BoxRec

All we ever hear about Liston is what a bum he was, hoodlum, ex con, big mean ugly bear, threw the second fight to Ali, beat the hell out of Floyd, man of few words, big nasty guy.

Well George Foreman got to know Sonny from sparring with him when he was an amateur and later as a just turned pro. He said Sonny was quiet but he also shared some very interesting moments which shed light on the personality and character of Liston that most people don't know and never did.

Good read...

http://spam.com/articles/george ... nny-liston

Don't know about you but I have newfound respect for Big Sonny after reading this. Liston was a very misunderstood man. His life story is amazing, from being an uneducated runaway kid from the deep south to future world heavyweight champion is an amazing story. RIP SONNY LISTON. You may not have had many fans in your heyday but you do now.

montrealsuper wrote:All we ever hear about Liston is what a bum he was, hoodlum, ex con, big mean ugly bear, threw the second fight to Ali, beat the hell out of Floyd, man of few words, big nasty guy.

Well George Foreman got to know Sonny from sparring with him when he was an amateur and later as a just turned pro. He said Sonny was quiet but he also shared some very interesting moments which shed light on the personality and character of Liston that most people don't know and never did.

Good read...

http://spam.com/articles/george ... nny-liston

Don't know about you but I have newfound respect for Big Sonny after reading this. Liston was a very misunderstood man. His life story is amazing, from being an uneducated runaway kid from the deep south to future world heavyweight champion is an amazing story. RIP SONNY LISTON. You may not have had many fans in your heyday but you do now.

I contacted Foreman about this and he said that there is footage of the two of them sparring - would be interesting to see....

Wow. Would love to see that film of Liston and Foreman sparring, hope whoever has it doesn't lose it or let it deteriorate. Imagine a lot of people would thrill to see it.

In fact, I'd rather watch that than some of these fights they put on HBO or Showtime.

Il Duce wrote:I remember reading where George was impressed with the Old Man's strength and endurance in late-1968.

Something about putting 100 lbs. of cement in a Wheel-Barrow and pushing it up a long inclined hill.

George could only do it once, and Sonny could conquer the hill 'three-times'.

Liston might have been one of the strongest men in the world in his time. Just look at his physique. They said they had to build a special giant heavy bag for him to pound on.

Liston certainly was a fascinating man.

Il Duce wrote:Charles 'Sonny' Liston was also a 'master' at pulling punches.

Too bad he got in all that financial mess in {1961 thru 1965}, we missed out on the real 'Sonny Boy'.

When he made his comeback he made an admirable run back to the title...obviously ending with Leotis Martin KO.

He won his last fight at least...poor sonny ; no one knew when he was born...no one knew when (exactly) he died and how...

It would have led to a match with Frazier...that would have been awesome....I would be watching between my fingers....!

This is a still from a warm up before a sparring session. The "disinterested" look is because they were simply in the ring in warm up mode and the camera caught them almost ignoring each other, and yet seemingly crowding each other.

I have seen the footage over 20 years ago once......but don't know where it exists.