September 25, 1962: Sonny Liston Knocks Floyd Patterson Out

September 26, 1962: Sonny Liston knocks Floyd Patterson out in the 1st round at Comiskey Park in Chicago, to become the Heavyweight Champion of the World.

Very few people are happy about this.

The State of Arkansas did not make birth certificates mandatory until 1965. Tobe and Helen Liston were both listed as living as sharecroppers on Morledge Plantation in Johnson Township, St. Francis County, Arkansas in the 1930 U.S. Census. They had several children who were listed in that Census, but a boy named Charles was not among them. Their son Charles was listed in the 1940 Census, as being 10 years old.

When the man eventually known as "Charles (Sonny) Liston" applied for a boxing license, he listed his date of birth as May 8, 1932. But, as with another great boxer, Archie Moore, rumors abounded that he was older than he said, perhaps much older. A later biographer concluded, based on the available evidence, that he was actually born on July 22, 1930.

Being sharecroppers, the family was poor. Sonny said, "The only thing my old man ever gave him was a beating," and he wasn't joking: He bore scars from whippings. At age 14, he ran away to St. Louis, turned to a life of crime, and served 2 years in prison for armed robbery. In prison, he learned how to properly box, instead of just beating people senseless.

He won a Golden Gloves title in 1953, turned pro, won his 1st 7 fights, avenged his 1st pro defeat with a ferocious technical knockout, and began to beat better fighters. He beat Cleveland Williams in 1959 and 1960; Williams would lose to Muhammad Ali in 1966. He beat Zora Folley in 1960; Folley would lose to Ali in 1967. He beat Eddie Machen in 1960; Machen never faced Ali, but lost to Floyd Patterson in 1964 and to Joe Frazier in 1966.

By the end of 1961, Liston was 33-1, with 23 fights ending in knockouts, technical knockouts, or his opponents simply quitting. Of those 23, 13 went no more than 3 rounds; 5 were in the 1st round. Liston was considered, big, bad and unbeatable. Rumors that he had been a "legbreaker" for organized crime, and that he still had the Mob warning fighters that they better not put up much of a fight against him, made him even scarier.

A lot of boxing observers didn't want him to get a shot at the Heavyweight Championship of the World, but, by the end of 1961, he could no longer be ignored. His title shot was set for September 25, 1962, at Comiskey Park.

Floyd Patterson, "The Gentleman of Boxing," had fought bigger and tougher men before, and won, due to great speed and a solid left hook. This time, Liston's size, strength and reach overcame whatever advantages Patterson may have had: Sonny backed Floyd up to the ropes, and knocked him out, just 2 minutes and 6 seconds into the fight. The man who few people wanted to be the Champ was the Champ.

It was a knockout so devastating, Billy Joel included it in his song "We Didn't Start the Fire"

A rematch was held on July 22, 1963, at the Las Vegas Convention Center. This time, Patterson lasted longer: 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Liston knocked him out in the 1st round again. Liston looked unbeatable.

Well, one younger man said, "I'm young, I'm handsome, I'm fast, I'm pretty, and can't possibly be beat!" His name, at the time, was Cassius Clay. He got into Liston's head, taunting him for his appearances, calling him "that big ugly bear"; for his age, saying, "You're 40 years old, if a day! And you don't belong in the ring with Cassius Clay!"; for his ability, telling fans, "If you'd like to lose your money, be a fool and bet on Sonny!"; and for his courage, or lack thereof, saying, "The odds should be three and a half to one that you won't show up for the fight!"

Instead, going into the fight at the Miami Beach Convention Center, on February 25, 1964, the odds were 8-1 in Liston's favor. People were sure that, after all the taunting, Liston would literally kill Clay in the ring, as had happened to some prominent fighters in the last few years.

But boxing historian Bert Sugar later pointed out that there was one thing that Liston couldn't handle: People he thought were crazy. "And Clay, then his name," Sugar said, "struck Liston as a crazy person."

A lot of people thought Clay was crazy. Rumors that he was backed by the Nation of Islam (which turned out to be true) didn't help. Would the fight be followed by one between the Chicago Outfit and the NOI? (Both were based in Chicago, and both had influence in Miami.) To many people, there was no one to root for.

