By John F. McKenna (McJack): On September 3, 1957 Liston’s life seemed to briefly stabilize when he married Geraldine Clark, but even Geraldine could not keep “Sonny” out of trouble for long. After another altercation with a police officer Liston was again arrested. Between the arrest and the sentencing “Sonny” was arrested an additional five times. In two years with all of his legal problems, Liston fought only once.

After a fight in Chicago, Liston’s potential as a fighter was noticed by Joseph “Pep” Barone. “Sonny’s” former managers were pushed aside and Liston signed a fiver year contract with Barone. After signing with Barone, Liston moved to Philadelphia. At that point Liston’s career was secretly handled by mobsters Frankie Carbo and “Blinky” Palermo. With Carbo and Palermo running the show, Liston’s career started to take off.
By the end of 1961 Liston’s career stood at 34 – 1. He had cleaned out the heavyweight division, was knocking everybody out and was in line for a title shot against heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson. People began to accuse Patterson of dodging “Sonny”.

Patterson’s manager Cus D’Amato, the same D’Amato who would eventually guide Mike Tyson to the heavyweight championship of the world, said that he would not let Floyd fight Liston because he was a criminal. At the time the leadership in the burgeoning civil rights movement was also opposed to Liston fighting for the title because of his criminal past and alleged ties to the mob. It was also rumored that President Kennedy was opposed to Liston’s getting a shot at the title for the same reason. Liston not only had the “Bad Boy” persona of the 1960’s, with him it was no act.

This writer as a youth had the good fortune of watching Liston live when he was in his prime. On December 4, 1961 I had a ringside seat at Convention Hall in Philadelphia when Liston took on Albert Westhpal from Germany. Westphal’s only claim to fame was that he had never been knocked down. As Liston strode down the aisle making his way into the ring in his white, hooded terry cloth robe, there was an audible gasp from the hushed crowd. Liston was indeed the scariest looking fighter I have ever seen, bar none. Liston KO’d the badly overmatched and undersized Westphal with a crushing right hand in the first round.

The KO over Westphal was particularly gruesome and demonstrated Liston’s sheer power. As Westphal lay unconscious on the ring floor blood began to trickle out of his ear from a ruptured blood vessel. Adding insult to injury a reporter asked him if he wanted a rematch with Liston. Of course the answer was no. It should be noted that Liston weighed in at 212 ¼ pounds for the fight against Westphal and at 6’1” towered over his 5’7 ½”, 195 pound opponent.

“Sonny” Liston was more responsible for the “Stare down” that fighters go through today, than any other fighter. He could freeze opponents with his baleful and riveting stare. When Liston finally met Patterson in the ring on September 25 1962 Floyd was unable to look into “Sonny’s” eyes as the referee gave his final instructions. Instead Patterson looked down at Liston’s chest. It was very similar to what Odlanier Solis did when he fought Vitali Klitschko last March.