It made a champion out of Clay, who declared that hed shook up the world.. There are no official records of his birth Naturally, they decided that Ali would take on Liston. Sonny Liston had a very sad upbringing & had to learn to survive at a young age. Pan, 2017. said Liston's Philadelphia dentist, Dr. Nick Ragni. Frank Mir was around that height and was noticeably taller than Carwin. The ending of the fight remains one of the most controversial in boxing history. The grave's marker-plate bears the dedication: "A Man. And Tex Maule of Sports Illustrated wrote, "The blow had so much force it lifted Liston's left foot, upon which most of his weight was resting, well off the canvas. "[35], Patterson and Liston had a rematch clause in their contract. To this day, I'm convinced that's what the coroner saw in his examthat hospital needle mark. Boston: Little, Brown. THE PREFIGHT MOODS OF SONNY LISTON. Then again, you can also have guys like Ali or Mike Tyson. I wasn't hit. [5][6] Alfie Potts Harmer in The Sportster also ranked him the third greatest heavyweight and the sixth greatest boxer at any weight. Boxings brightest young star was again squaring off against a renowned bruiser in a rematch of their thrilling and controversial heavyweight championship fight one year prior, a fight that was followed by 14 months of international intrigue and the combustible politics of the 1960s. ", confirmed most people's belief that Liston had taken a dive. ", Hutchison, Phillip J. "A blues song just for fighters: The legend of Sonny Liston. That would prove to be an understatement. I'm Sonny Liston, I'm Jack Dempsey, there's no one like I'm from their . At one point, Liston had Clay against the ropes and landed a hard left hook. Sonny Liston was a bad, bad guy who was also a victim, and I dont know that anyone can point to when a victim becomes a perpetrator and how much sympathy he deserves, but I also think any holistic take is fair this far in history. "At about noon on the day of the fight, (Magids) reached Resnick again by phone," the memo read. Liston was knocked down in the first round, but came back to control the next two rounds and had Griffin hanging on at the end. Shaun Assael. This interview is missing a "BOOOOOOOMZQUAD!!" Felix later said Clay was seconds from being disqualified. Gallender claimed, "A lot of officers knew Sonny was dead before Geraldine returned home on January 5, but they chose to let him rot. The date of death listed on his death certificate is December 30, 1970,[90] which police estimated by judging the number of milk bottles and newspapers around the front door of the property. Ali did neither. When Machen clinched in . In his sixth bout, he faced ranked heavyweight Johnny Summerlin (18-1-2) on national television and won in an eight-round decision. "He said, 'Cut the gloves off. No, I'm Alexanderhe's no Alexander. Liston did eventually rise from the mat, but soon after, the referee broke up the two boxers once again the former champion had been down for more than 10 seconds, ending the fight. The interference of ringside reporters regarding interpretation of the rules, the fight stoppage and the controversy after the fight had not been seen since The Long Count Fight between champion Gene Tunney and challenger Jack Dempsey in 1927. Governor John H. Reed of Maine stepped forward, and within a few hours the promoters had a new site: Lewiston, Maine, a mill town with a population of about 41,000 located 140 miles (230km) north of Boston. In these feckless clinches he only managed to tie up one of Liston's arms. Joe Louis commenting on TV at ringside said "It's looking good for Sonny Liston". Liston was allegedly present at dealer Earl Cage's residence during a raid by narcotics detectives. Clay confessed later he had been hurt by the punch, but Liston was unable to press his advantage home. Charles "Sonny" Liston was born c.1930 into a sharecropping family that farmed the poor land of Morledge Plantation near Johnson Township, St.Francis County, Arkansas. Walcott never began a count in the ring because of Ali's non-compliance and his physical struggle with getting Ali to go to that neutral corner. "He was scared of the police. Numerous fans booed and started yelling, "Fix!" Liston was particularly known for his immense strength, formidable jab, long reach, toughness, and his infamously intimidating appearance. His family's home state of Arkansas did not make birth certificates mandatory until 1965. Never before seen Sonny Liston interview. Support this Channel: https://www.patreon.com/join/LegendsofBoxing Merchandise: https://www.redbubble.com/peo. Good lord, Sonny's mitts are massive. 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. [24], In 1958, Liston returned to boxing. "He was scared, he was scared of so many things," Knopfler said. From the opening bell Liston attempted to close with Clay, looking to land a hard punch to the head to end the fight quickly and decisively. On May 5, 1956, a policeman confronted Liston and a friend about a cab parked near Liston's home. Liston went down at 1:44, got up at 1:56, and Walcott stopped the fight at 2:12. 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 whom he showed durability, power and skill, nullifying Williams' best work before stopping him in the third round. He pulled the same stuff Walcott did against Marciano. 