Post by Perplexed on Feb 20, 2005 7:36:45 GMT
www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=1298&more=1
a quote from the article:
Because of his arrest and prison term, Liston didn't have a fight between March of 1956, when he decisioned Marty Marshall in Pittsburgh, to January of 1958, when he knocked out Bill Hunter in two rounds in Chicago. Following his release from the workhouse, Liston quickly returned to the ring against Hunter and got his career back on track. In a short amount of time, he rose to prominence as a contender in the heavyweight division. He kept fighting and kept winning against a progressively better grade of opponents. Foes like the murderous-punching Cleveland Williams, Mike DeJohn and Nino Valdez succumbed to Liston's heavy fists. By that time, Liston had already attracted the attention of organized crime. Tosches goes to great lengths in his book to convey the ubiquitous presence of the mob in those days and the power that men like Frank "Gray Man" Carbo and Frank "Blinky" Palermo wielded in boxing. Basically, for a guy like Liston, it meant that you either dealt with them, or you didn't deal at all.
As Liston made himself a serious challenger to Floyd Patterson for the heavyweight title, Liston made his alliance with the Devil, as Tosches refers to the mob. Because of this alliance, which was public knowledge, Liston was called before the committee investigating organized crime that had been established by Tennessee Democratic Senator Estes Kefauver. Pressure resulting from appearing before the committee, and from the diatribes of Patterson's manager Cus D'Amato, caused Liston to buy out the contract of his manager, Pep Barone, who was considered to be an undesirable, and name old-time Philadelphia political hack George Katz as his manager. It was just a matter of semantics, though. Liston was beholdin' to the mob and everybody knew it. Sonny had to put the proper face forward to the public.
On top of the mob issue, Liston had to overcome more problems with the law before he could be free to fight Patterson for the title. He was arrested twice in a period of months in Philadelphia in the summer of 1961. For a while, he even lost his license to box in the United States. After having his license revoked, Liston made a smart decision, as he had when he bought out Barone. He put himself under the care of still another Catholic priest, Father Edward P. Murphy, a kindly Jesuit who was the pastor of a predominantly black church in Denver. Liston relocated to Denver with his wife Geraldine and friend/sparring partner Foneda Cox and underwent extensive counseling with Father Murphy. Liston's purpose was to show the Pennylvania State Athletic Commission, and the world, that he was turning a new leaf.
The tactic worked. Just three months after Sonny's move to Denver, his license was reinstated. (Which isn't to say that Liston took advantage of Father Murphy, or that he had a disregard for what Father Murphy had to say. Liston, in fact, had great respect for Father Murphy and behaved admirably around him. Cox, who was interviewed extensively by Tosches, went as far as to say that Liston would still be alive if he had "spent more time with Father Murphy.")
a quote from the article:
Because of his arrest and prison term, Liston didn't have a fight between March of 1956, when he decisioned Marty Marshall in Pittsburgh, to January of 1958, when he knocked out Bill Hunter in two rounds in Chicago. Following his release from the workhouse, Liston quickly returned to the ring against Hunter and got his career back on track. In a short amount of time, he rose to prominence as a contender in the heavyweight division. He kept fighting and kept winning against a progressively better grade of opponents. Foes like the murderous-punching Cleveland Williams, Mike DeJohn and Nino Valdez succumbed to Liston's heavy fists. By that time, Liston had already attracted the attention of organized crime. Tosches goes to great lengths in his book to convey the ubiquitous presence of the mob in those days and the power that men like Frank "Gray Man" Carbo and Frank "Blinky" Palermo wielded in boxing. Basically, for a guy like Liston, it meant that you either dealt with them, or you didn't deal at all.
As Liston made himself a serious challenger to Floyd Patterson for the heavyweight title, Liston made his alliance with the Devil, as Tosches refers to the mob. Because of this alliance, which was public knowledge, Liston was called before the committee investigating organized crime that had been established by Tennessee Democratic Senator Estes Kefauver. Pressure resulting from appearing before the committee, and from the diatribes of Patterson's manager Cus D'Amato, caused Liston to buy out the contract of his manager, Pep Barone, who was considered to be an undesirable, and name old-time Philadelphia political hack George Katz as his manager. It was just a matter of semantics, though. Liston was beholdin' to the mob and everybody knew it. Sonny had to put the proper face forward to the public.
On top of the mob issue, Liston had to overcome more problems with the law before he could be free to fight Patterson for the title. He was arrested twice in a period of months in Philadelphia in the summer of 1961. For a while, he even lost his license to box in the United States. After having his license revoked, Liston made a smart decision, as he had when he bought out Barone. He put himself under the care of still another Catholic priest, Father Edward P. Murphy, a kindly Jesuit who was the pastor of a predominantly black church in Denver. Liston relocated to Denver with his wife Geraldine and friend/sparring partner Foneda Cox and underwent extensive counseling with Father Murphy. Liston's purpose was to show the Pennylvania State Athletic Commission, and the world, that he was turning a new leaf.
The tactic worked. Just three months after Sonny's move to Denver, his license was reinstated. (Which isn't to say that Liston took advantage of Father Murphy, or that he had a disregard for what Father Murphy had to say. Liston, in fact, had great respect for Father Murphy and behaved admirably around him. Cox, who was interviewed extensively by Tosches, went as far as to say that Liston would still be alive if he had "spent more time with Father Murphy.")
