The sparring partners of Sonny Liston

[Caractacus]

btw the colour in those two "new" found photographs remind me of the colours on the cover of this 1991 album

[evrenb]

Honestly you guys are being ridiculous. The question is whether it's George or not. I didn't think so but maybe it is. Theres no big plot here. Jeeezz!!!!

[margaret thatcher]

i dunno, but the most recent shot, with a distant pixelated afro dude, is hardly conclusively foreman

im not sure why that pic was posted as some 'haha look you fools, how dare you doubted it!'

[margaret thatcher]

the newest photo.....hardly any features on the guy are distinguishable, basically it's a black guy with a fro

i see what you mean about lonnie.....

[Controversial]

Except Foreman himself has said the proper sparring photo isn't him.

Yes like others on here have said, that's definitely Liston, but not so sure the other guy is Foreman. It just doesn't look like him to me. And what is more pertinent, George himself said it wasn't him. No one is saying they didn't spar, because they did. But just because a photo appears from the same gym, doesn't automatically make it Foreman.

[Caractacus]

well, just like going to a doctor and he(or she) tells you something is serious , you should always get a second opinion.
I think it's fake.
Why ?
The Pines Hotel" T-shirt that he is wearing in BOTH of the photographs.
The Pines Hotel was located in South Fallsburg New York in the Catskill mountains
The only time Liston trained there was in 1962 when he was preparing to fight Floyd Patterson for the Undisputed HW Championship of the world.
so why would Liston be wearing an 8 year old T-shirt in 1969 in Oakland California of someplace he probably hadn't been back to since 1962 ?
BTW how old is your photographer friend ?
If he at least 70 years old anD remembers the 1960's and the photographic methods used back then.
then that would give him some creedence IMOP.

[Caractacus]

BTW I think the sparring partner throwing the jab looks more like
Jeff "Candy" Merritt to me,
he looked like a cross between George Foreman and Jimmy Ellis as far as physiques go.

[klompton]

well, just like going to a doctor and he(or she) tells you something is serious , you should always get a second opinion.
I think it's fake.
Why ?
The Pines Hotel" T-shirt that he is wearing in BOTH of the photographs.
The Pines Hotel was located in South Fallsburg New York in the Catskill mountains
The only time Liston trained there was in 1962 when he was preparing to fight Floyd Patterson for the Undisputed HW Championship of the world.
so why would Liston be wearing an 8 year old T-shirt in 1969 in Oakland California of someplace he probably hadn't been back to since 1962 ?
BTW how old is your photographer friend ?
If he at least 70 years old anD remembers the 1960's and the photographic methods used back then.
then that would give him some creedence IMOP.

This was 1969 in Houston, not Oakland. Why is it impossible for him to be wearing an old T-Shirt to train in? Are you one of those gym hipsters who has to have a new outfit every time you go to the gym hoping that people will think that means you are a fitness guru?? Jesus you conspiracy theorists crack me up. Now you are going so far as to say that the photos of Liston at a gym in Houston were... what? Superimposed from a time when Liston was training for Patterson? LOL. You do realize that there are posters in the background of all of these photos which date this gym and pinpoint its location right? Notice all of the posters in the background which date from the late 1960s and Houston or feature Houston fighters... You do realize that Liston and Foreman did actually train and spar together in Houston at this time right? But yeah, lets just go with the idea that Liston couldnt have possibly been wearing an old T-shirt to train and get sweaty in so he must have been superimposed from an old photograph in three separate poses in three separate photographs of the what is obviously the same gym and then lets pretend someone also superimposed George Foreman into those photos for shits and giggles... Now, while you geniuses are at it go find me the three photos of Foreman that they used to superimpose his likeness into these photos, along with the three photos of Liston, and the three photos of the same gym... Ill just wait here.

[margaret thatcher]

this really triggers you mate

[Controversial]

I don't think the photo is fake, initially I thought the colours looked odd which sometimes can suggest a photo has been photoshopped. Or can suggest someone touched the colours up to make the photo 'pop' and look better. But I don't read anything into what t-shirt someone is wearing, just that the guy on left doesn't look like Foreman physically, he looks too lean and ripped. Not denying they sparred so no conspiracy.

[Caractacus]

well put me down along with George Foreman himself in the opinion that the photo is "Fake"
looks to me like one of those (then new)"3-D" postcards that were popular in 1970.
BTW I have seen many photographs of Sonny Liston training and the only times I seen
him wear a "The Pines" T-Shirt were of photos when he was starting training to fight Patterson.
He moved his training camp to the racetrack at Aurora Illinois just before that fight in 1962.

[Caractacus]

[Controversial]

well put me down along with George Foreman himself in the opinion that the photo is "Fake"
looks to me like one of those (then new)"3-D" postcards that were popular in 1970.
BTW I have seen many photographs of Sonny Liston training and the only times I seen
him wear a "The Pines" T-Shirt were of photos when he was starting training to fight Patterson.
He moved his training camp to the racetrack at Aurora Illinois just before that fight in 1962.

I think he meant fake as in it wasn’t him in the photo, as opposed to the photo being created. I have very old gym stuff I use just to work out, stuff I’ve had for years that is torn, so I wouldn’t read anything into what t-shirt he was wearing

[Caractacus]

I'm pretty sure it was Gus Johnson that Il Duce had mentioned that they brought in to spar with Sonny Liston.

[Caractacus]

sometime around 1967..

[Caractacus]

Can anyone here identify with whom Sonny Liston is sparring with at approx. 6:20 and 8:30 of this clip ?
could it be Cornell Nolen ?

[Caractacus]

there is some info in this thread about some fights for Sonny Liston
that had been canceled or post-poned.

[Caractacus]

Another Liston fight that never happened was a planned fight reported in a Canadian newpaper dated August-15-1969 between
Sonny Liston and Bob Cleroux for November 1969 in Montreal Canada.
It was planned to be on National Television.
But that was only a verbal agreement and the fight never happened for whatever reason.

wonder why it did not happen ?
Cleroux was a name fighter.

[Caractacus]

Inl July 1968 a Detrot newspaper reported that,Joe Louis and Sunnie Wilson(who owned Brown Bomber Chicken Shack in Detroit and Detoit hotel biuisness man)
had planned to promote a comeback fight with Sonny Liston and Buster Mathis in Detroit Michigan for late July 1968,
but obviously it never happened for one reason or another.

that woud have been a interesting fight.

[Caractacus]

[Caractacus]

Same gym, same outfits, Foreman getting gloved up for the sparring just over Liston's shoulder. I know, I know, somebody just had to fake all of these photos of an event that actually happened and was well covered by the press at the time...

Dick Sadler did not train Liston until about 1966.
That T-Shirt Liston is wearing looks to be around the time Liston fought Patterson in 1963.

[Caractacus]