crowd resented the champ?s competence. The Convention Center crowd booed loudly again when he was introduced. ?If the public?s not with me now,? Liston thought to himself, ?they?ll just have to swing along till somebody else comes along to beat me.?
Even before the official announcement, young Cassius Clay jumped in the ring, grabbed a microphone, and assumed center stage. To most boxing people, the soon-to-be Muhammad Ali was an audacious, entertaining, extremely good looking, seemingly foolish and hopelessly overmatched 21-year-old kid who for reasons they could not fathom thought he was ready to fight the toughest and most menacing man on the planet.
The first thing Sonny said at his post-fight press conference was that he was anxious to get home to his lovely wife. He wore slacks, a blue denim shirt, and a straw hat with a feather in it and looked like a guy who?d just spent a casual evening with friends. He had learned to expect stupid questions from sportswriters and they didn?t disappoint.
A reporter asked the champ if Patterson had fought better this time. ?Didn?t you see the fight?? Sonny shot back. When asked if Patterson should retire, he diplomatically offered, ?Who am I to tell a bird he can?t fly?? Asked how long he planned on holding the title, Sonny said, ?That?s like asking God how long you want to live?as long as I can.? This was Sonny Liston?direct, philosophical, humorous and honest, qualities which are still unknown to the public at large.
Clay went to Sonny?s victory party hoping to anger the champ, but he?d have far more success over the next seven months than he did that night. ?Come on over and sit on my knee and finish your orange juice,? said Sonny. He waved his championship belt over his head and told his soon-to-be-tormentor that it was something he?d never get. ?Listen kid. You?d better fight my trainer instead of me. You?d still lose, but at least you won?t get killed.?
The reviews of the fight underscored Liston?s dominance. ?It must now be admitted that he is a superb fighter,? wrote Sports Illustrated?s Robert H. Boyle. ?He is huge yet lithe, a rare blending of strength, balance, and reflexes.? Time compared Liston?s performance to a man killing a rabbit with a stick. Rocky Marciano said Sonny was so big and strong, it was almost like he was walking through Patterson.
More than 1,500 people greeted the champ when he returned home to Denver. Sonny thanked the crowd for coming before cutting a huge chocolate cake decorated with boxing gloves and inscribed, Welcome Home Sonny. ?I?ll cut Clay in half like this cake,? Liston joked, brimming with happiness and confidence. For a man who craved acceptance, this may have been the happiest moment of Sonny?s life.
Geraldine said she and her husband talked about the reception late into the night and they were both thrilled beyond words. Sonny told her he wanted to build a $150,000 home there raised high so he could see the mountains. He was counting on the Clay fight to help him pay for it. ?Clay?s the nicest thing to come along since Christmas,? he said.
Needless to say, things didn?t work out the way Sonny had planned. In less than two years, he would complete the most precipitous fall in the history of sports. He died under mysterious circumstances almost 43 years ago and is remembered primarily as a footnote to the career of Muhammad Ali. History has not been kind to the man known as the Bear.
The most enduring image of my friend is the one where he?s lying on the canvas in Lewiston, Maine, with Ali standing over him, screaming at him to get up. That is unfortunate and grossly unfair, because Sonny had to lose that fight in order to save the lives of his wife and child. His decision to lie down was an easy one because nothing was more important to Sonny than his family. However, his legacy went down with him that night.
So, Happy Anniversary, Sonny, and here?s to better times. I got your back, and so does Josie Roase.
