Profile via TMDB · Courtesy of TMDB
OverviewAI-generated
Sonny Liston was an American boxer and bouncer who competed in the heavyweight division. Born in St. Francis County, he represented the United States in boxing. His professional record consisted of 54 matches, with 50 wins and 4 losses. Liston was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He stood 185 units tall and weighed 98 units.
Liston was convicted of robbery. He died on December 30, 1970, in Las Vegas due to a drug overdose.
Synthesized by Vinony from 28 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Last.fm, TMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person
- Born
- 1932-01-01
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Known for
- Pariah: The Lives and Deaths of Sonny Liston — Self (archive footage)2019
- The Trials of Muhammad Ali — Self (archive footage)2013
- The Real Rocky — Self (archive footage)2011
- Tyson — Self (archive footage)2008
- The Documented Life and Times of Muhammad Ali - The Greatest — Himself2002
- Muhammad Ali The Whole Story — Self1996
- Boxing Barmy1996
- Die Muhammad Ali Story — Sonny Liston1996
- Muhammad Ali: The Whole Story — Self1996
- Sonny Liston: The Mysterious Life and Death of a Champion — Self (archival footage)1995
via TMDB
Key facts
- Nickname s
- The Big Bear, The Night Train
- Born
- Charles L. Liston , c. 1930 , Sand Slough, Arkansas, U.S.
- Died
- December 30, 1970 (aged c. 40 ), Las Vegas, Nevada , U.S.
- Height
- 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
- Weight
- Heavyweight
- Reach
- 84 in (213 cm)
- Stance
- Orthodox
via Wikipedia infobox
Key dates
- Born
- 1 January 1932
via Wikidata · CC0
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Sonny
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- St. Francis County
- Place of death
- Las Vegas
- Occupation
- bouncer
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Sport
- boxing
- Country for sport
- United States
- Mass
- 98
- Image
- Sonny Liston portrait on March 1978 cover Big Book Of Boxing Magazine.jpg
- Height
- 185
- Convicted of
- robbery
Show 9 more facts
- Commons category
- Sonny Liston
- date of death
- 1970-12-30
- cause of death
- drug overdose
- sports discipline competed in
- heavyweight
- name in native language
- Sonny Liston
- number of matches played/races/starts
- 54
- number of wins
- 50
- number of losses
- 4
- date of birth
- 1932-01-01
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Charles L. "Sonny" Liston (c. 1930 – December 30, 1970), nicknamed "the Big Bear", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 until his death in 1970. A dominant contender of his era, he became the undisputed world heavyweight champion in 1962 after knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round, repeating the knockout the following year in defense of the title; in the latter fight he also became the inaugural WBC heavyweight champion. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, Liston is known for his immense strength, formidable jab, long reach, toughness, and is widely regarded as one of the most intimidating men in boxing history.
Although Liston was widely regarded as unbeatable, he lost the title in 1964 to Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay), who entered as an 8:1 underdog. Liston retired in his corner due to an inflamed shoulder. Controversy followed with claims that Liston had been drinking heavily the night before the fight and had entered the bout with a lame shoulder. In his 1965 rematch with Ali, Liston suffered an unexpected first-round knockout that led to unresolved suspicions of a fix. He was still a world-ranked boxer when he died under mysterious circumstances in 1970.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Sonny Liston” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.