Sonny Liston Net Worth: The legendary boxer Sonny Liston entered this world on May 8, 1932, in Sand Slough, Arkansas. Fighter who became the heavyweight champion of the world after learning his craft behind bars. In his professional boxing career, he went 50-4, beating out the likes of Muhammad Ali and Floyd Patterson.
Sonny Liston Net Worth
A conservative estimate places Sonny Liston’s wealth at between $1 and $5 million. He is filthy rich thanks to his major vocation as a Boxer. St. Louis police officers dubbed him “Yellow Shirt Bandit” for the colour of the shirt he often wore when committing his heists.
More than 20 times, the police arrested Liston for various offenses. Back in 1950, the law finally caught up with him, and he spent the next five years in the ‘Missouri State Penitentiary. The Penitentiary’s athletic director, Reverend Alois Stevens, saw his talent as a boxer and encouraged him to pursue it.
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A Member of the Sonny Liston Family
Charles ‘Sonny’ Liston came from a family of sharecroppers who worked the land on Morledge Plantation in Johnson Township, St. Francis County, Arkansas. Tobe Liston and Helen Baskin are the names of his parents.
Unlike Tobe, who had 13 children with his former wife, Helen only had one kid when she married him. The union of Tobe and Helen produced 12 offspring. Among the four youngest children, Sonny was the second to last.
Life And Childhood Of Sonny Liston
There is no record of when Sonny Liston was born, however a writer once said he was born on July 22, 1930. Sonny Liston was born on May 8, 1932. Although his actual birthday is unknown, Liston decided on May 8th, 1932 as his birth date. St. Francis County, Arkansas is the place of his birth, and his parents were Tobe Liston and Helen Baskin.
His mom was 30 years younger than his dad. His family lived in the country as tenants. Sonny and his twenty-four siblings and half-siblings all spent their childhoods working in the area’s cotton fields. Liston’s drunken father frequently beat him severely. His mother took several of the kids and relocated to St. Louis, Missouri, but she left Liston and his violent father behind.
Despite his best efforts, Sonny Liston was unable to succeed in school owing to his lack of reading skills. He dropped out of school and immediately began relying on a life among St. Louis’s muggers and robbers.
St. Louis police officers dubbed him the “Yellow Shirt Bandit” for the color of the shirt he frequently wore when committing crimes. Liston was arrested over twenty times by the police for various offenses. He was apprehended in 1950 and given a five-year term at the “Missouri State Penitentiary.” The Penitentiary’s athletic director, Reverend Alois Stevens, recognized immense promise in him as a boxer.
An Inside Look at Sonny Liston’s Private Life
They tied the knot on June 10, 1950, and Liston is now the proud father of Geraldine Clark. His current wife brought a daughter from a prior marriage into the family. A boy was later adopted by Liston.
According to Liston biographer Paul Callender, Liston raised a large number of children but never had children of his own with his wife. “Fantastic with me, great with the kids,” Geraldine said of her late spouse. He acted with the utmost decency.
A Conversation with Sonny Liston About Dying
Unfortunately, Liston’s life was cut short. His wife discovered his body on January 5, 1971, at their home in Nevada. It took Geraldine 12 days to reach him. She came home to find him dead.
The cops reportedly found a syringe and heroin packets in his residence, as well as needle marks on his arm. The official cause of death was listed as heart failure and pulmonary congestion.
Throughout His Profession, Sonny Liston
Liston was freed from prison on October 31, 1952, and he defeated the “1952 Olympic Heavyweight Champion,” Ed Sanders, in his first professional fight a year later. He was defeated by Jimmy McCarter in the quarterfinals of the April ‘National Amateur Athletic Union’ tournament.
When Liston boxed Hermann Schreiber of Germany on June 23, Liston won the “International Golden Glover” tournament. Additionally, he brought home bronze at the “European Championships.”
Liston had a difficult background and received little formal schooling, thus he eventually ran afoul of the law. He was incarcerated for brief periods, and during one of those stays, the prison priest taught him how to box. After a brief amateur career, Liston became professional in his newfound passion of boxing.
Liston, who stood 6 feet 1 inch tall and 217 pounds, possessed devastating punching power, an iron chin, lightning reflexes, and a potent jab. He quickly eliminated Roy Harris, Zora Folley, and Cleveland Williams, the sport’s top contenders, and set himself up for a title fight with Floyd Patterson. Liston was a target of racism at the time because white people, including President John F. Kennedy, didn’t want Patterson to fight Liston.
Sonny’s management put a lot of media pressure on Patterson until he accepted to fight on September 25, 1962. It was the first time ever that a heavyweight champion was knocked out in the first round, and it happened less than three minutes into the fight. Sonny fought Patterson again on July 22, 1963, in Las Vegas, and knocked him out three times in less than five minutes to win.
Sonny Liston Inspirational & Motivational Quotes
- A boxing match is like a cowboy movie. There’s got to be good guys and there’s got to be bad guys. And that’s what people pay for – to see the bad guys get beat. – Sonny Liston
- The only thing my old man ever gave me was a beating. Sonny Liston. …
- A boxing match is like a cowboy movie. There’s got to be good guys and there’s got to be bad guys. …- Sonny Liston
- Newspapermen ask dumb questions. …- Sonny Liston
- Come over here and sit on my knee and finish your orange juice. …- Sonny Liston
- How would you like to find out how good my right is?- Sonny Liston
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