Clay himself was asked what percentage of the fans were coming to see him, as opposed to Liston. He said, "Well, 100 percent are coming to see me, but 99 percent are coming to see me get beat, 'cause they think I talk too much."

In the ring, Clay spoke loud and clear with his fists. Any talk that Liston threw the fight was from people who didn't see how badly Clay had messed Liston's face up. Liston didn't throw the fight, but, just before the bell rang for the 7th round, he did quit on his stool. Clay was the new Champion. Shortly thereafter, he announced his religious conversion, and his new name: Muhammad Ali.

Ali said he "saved boxing" by taking the title away from Liston. They fought again in 1965, and this time, Ali knocked Liston out in the 1st round. Did he throw that fight? More likely is that, again, he saw he wasn't going to win, and he just stayed down.

Liston moved to Las Vegas, and kept fighting. On June 29, 1970, he knocked out Chuck Wepner, who would lose to Ali in 1975. That left his record at 50-4.

He never fought again. On January 5, 1971, his wife, Geraldine, returned to their Las Vegas home from a two-week trip to a foul odor coming from the main bedroom. Upon entering the room, she saw Sonny slumped up against the bed, and a broken foot bench on the floor. Authorities theorized that he was undressing for bed when he fell over backward with such force that he broke the rail of the bench.

Officially, Liston died of lung congestion and heart failure, though a heroin overdose has been alleged. The date of death listed on his death certificate is December 30, 1970, which police estimated by judging the number of milk bottles and newspapers around the front door of the property. But he could have died after the New Year.

Charles "Sonny" Liston, Heavyweight Champion of the World from September 25, 1962 to February 25, 1964, is almost certainly the most recent famous person for whom we know neither the year of his birth nor the year of his death with any certainty.

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September 25, 1962 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 8-3 at Yankee Stadium. This game clinched their 27th American League Pennant. Whitey Ford went the distance for the win. Mickey Mantle went 4-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Bill "Moose" Skowron hit a home run.

* The New York Mets lost to the Milwaukee Braves, 7-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Warren Spahn went the distance for the win. Hank Aaron hit his 297th career home run.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Bill Monbouquette pitched a 5-hit shutout. Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Harmon Killebrew hit a home run.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Frank Robinson went 1-for-2, had an RBI on a sacrifice fly, and was hit by a pitch.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Los Angeles Angels, 3-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The Houston Colt .45s beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Al Spangler hit a home run in the top of the 10th inning for the team that would become the Houston Astros in 1965. Richard "Turk" Farrell went all 10 innings for the win.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Stan Musial went 0-for-4.

* The Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Athletics were rained out at Memorial Stadium, Baltimore. It was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The O's won the opener, 3-0. Dave McNally pitched a 2-hit shutout. The A's won the nightcap, 6-2. Over the 2 games, Brooks Robinson went 3-for-8.

* And the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies were rained out at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The game was never made up.

March 13, 1961: Patterson vs. Johansson III

Floyd Patterson (left) and Ingemar Johansson

March 13, 1961: For the 3rd time, Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson fight for the Heavyweight Championship of the World.

Johansson was born on September 22, 1932 in Gothenburg (or Göteborg), Sweden's 2nd-largest city behind its capital, Stockholm. Patterson was born on January 4, 1935 in Brooklyn. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, Patterson won the Gold Medal for the U.S. in the Middleweight division, while Johansson won a Silver Medal for Sweden in the Heavyweight division.

Johansson became the Scandinavian heavyweight champion, but mandatory military service and a broken hand kept him from fighting for a year. But in 1956, he won the Heavyweight Championship of Europe, and knocked out American contender Eddie Machin in 1958, earning him a shot at the world title.

When Rocky Marciano announced his retirement as Heavyweight Champion of the World on April 27, 1956, Patterson was one of the fighters entered into a unification tournament. On November 30, he won recognition as Champion by beating Marciano's last opponent, the man then Light Heavyweight Champion, Archie Moore, knocking him out in the 5th round at Chicago Stadium.

