BoxRec

I recall reading that the 1930 census listed Liston's older siblings but not him which would indicate he was born after mid-1930. Does anyone else recall hearing this?

From thesweetscience.com

Over the years, debate over Liston’s age has waned. The mystery surrounding his birth is usually an addendum to an argument on the tragedy of Sonny Liston. But before you lament his plight, one place has the answer. The 1930 census hit every household in America and, sadly, kept better records than the State of Arkansas. The 1930 census also just became available, since census records are released 72 years after they are collected.

So just how old was Sonny Liston? Was he born before 1930? If you go to the National Archives in Washington, DC and pull up the microfilm for Forrest City, Arkansas you will find Tobin Liston’s 1930 census family card. But Charles L. Liston is not on it. His mother, Helen, is listed, as are his sisters Clytee, Annie and Alcora, and his brothers J.T., Leo and Curtis, who is the youngest at six months. This means that Liston could not have been born before late 1930 and that the oldest he could have been when he fought Ali the first time was 33-years-old.

While there will never be indelible proof of Sonny Liston’s date of birth, one thing is now certain: That was not an old man that Muhammad Ali beat in Miami on February 24, 1964. Sonny Liston may have even been younger than 31 at that time. The 1940 census will be released in 2012. Hopefully this will provide the final piece to one of the many puzzles of Sonny Liston.

Regardless of Liston's birthdate I feel one could reasonably suggest Liston was "old" when he fought Ali. He was certainly much older thah Ali.

Cojimar 1945 wrote:Regardless of Liston's birthdate I feel one could reasonably suggest Liston was "old" when he fought Ali. He was certainly much older thah Ali.

Is it just possible that Liston wasn't really old, but that Ali's ability and style made him look old? Ali certainly made many other HW's look much older and slower than they actually were. And while 32 was older than Ali, Liston shouldn't have been particularly "ring old", since he hadn't been through a lot of wars in the ring.

This sounds very much like the "Tyson was past his prime at 24" comments.