He was a harsh leader who had millions of his people executed or sent to labor camps in Siberia. [12], Liston never complained about prison, saying he was guaranteed three meals every day. [35] Liston's victory was loudly booed. The commotion was not lost on referee Barney Felix, who was walking toward Clay's corner. John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States in 1960. 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. Paul R Gallender, 2012. The Cold War was an economic, political, technological, scientific, and military confrontation and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. A few years before Tocco died, he allegedly told one of his good friends, Tony Davi, that he went to Liston's house and found the door locked and his car in the driveway. Harry S Truman became U.S. President when President Roosevelt died in 1945. Starkweather and his girlfriend, Caril Fugate, went on a killing spree of 11 to 15 people over a span of a month and a half. Shaun Assael wrote "The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin, and Heavyweights", published in 2016. [39] Leading up to the fight, Liston was an 85 betting favorite, although many picked Patterson to win. Pinterest | This was significant because this was Patterson's first time getting a knockout loss on his record. USA. They fought for a third time on March 6, 1956, which Liston won by a ten-round unanimous decision. In the same stadium where Joe Louis forty years before washed clean the sins of Jack Johnson, Sonny Liston rekindled the flame of hatred that had burned so brightly in opposition to Jack Johnson that a quarter century passed before a black was . A powerful contender in the current heavyweight division of the 1960s. Actress Grace Kelly left Hollywood to marry Prince Ranier of Monaco. Two of the three official scorers, or judges, awarded the round to Liston, and the other scored the round even. This match was the making of his career because he had knocked him out in the first round thus making him one of the greatest fighters. [72], "I was an 'intimidator' until I fought Sonny Liston. Patterson wanted a chance to redeem himself, so they met again on July 22, 1963, in Las Vegas. His wife was gone for a holiday, and when she came home, Liston had already been dead for several days. The Devil And Sonny Liston. 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. TV celebrities would also display their skills with the hoop. "There was nothing Sonny feared more than a needle. The four who baffled Liston - Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com Buddy Holly was a popular singer and leader of the Crickets rock group. "[69] The fact that Liston did not complain about the clear breach of boxing rules (being declared knocked out without a count) and Ali's obvious state of bewilderment, shouting at Liston "Nobody will believe this" and asking his handlers "Did I hit him? Patterson did ask for a rematch, and, after several postponements for various surgeries for both men, the second fight occurred on July 22, 1963. Rocky Marciano was the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. At the time considered pound-for-pound the best boxer ever. [64] Strict interpretation of the knockdown/count rule states it is the referee's count and not the timekeeper's that is the official count. 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. Signature Bout. After repeated overnight detention by the St. Louis police and a thinly veiled threat to his life, Liston left for Philadelphia. "The timekeeper was waving both hands and saying, 'I counted him outthe fight is over,'" Walcott said after the fight. "I didn't know what the heck was going on", Angelo Dundee, Clay's trainer, recalled on an NBC special 25 years later. He had the whole package. ", 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. Rogin wrote. Nelson and Winthrop Rockefeller were grandsons of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller. [21], 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. [85] Geraldine had a daughter from a previous marriage, and the Listons subsequently adopted a boy from Sweden. Most large cities had only one station. He was best known for his work chairing the Senate Committee on Government Operations, which focused on suspected communists in the government. It burned like hell. start_fire_facts.htm. Gamal Abdel Nasser was the second President of Egypt after Muhammad Naguib.