A few weeks short of his 22nd birthday, Patterson was the youngest Heavyweight Champion ever. His trainer was Constantine "Cus" D'Amato. Cus would later take another troubled kid from Brooklyn, Mike Tyson, and make him a great professional fighter. Cus died in 1985, so he didn't live to see Tyson break Patterson's record as the youngest Heavyweight Champ.

Patterson had beaten Tommy "Hurricane" Jackson in his last match before facing Moore, and won a rematch against him with a knockout. He then knocked out Pete Rademacher, won a decision against Roy Harris, and knocked out British contender Brian London. Next on his schedule was Johansson, who had become the Number 1 contender according to The Ring magazine, a.k.a. "The Bible of Boxing." Johansson was 21-0 as a professional; Patterson, 35-1, his only loss being a decision to former Light Heavyweight Champion Joey Maxim in 1954.

"Ingo" spoke English, and, to the American press, he called his right hand "Thunder" -- or, in his accent, "Toonder" -- and his left hand "Lightning." (His right was also nicknamed "Ingo's Bingo," and, in a nod to his Scandinavian heritage, "The Hammer of Thor.") When he climbed into the ring at Yankee Stadium on June 26, 1959, he showed everyone, especially Patterson, what he meant. He knocked Floyd down 7 times, before referee Ruby Goldstein, himself once a welterweight contender known as "The Jewel of the Ghetto," mercifully stopped the fight in the 3rd round.

The sports world was stunned. Floyd hadn't been considered unbeatable, but nobody expected Ingo to dispatch him so easily. Sports Illustrated named him its Sportsman of the Year, and he received the Hickok Belt as athlete of the year.

The S. Rae Hickok Professional Athlete of the Year award, known as the Hickok Belt, is a trophy that was awarded from 1950 to 1976. It was created by Ray and Alan Hickok, in honor of their father, Stephen Rae Hickock, who had died unexpectedly in 1945, and had founded the Hickok Manufacturing Company of Rochester, New York, a leather-producing company that made belts, hence the choice of a belt for the trophy. The winners were limited to 4 sports, and that's if you count golf as a sport, which I don't:

Boxing: Marciano in 1952, Carmen Basilio in 1957, Johansson in 1959, and Muhammad Ali in 1974.

Baseball: Phil Rizzuto in 1951, Allie Reynolds in 1951, Willie Mays in 1954, Mickey Mantle in 1956, Bob Turley in 1958, Roger Maris in 1961, Maury Wills in 1962, Sandy Koufax in 1963 and 1965, Frank Robinson in 1966, Carl Yastrzemski in 1967, Tom Seaver in 1969, Brooks Robinson in 1970, Steve Carlton in 1972, and Pete Rose in 1975.

Football: Otto Graham in 1955, Jim Brown in 1964, Joe Namath in 1968 (probably awarded after Super Bowl III in January 1969), O.J. Simpson in 1973, and Ken Stabler in 1976

Golf: Ben Hogan in 1953, Arnold Palmer in 1960, and Lee Trevino in 1971.

No European had taken the Heavyweight Championship from an American since Primo Carnera beat Jack Sharkey in 1933. Johansson remains the last European to be the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World -- unless you count British fighters as "European," in which case it's Lennox Lewis. Johansson is also the last white man to be the undisputed Heavyweight Champ.

At that point, no former Heavyweight Champion had ever regained the crown. Many had tried, including Jim Jeffries against Jack Johnson in 1910, Jack Dempsey against Gene Tunney in 1927, Max Schmeling against Joe Louis in 1938, Louis against Ezzard Charles in 1950, Jersey Joe Walcott against Marciano in 1953, and Charles against Marciano twice in 1954.

On June 23, 1960, Patterson got a rematch against Johansson, at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan, across the Harlem River from the site of his defeat. This time, with what boxing historian Bert Randolph Sugar called the greatest left hook anyone had ever thrown before Joe Frazier, Floyd walloped Ingo in the 2nd round, and left him sprawled on the canvas. Floyd saw Ingo's leg twitching, and thought he'd killed him. It took 5 minutes for Ingo to regain consciousness. Floyd hadn't killed him, and had regained the title.

