Tag Archives: Paul Gallender

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

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SONNY LISTON
SONNY LISTON

Once again an early morning radio-show host was interviewing an author. The show was about the latest book on the powerful pugilist, heavyweight-champion, Sonny Liston. Since I “met”* Sonny Liston in Denver, the interview grabbed my interest. *”He was washing his car in his driveway and he shook my hand.”

Either during the course of the interview or reading it elsewhere, Sonny Liston’s kindness to much littler people – AKA kids – was brought up. I can vouch for that. He was indeed a gentle-giant, very soft-spoken and kind. I experienced not a trace of fear in the brief time I was in his presence. I don’t recall myself having any fear either.

“Someone finally has Sonny Liston’s back. Paul Gallender’s revealing biography, Sonny Liston – The Real Story Behind the Ali-Liston Fights, sheds new light on Liston’s tragic life and extraordinary talent.”

“In meticulous detail the author shows why the outcome of Sonny’s two bouts with Muhammad Ali had far more to do with what took place outside of the ring than in it. The truth about their one-round fight in Lewiston, Maine, will shock you.”

“When Sonny was forced to lie down against Ali in that fight, his reputation, career and legacy went down with him. He was barred from fighting anywhere in the United States. Just five-and-a-half years later, his wife, Geraldine, returned home to Las Vegas and found his body; he had been dead a week.”

“Most of the sporting press despised and feared Liston and was quick to demean and forget him after the Ali bouts. Because of the media’s unrelenting attacks most of what the world knows about Sonny has no basis in fact.”

“Sonny’s immense talent has been largely ignored but it has never been equaled. Half a century ago, he was to boxing what Babe Ruth was to baseball, what Tiger Woods became to golf, and what Usain Bolt is to track. The legendary Joe Louis called Liston the greatest heavyweight champion in history.”

“Gallender introduces you to a man you would have been proud to know – a man whose integrity, sense of fairness and depth of character was acknowledged for the most part only by his family, friends and children of every race. Once you start reading this book you won’t want to put it down.” read more…

Sonny Liston lived in Denver: “Subsequently Liston spent some months in Denver where a Catholic priest who acted as his spiritual adviser attempted to help him 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.” More from WIKI…

Charles L. Sonny Liston
Charles L. "Sonny" Liston

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