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 drugstore. [103], Sonny Liston was featured in a novel "Girl Fighter" with a brief reference to his early life, his rise to WBC heavyweight champion and his eventual losses to Clay/Ali.[104]. [50] Dave Anderson of the New York Times said Liston "looked awful" in his last workout before the fight. I didn't think it was a powerful punch when I saw the fight from ringside," he said. He talked of a fight with Joe Frazier, claiming, "It'd be like shooting fish in a barrel." Stevens organized a sparring session with a professional heavyweight named Thurman Wilson to showcase Liston's potential. "Sonnyboyliston | Race Record & Form | Racing Post", "Moonfire (1972), a film by Michael Parkhurst -Theiapolis", NYSAC World Heavyweight Champion - BoxRec, Lyrics to a song about Liston by Mark Knopfler, FBI Records: The Vault - Charles Sonny Liston, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sonny_Liston&oldid=1137950795, International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees, 20th-century African-American sportspeople, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2016, Pages with login required references or sources, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Hackman, Timothy. In the 2015 British crime film Legend, Liston is played by Mark Theodore in a scene where gangster Reggie Kray poses for a picture with the boxer. He won eight fights that year, six by knockout. [101], Liston played a fist fighter in the 1965 film Harlow, made a cameo appearance in the 1968 film Head, which starred The Monkees, and played the part of The Farmer in the 1970 film Moonfire, which starred Richard Egan and Charles Napier. Ira Gay Sealy/The Denver Post via Getty Images According to the post, he returned back home later that morning and called his sparring partner Gary Bates to tell him he was leaving for Los Angeles but that they should get together when he returned in a couple of days. "I'm doing a portrait of a life, really, in a way, so you are trying to get the whole thing into just a few verses. Liston was depicted as a bad guy by the media, a handbreaker for the mafia. [31] While Liston began working into shape with hopes for a heavyweight title shot, he also continued his criminal behavior. The rumors swirling nearly canceled the fight the night prior, and when a reporter that morning broke tradition and asked if Clay was a member of the Black Muslims, as the group was often called, the boxer confirmed his new religion. 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, although he fought in an orthodox stance. Tobe and Helen had 12 children together; Sonny was the second youngest child. The match had more storylines than a soap opera. "But can he hit!" In the third round, Marshall nailed Listonreportedly while he was laughingand broke his jaw. In his next fight, he had a rematch with Summerlin and again won an eight-round decision. 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. Inter-Continental said local veteran Sam Silverman was the promoter. He cited Liston's inability to lift his arm: "There is no doubt that Liston's arm was damaged. 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. But he spoke to his friend Resnick on the day of the fight and was told not to bet on the champion. "He was afraid of needles," echoed Father Edward Murphy. As the years passed and Liston's financial situation worsened, he got angry and told the mob he would go public with the story unless they gave him the money. RARE Sonny Liston Interview before the first Ali fight 1964 in Color Legends of Boxing in Color 2.47K subscribers Subscribe 16K views 8 months ago Very Rare interview with Sonny Liston and. Sonny Liston vs Eddie Machen (1960) As usual, Liston wasted no time throwing his jab and keeping Machen at bay, who was trying to get his hands off with minimal success. World light-heavyweight champion Jos Torres said, "It was a perfect punch." Geraldine called Liston's attorney and his doctor, but did not notify the police until two to three hours later. It was a shocking result, not only because Liston was favored in the match, but because hardly anybody saw the punch that took him down. One memo, dated 24 May 1966, outlined an interview with Houston gambler Barnett Magids, who believed Liston would win. Liston returned to the United States and won seven fights, all by knockout, in 1968, increasing his string to eleven. Known for his powerful punch, the majority of his victories were knockouts. [89], Following an investigation, Las Vegas police concluded there were no signs of foul play and declared Liston's death a heroin overdose. Interviewing and trash-talk have both gone through some tremendous evolutions, havent they? Liston didn't seem to mind though. It was the first time in his career that Liston had been cut. The Devil And Sonny Liston. "You're putting things on and you're taking this out and molding it," Knopfler said. Was Pariah boxing legend Sonny Listons OD really a mob murder? Name: Sonny Liston Birth Name: Charles L. Liston Hometown: Saint Louis, Missouri, USA Birthplace: Johnson Township, Arkansas, USA Died: 1970-12-30 (Age:40) Stance: Orthodox Height: 185cm Reach: 213cm Referee: Record Pro Boxer: Record Amateur Boxer: Record Managers: Jack Nilon, Joe (Pep) Barone, Eddie Polino, George Katz, Frank Mitchell, Dick Sadler Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. A widely publicized account of Liston resisting arresteven after nightsticks were allegedly broken over his skulladded to the public perception of him as a nightmarish "monster" impervious to physical punishment. [97], "The month before he died, some guy ran into Sonny while he was making a left turn. Ali is waiting to hit me, the ref can't control him. He is seen in the far left part of the row, wearing a white and gold robe, standing beside the original-look Beatle wax figures. Convention Center, Winchester, Nevada, U.S. Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Municipal Auditorium, Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Midwest Gymnasium, Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Pittsburgh Gardens, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. New Masonic Temple, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Motor City Arena, Detroit, Michigan, U.S. Sources vary on his reach, with some listing it as 80in, Reputations: Sonny Liston: The Champion Nobody Wanted (2001), 50 min, BBC Documentary, Mailer: A Biography By Mary V. Dearborn, page 186. On the album's lyric sheet, below the Liston song, Knopfler includes a famous quotation from Liston from 1962: "Some day, they're gonna write a blues for fighters. [66], Former champions Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Floyd Patterson and Gene Tunney, as well as contender George Chuvalo all declared they considered the fight to be a fake. Sports Illustrated writer Gilbert Rogin wrote that "that final left hook crashed into Patterson's cheek like a diesel rig going downhill, no brakes." He claimed the officer used racial slurs. I was down but not hurt, but I looked up and saw Ali standing over me. Dr. Alexander Robbins, chief physician for the Miami Beach Boxing Commission, diagnosed Liston with a torn tendon in his left shoulder. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Sonny Liston shot a gun at Muhammad Ali. [7] Liston was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991. On September 7, 1954, Liston suffered defeat for the first time in his eighth professional fight, losing to Marty Marshall, a journeyman with an awkward style. He was poking the bear a bit there . [71] Credence to the latter theory is provided by the fact that Liston, immediately after his fight with Chuck Wepner, seemed more concerned about supporting the proposed Ali-Frazier bout and Ali's claims to be champion than promoting his own career. Any objective observer would have had to concede that Ali's counterpunch had landed, and landed with enough force to turn Liston's head, Rob Sneddon wrote in The Phantom Punch: The Story Behind Boxing's Most Controversial Bout. This victory is regarded by some as Liston's most impressive performance. Banker later learned that the police told Liston the same thing to his face. But audiences attending Knopfler's concerts around North America this summer are hearing and responding favorably to a song of a different genre, a bluesy narrative ballad called "Song for Sonny Liston," about the troubled fighter who preceded Muhammad Ali as heavyweight champion in the early 1960's. The connections to organized crime were an advantage early in his career but were later used against him. Former champions James J. Braddock, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Rocky Marciano and Ingemar Johansson all picked Patterson to win. He returned with four consecutive knockout victories in Sweden between July 1966 and April 1967, all four co-promoted by former world heavyweight champion Ingemar Johansson. He also had a reputation for bullying people such as porters and waitresses. Referee Jersey Joe Walcott, a former world heavyweight champion, had a hard time getting Ali to go to a neutral corner. "It really has made an impact, actually from the very first time I performed it on 'A Prairie Home Companion,"' Knopfler said in a telephone interview. [33], Civic leaders were also reluctant, worrying that Liston's unsavory character would set a bad example for youth. A sudden violent combination delivered with 30 seconds left in the round electrified the crowd. Ali biographer Wilfrid Sheed wrote, in his Muhammad Ali: A Portrait in Words and Photographs, that Liston planned to throw the fight for reasons unknown and used the legitimate first-round knockdown for that end. Washington University Libraries, Film and Media Archive, Henry Hampton Collection. The bout would need to be delayed by six months. Also, scar tissue, possibly from needle marks, was found in the bend of Liston's left elbow. . and he was pointing at some little bandage over the needle mark in his arm. Genuinely kind mobster who had been convicted of armed robbery and assault. I dont have to be what you want me to be, Clay told agitated reporters. In the months ahead of the fight, Muhammad Ali went all sorts of routes to get into Sonny Liston's head. Maybe he was. Traduo Context Corretor Sinnimos Conjugao Conjugao Documents Dicionrio Dicionrio Colaborativo Gramtica Expressio Reverso Corporate The fight lasted four seconds longer than the first one. In his 1965 rematch with Ali, Liston suffered an unexpected first-round knockout that led to unresolved suspicions of a fix. Liston was the subject of a 2008 feature film based upon his life titled Phantom Punch. Liston, with a 25-pound weight advantage, 214lb (97kg) to 189lb (86kg), knocked out Patterson at 2:06 of the first round, putting him down for the count with a powerful left hook to the jaw. Very rare interview of Sonny Liston talking about how he got started in boxing, his fights with Williams and Patterson and his training routine. 