So there had to be a 3rd fight. This one wouldn't be in New York City. It was set for March 13, 1961, at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The action started right away, with Patterson seeming to jump at Johansson in the 1st round, and Johansson knocked him down. Patterson got up at the count of 3. and later in the round, Johansson knocked him down again. He got up at the count of 2. Under today's rules, 2 knockdowns in 1 round would have meant, for the fighter's own safety, the fight was over.

But just 14 seconds after Patterson got up, he threw the left hook, and Johansson went down. He got up at the count of 2, and it was no longer clear that Ingo had won the round.

Things settled down a bit, but Floyd dominated the 4th and 5th rounds. Still, Ingo opened a cut over Floyd's left eye. At 1:52 of the 6th round, a left and a pair of rights put Ingo down, face-first, and he couldn't get up. Referee Bill Reagan counted him out, and Floyd had won.

At the time, a standard heavyweight prizefight was limited to 15 rounds. These 2 great fighters fought 3 times, and they totaled less than 11 rounds.

While SI named Ingo, a white man, its Sportsman of the Year for 1959, it did not name Floyd, a black man, for 1960 or 1961. However, 1960 was an Olympic year -- but, instead of Floyd, or any of the many black people who starred at the Olympics in Rome, they gave it to a white golfer, Arnold Palmer. And while they could have given their 1961 award to Floyd, or to home run record-breaker Roger Maris, who was white, they gave it to Jerry Lucas, a white college basketball star, who'd led his Ohio State team to the National Championship the year before, but, this time, had lost the NCAA Tournament Final.

Johansson fought only 4 more times, finishing 26-2, his only losses being to Patterson. Patterson kept going, and successfully defended the title once more, beating Tom McNeeley. But on September 25, 1962, Sonny Liston destroyed Patterson in the 1st round at Comiskey Park in Chicago, and took the title. Nine months later, in Las Vegas, Liston did it again: 1st round.

Patterson won 5 straight fights, then faced Muhammad Ali in Las Vegas in 1965. Ali had taken the title from Liston in Miami Beach, then beat him again in Lewiston, Maine. Patterson decided to turn Ali's famed mind games around on him, publicly referring to him by his birth name, Cassius Clay. It worked: Ali was really mad.

But it also backfired: Instead of going for the early knockout, like he usually did, Ali carried Patterson, pounding away but refusing to throw a genuine knockout punch, all the while asking him, "What's my name, fool?" Finally, the referee stopped the fight in the 12th round. Both men came away looking worse: Ali looked like a bully, Patterson like, as Ali put it, a fool.

Patterson kept fighting, until September 20, 1972, when, at age 37, he fought Ali for a 2nd time. In his interregnum between stripped of the title and regaining it, they fought at Madison Square Garden, and, seeing a bad cut over the eye of a heavily overmatched Patterson, the referee stopped the fight in the 7th round. Patterson retired at 55-8-1.

Patterson and Johansson remained friends, and occasionally flew across the Atlantic Ocean to visit each other. Patterson was named Chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission, which oversees boxing  in the State. By an odd coincidence, Tom McNeely once held the accompanying position in Massachusetts. And McNeely's son, "Hurricane" Peter McNeely, fought Tyson, who had broken Patterson's record for youngest Heavyweight Champion.

Patterson ran the 1983 New York City Marathon in 3 hours and 35 minutes, an extraordinary time for a 49-year-old man. He adopted a son, Tracy Harris Patterson, who won the WBC Super Bantamweight title in 1992, holding it for a little over 2 years; and the IBF Junior Lightweight title in 1995, holding it for 5 months. Although not biological, they were the 1st father & son to both be recognized as World Champions by at least one major boxing organization.

Unfortunately, boxing took its toll on both Johansson and Patterson. They both suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Patterson died on May 11, 2006; Johansson on January 30, 2009. Patterson lived his adult life in the Hudson Valley suburb of New Paltz, New York, and New Paltz High School named its stadium for him. A statue of Johansson stands outside the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, which, in 1958, hosted not only one of his fights, but 7 games of the World Cup.

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March 13, 1961 was a Monday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. And no games were scheduled by either the NBA or the NHL. So there were no scores on this historic day.