Sonny Liston

On June 10, 1950, Liston married Geraldine Chambers. His wife had a daughter from her previous relationship.

Liston later adopted a boy. It is said that Liston took care of many children.

Liston’s life had a tragic ending. He was found dead by his wife on January 5, 1971, at his Nevada residence. Geraldine couldn’t reach him for 12 days. When she returned home, he was found dead.

Charles L. “Sonny” Liston was born in St. Francis County, Arkansas, to Tobe Liston and Helen Baskin. His father was 30 years older than his mother.

There is no official record of his date of birth but a writer claimed that he was born on July 22, 1930. However, Liston settled on May 8, 1932, as his official birth date.

His father was an alcoholic and used to beat Liston brutally. His mother moved to St. Louis, Missouri, with some of the children, leaving Liston behind with his abusive father.

After saving enough money, he travelled to St. Louis to be with his family again. His attempt to attend school failed and soon, he joined muggers and robbers of St. Louis for survival.

The policemen of St. Louis called him ‘Yellow Shirt Bandit’ because of the shirt he used to wear during robberies. For his crimes, Liston was arrested more than 20 times by the police.

On October 31, 1952, Liston was released from jail, and a year later had his first match as well as win against the ‘1952 Olympic Heavyweight Champion,’ Ed Sanders. In April, he lost the quarter final to Jimmy McCarter in the ‘National Amateur Athletic Union.’

On June 23, Liston defeated Hermann Schreibauer of Germany to win the ‘International Golden Glover’ competition. He also won a bronze at the ‘European Championships.’

On September 2, 1953, Liston made his professional debut against Don Smith in St. Louis. He knocked his opponent out in the first round.

After winning more than five bouts in St. Louis, Liston faced and defeated John Summerlin in Detroit, Michigan. It was his first match to be broadcast on national television.

After nine straight wins, Sonny lost to Marty Marshall by an eight-round split decision. However, he defeated Marshall in the rematch via sixth-round knockout.

Along with his boxing pursuits, Liston’s criminal record also became a talking point for the media that often wrote about his aggressive nature. One such incident happened on May 5, 1956, when Liston was accused of assaulting a police officer.

While Liston claimed that the officer passed racist comments on him, it was widely publicized that he stole the policeman’s gun and turned into a ‘monster’ at the time of his arrest.