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. Lennox is a conqueror? Clay countered in verse, "If you want to lose your money, then bet on Sonny! Liston was supremely confident of easily beating Clay, trained minimally for the fight and went ahead with it despite an injury to his left shoulder.[44]. Some writers thought Liston brought bad press on himself by a surly and hostile attitude toward journalists. "Better get me out of this ring," exclaimed Wilson, "he is going to kill me! Liston tried going to school but quickly left after jeers about his illiteracy; the only employment he could obtain was sporadic and exploitative. Sonny Liston in Denver, Colorado. The governor of nearby Maine, John Reed, stepped up and volunteered to host it in the small town of Lewiston, where a resort and ice rink could provide some infrastructure. Knopfler, who was born in Scotland and grew up in northern England, said Liston's story was "exciting subject matter because it's so mysterious." "[35], U.S. President John F. Kennedy also did not want Patterson to fight Liston. ", Liston appeared on the December 1963 cover of Esquire magazine (cover photograph by Carl Fischer) "the last man on earth America wanted to see coming down its chimney".[106]. It was more likely that Liston was out of shape according to a story in Esquire at the time, Liston trained as normal, running around five miles a day, eating hot dogs and drinking beer. He was also possibly much older than his listed 32 years than anything else Liston was the second-youngest of 25 children to parents who didnt exactly keep records of birthdates. [20], Liston signed a contract in September 1953, proclaiming: "Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do. One memo, dated 24 May 1966, outlined an interview with Houston gambler Barnett Magids, who believed Liston would win. I want to prove to the world there's dirty work afoot.' He could have remained typecast as a musician performing rock songs. [51], Liston failed to answer the bell for the seventh round, and Clay was declared the winner by technical knockout. Liston assaulted the officer, breaking his knee and gashing his face. [61] The new date was set for May 25, 1965. Only Massachusetts was willing to host the fight, though it was delayed from November 1964 to May 1965 so that Ali could recover from hernia surgery. "[57] Those findings were confirmed in a formal investigation immediately after the fight by Florida State Attorney Richard Gerstein, who also noted that there was little doubt that Liston went into the fight with a sore or lame shoulder. He died circa December 30,. Suffolk County, where Boston is located, ultimately pulled the plug, leaving them without a venue with less than a month to go. ", During an era when white journalists still described black athletes in stereotypes, Liston had long been a target of racially charged slurs; he was called a "gorilla" and "a jungle beast" in print. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. His defense was described as "the gate-crossing of arms la Archie Moore. "[75], Future world heavyweight champion George Foreman, who sparred with Liston after Foreman's amateur career, assessed Liston's jab as the most formidable he faced and Liston as the strongest man he encountered in the ring, describing Liston as having the most natural talent and skill. Rogin called Liston's physique "awesomearms like fence posts, thighs like silos." Don't confuse shyness with dullness, Sonny was. He would not close in until the accumulated inside damage and Liston's own frustration had sapped the challenger's strength and will." (. The fight quickly descended into chaos. Many in attendance did not see Ali deliver the punch. [citation needed], The fight turned out to be a mismatch. The Devil and Sonny Liston. However, when Clay returned to his corner, he started complaining that there was something burning in his eyes and he could not see. [49], Clay later said that 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. Paul R Gallender, 2012. Rocky Marciano, the former heavyweight champion, said that he appreciated the punchs strength upon re-examination. Controversy followed with claims that Liston had been drinking heavily the night before the fight and had entered the bout with a lame shoulder. Half a mile above and beyond the shrine, looking down from the summit of the mountain, is a statue of the Sacred Heart. "He had a deadly fear of needles," said Davey Pearl, a boxing referee and friend of Liston's. After Ali's win against Sonny Liston, he wouldn't . "There was nothing Sonny feared more than a needle. The highly-anticipated May 1965 rematch between the heavyweight champions almost didn't happen. Rogin wrote. Liston captured the Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions on March 6, 1953, with a victory over 1952 Olympic Heavyweight Champion Ed Sanders. Clay brought Malcolm X along with him to Miami, and amid the controversy, the fight was almost canceled. The torn tendon had bled down into the mass of the biceps, swelling and numbing the arm. