Sonny Liston's age

[Teddy's Toupee]

So at some point in his life, Sonny Liston was unsure of whether he was 15 or 5.

28 he was.

[Controversial]

He was 18 when he was born

[jaouad]

He couldn't be born earlier than 1927 according to his mother which makes him 43 years old at the time of his death. The coke sniffing he did with Joe Louis in Vegas and his though upbringing did him no good.

[Caractacus]

yeah, Poverty can age you really fast.

[pound per pound]

Sonny Liston had a 21 year old daughter when he won the title...Yet he was 'supposed' to be 32. How old do you think he really was?

Liston was fast to mature physcallly. He aged early IMO. Look at his dropping face. It is entirely possible he had a 21 year old daughter when he was 32 as listed when he won the heavyweight championship of the world.

Just like no one knows exactly he when he was born, nobody knows when exactly when he died.

[LeRoiDuRing]

Didn't one of his sister said he was born in 1919 ? That would also be one hell of a stretch I very hardly see him fight Ali at 45-46 and carry on until 52. But Hey Big George Foreman who took heavy inspirations from Liston also fought until that age so it may be possible.

[Ambling Alp II]

It is not possible. It simply makes for a good story that he was way older than listed.

[bwu]

I’m not willing to say it’s not possible, but I place the possibility at one percent and I agree with the rest of your post.

Maybe I haven’t read enough of the sources, but it bothers me that nobody can actually present the goods when it comes to the pre-1920 birth claimants. Where’s the picture of “Sailor” Liston? If some encyclopedia said he was born in ‘17 or ‘19, what were their references?

It would be an amazing story if true. But when it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

[Ambling Alp II]

Imagine he really was born in 1919. When he won the title in 1962, he would have been 43, not the 30 that he was listed at. Anyone that grew up around him, would know that he could not be only 30. It would have come out. there is no way around that.
Did he really wait until his mid-20s to drive? To get into a bar?
Not to mention that he probably would have been drafted in WWII because he would have only been 22 when WWII started.

It's mind boggling that people take this seriously.


.

[Caractacus]

I remember reading that someone in Liston's family (what remained of it in 1962)said he was actually born during a January.
(BTW May 8th is also the birthday of Robert Johnson, and Sonny loved listening to the Blues of course)

traveling

[Coco]

His grave says 1932, no date given, he wasn't listed in the 1930 census andin the 1940 census he is listed as 10

[vatech1983]

I AM GLAD PEOPLE R CURIOUS ABOUT HIs AGE.............believe it or not there is no real consensus.............some estimstes say he was born as early as 1919. There is a 1934 newspaper that might show Lisotn in it and in the paper it states he was 14 yr old...............Quite a mystery Liston's true age was..............

[vatech1983]

[bwu]

I AM GLAD PEOPLE R CURIOUS ABOUT HIs AGE.............believe it or not there is no real consensus.............some estimstes say he was born as early as 1919. There is a 1934 newspaper that might show Lisotn in it and in the paper it states he was 14 yr old...............Quite a mystery Liston's true age was..............

For all the talk about the 1934 article, nobody can really pinpoint specifics. You would think that if such evidence was available, it would be widely shared for all to see. The fact that it remains so elusive makes me strongly doubt its existence. Pictures or it didn't happen.