The Death of Sonny Liston: Gone on the Night Train

Former Heavyweight Champion Charles L. "Sonny" Liston, whose record was an incredible 50, 4, with 39 by way of knockout, was nicknamed 'The Big Bear.' He stood 6 feet 1, and had an 84 inch reach and was one of the hardest punchers in the history of combat sports.

Supposedly, Liston was born in 1932 at a location known as Sand Slough, Arkansas—although many experts claim that Liston himself didn't truly know exactly when he was born nor how old he actually was.

Liston learned his trade, the great sport of boxing, while serving five years in Missouri State Penitentiary—one of the toughest of America’s prisons. The young Liston then went on to become one of the greatest of all time chalking-up two huge knockout wins (video below) over the dominant heavyweight champion at that time, Floyd Patterson.

Ironically, if Liston's birth was a mystery, then his death was even more-so. 'The Bear' died as he had lived, under an umbrella of controversy and suspicion.

Liston's very next fight was supposed to be against Toronto Ontario, Canada's brutal slugger, George Chuvalo. Unfortunately however, the potentially classic match never happened.

On December 30, 1970, in Las Vegas, Liston's wife Geraldine arrived home early from a shopping trip, and entered the master bedroom after smelling something rotting.

The woman was shocked to find her Husband, Liston, slumped over against the bed, a broken foot stool at his side, dead.

A subsequent autopsy, along with the findings of the Las Vegas police, first concluded that Liston had overdosed—due to traces of morphine and codeine found in his body post-mortem.

In the end, however, the results were deemed inconclusive, and Liston's death was officially listed as due to cardiac arrest.

Now, 32 years later, the talk of mafia connections, police-cover-ups, and scandals are still going on.

Liston however, is bothered by none of it.

He lies peacefully in Vegas.

Paradise Memorial Gardens cemetery is Liston's final resting place—under a headstone that says, simply, "A Man."

Liston's favorite song was 'Night Train.' I will dedicate to him now.

'RIP' Sonny.

I am cagestokerblog on twitter.

Boxing News Video: Manny Steward suggests Chavez Jr. and Pacquiao are taking Steroids:

- 'I have concerns recently with Manny Pacquiao having leg-cramps, and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. having leg cramps. There has to be something going on. After he (Chavez) defeated Andy Lee, he took the post-fight drug test—but he came out of the bathroom with two other guys...so we don't really know who pissed in the bottle." ~ Steward

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Emanuel 'Manny' Steward is the famous 68-year-old owner, operator, and trainer, of Detroit Michigan's historic Kronk Boxing Gym.

The gym itself has become a training Mecca. Home through-out the years to such great names as Thomas 'Hitman' Hearns,.. Lennox Lewis, the McCrory brothers, Milton and Steve. And of course, more recently, the Heavyweight Champion boxing-team known as the Klitschko Brothers, Vitali and Wladimir.

Steward is also a respected HBO boxing commentator who appears numerous times monthly alongside his lead-man Jim Lampley and the controversial Dinosaur, Larry Merchant—who is fast being replaced by a brave-new-voice in pugilistic commentary named Max Kellerman.

It might be easy to toss aside Steward's comments in the below video, and chalk it up to him having some bitterness against current WBC Middleweight Champion—and son of retired boxing champion Julio César Chávez—Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

After all, Steward did have his own 'dog in the race' named Andy Lee, who was recently defeated by Chavez.

But what about Manny Pacquiao?

What reason would Steward have to diss the great Freddie Roach trained Filipino superstar, if not to be seeking the absolute truth?

In addition, maybe we are all secretly wondering about the issues that Steward brings up in the video—but lack the ways and/or means to have our voice heard?

In that case, let's keep an open mind, shall we?

And listen carefully to what the great trainer has to say regarding the subject of P-E-D's and why it is that Pacquiao has refused to take the steroid-blood-test that Floyd Mayweather has offered him from time to time.

And why it is that Chavez tried to slip away from Steward's nephew—who was following him after his recent win over Lee. Was it so he could then pour fake urine into the sample tube?

Who knows?

Stay tuned. 

Boxing Break: Treyvon Martin and Mike Tyson - The Courage to Speak-Out Against Racism

Former heavyweight champion of the world, and the first man to ever proclaim to be the 'baddest man on the planet,' Mike Tyson, hasn’t fought inside the ropes since June of 2005, when a “Tomato Can” named Kevin McBride literally pushed him over during the end of the sixth round.

The Iron in Tyson, by then, was clearly rusted, and at that point in his long and storied career, the “has been” had been, and he simply ran out of gas.

Tyson—in this, his very last fight—was fighting on his name recognition alone, and he merely rolled over, attempted to get up, staggered to his stool, and quit. He was defeated, not by anything McBride had done, but by his own oxygen-starved body, which is a sad and pathetic by-product of being past one's prime, having diminished skills, and lacking the proper training and conditioning.

Still, these old and courageous pugilists fight on. Like war-wounded soldiers from some distant and ancient battlefield. Or jilted lovers who have long-ago worn out their welcome but hold out hope for one more last chance to get back in the good graces of their women.

A top prizefighter with name recognition, and specifically the money in which it brings, is insanely convinced he can still compete, and he pushes forward, even after the sport and the fans have long since divorced him. Most times his name will remain famous but his legacy will have diminished considerably. 

Sometimes, however, having world-wide name recognition—and having a voice which is instantly recognizable—can be an incredibly useful tool. It can make an immediate impact around the world in a matter of seconds.

For a great example, which demonstrates my point that Tyson’s “name brand” power is still very-much alive and well—albeit in a not-so glamorous way—we need look no further than his latest news-making interviews.

Nowadays, Tyson claims that he is broke. But he is still able to draw a crowd and a controversy, and still earn a living, sometimes just by making an appearance or a statement. No longer using his fists to make a statement, Tyson's voice is a tool which can be used to help others

Last month, Tyson gave an interview to yahoo.com while rehearsing for his Vegas tell-all "The Undisputed Truth: Live on Stage."

Tyson, now 45, overweight, and out of shape, is no-longer as intimidating and threatening as he once was ..but he still speaks his mind. And for a man of his notoriety, choosing to speak out honestly on a subject that most of us non-celebs would rather shy away from, racism, is, in my opinion, an honorable feat.

Tyson was asked by the interviewer: "As a black kid who grew up in Brooklyn, who was beat up, and then moved to the Catskills, and has had to deal with racial issues, what are your thoughts about the Trayvon Martin case? "

MT: "My personal feeling is that, as a young kid that was beat on by a bully, the guy [Zimmerman] stalked him and didn't follow instructions from a superior officer. But my all-around perspective, I wasn't there. I don't know what happened. Even though this is the best country in the world, certain laws in this country are a disgrace to a nation of savages. It's a majority versus a minority. That's the way God planned it. He didn't want to do something about it, He wanted us to do something about it. We have to continue tweeting, we have to continue marching, we have to continue fighting for Trayvon Martin. If that's not the case, he was killed in vain, and we're just waiting for it to happen to our children. It's a disgrace that man hasn't been dragged out of his house and tied to a car and taken away. Forget about him being arrested—the fact that he hasn't been shot yet is a disgrace. That's how I feel personally about it."

*Thank you Mr. Tyson, for having a voice in this case. And most of all, unlike most celebrities, for having the guts to express your personal feelings honestly without any worry of ill-repercussions. That, my Friend, is a rare quality these days. And I commend you for it.

" Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism."
-Hunter S. Thompson

Stay Tuned.