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [38], Patterson finally signed to meet Liston for the world title on September 25, 1962, in Comiskey Park in Chicago. Patterson's fatal mistake was that he "did not punch enough and frequently tried to clinch with Liston. [19], On June 23, 1953, a team consisting of ten recent St. Louis Golden Gloves champions of all weight classes, with Liston on top as the heavyweight, was gathered to represent the United States in an International Golden Gloves (USA vs. West Europe) competition at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Also in 1970, Liston appeared on an episode of the TV series Love, American Style and in a television commercial for Braniff Airlines with Andy Warhol.[12][102]. Suddenly, the world had to come to grips with a new kind of heavyweight champion. Sonny Liston fought for only $10,000 during his career. Time magazine said Liston had worked himself into the best shape of his career. Even before the first punch was thrown, the May 25, 1965 bout between .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston, during which the photo was snapped, was already shaping up to be the stuff of legends. One mile up on a mountain 13 miles west of Denver is the Shrine of Mother Cabrini. Helen had one child before she married Tobe, and Tobe had 13 children with his first wife. You could feel the deflation, see the look of hurt in his eyes. He rounded out the year by stopping Nino Valdez and Willi Besmanoff. Liston retired in his corner due to an inflamed shoulder. Liston knocked out Hermann Schreibauer of West Germany at 2:16 of the first round. Rode with the muggers in the dark and dread and all them sluggers went down like lead. In a pre-fight poll, 43 of 46 sportswriters picked Liston to win by knockout. In the 2001 film Ali, Liston was portrayed by former WBO Heavyweight Champion Michael Bentt. [74], Writer Gilbert Rogin assessed Liston's style and physique after his win over Zora Folley. Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (c.1930 December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. The following year, Sonnydetermined to reunite with his mother and siblingsthrashed the pecans from his brother-in-law's tree and sold them in Forrest City, Arkansas. It became known as the phantom punch and has been the subject of controversy and speculation for the last 55 years. It was probably Liston's best moment in the entire fight. Ali would lose his title a year later, though it didnt happen in the ring. Stuttgarter Amtsblatt No. Tocco left the house before the police did. That got him killed. interview with Alex Haley in Muhammad Ali by Thomas Hauser. The Murder of Sonny Liston: A Story of Fame, Heroin, Boxing & Las Vegas Pan publisher; 2017. The second fight? By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Tosches, Nick (2000). Sonny Liston Interview 82,818 views Apr 2, 2014 1.3K Dislike Share Save haNZAgod 93.2K subscribers Subscribe A rare interview with former Heavyweight champion of the world, Sonny Liston.. His father, Tobe Liston, was in his mid 40s when he and his wife, Helen Baskin, who was almost 30 years younger than Tobe, moved to Arkansas from Mississippi in 1916. It is hardly the first recording by a rock musician about boxing. You really never watched the first fight did you? Wepner, who also fought George Foreman and Muhammad Ali, said after his career was over that Liston was the hardest puncher he faced. There's never been anybody as ruthless. One of the reasons why sports stays alive in us is that there's part of us that wants to keep the child alive and recognizes that there is something important in doing that. Please read the rules before posting/commenting. [99] (3) The mob promised Liston some money to throw the second Ali fight, but they never paid him. Liston had never been knocked out before, and most people didnt even see the punch happen. 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.'" A couple weeks later, he was still complainin' about that needle mark. He then left the fighters to go over to McDonough. The mysterious life of Sonny Liston. [62] The promoters needed a new location quickly, whatever the size, to rescue their closed-circuit television commitment around the country. He said that Liston was not quick with his hand or footwork, 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. The suspension was honored in all states. Sonny Liston | Boxing's Most Intimidating and Unwanted Champion Rainy Day Boxing 302K subscribers 5.6M views 1 year ago Join Rainy Day Boxing for an in depth career tribute to arguably the most. "[35] However, in 1963 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. When Patterson met with the president in January 1962, Kennedy suggested that Patterson avoid Liston, citing Justice Department concerns over Liston's ties to organized crime. And I said, 'Whoa, whoa, back up, baby. The most iconic photo in boxing history documents the knockout that almost nobody saw happen. His wife said he was a kind & gentle hearted person who cared deeply for children & that no one ever saw that side of him except those closest to him I believe there's a documentary somewhere on YouTube I'd recommend watching it MatterUpbeat8803 19 days ago Sports Illustrated writer Mort Sharnik said his hands "looked like cannonballs when he made them into fists." [10][11] It has been suggested Liston himself may not have known what year he was born, as he was not precise on the matter.