Sonny Liston’s Blues Send Sad Notes 50 Years Into Future

Published

9 years ago

June 19, 2015

Some day they’re gonna write a blues for fighters. It’ll just be for slow guitar, soft trumpet and a bell.” — Sonny Liston

One can’t deny that there is something about Sonny’s quote that resonates deeply. And on many levels. It’s unseen but blares within us, though gently. Perhaps it’s due to history’s recording that Sonny’s ending wasn’t a good one. And perhaps, also, that’s what Sonny really was, gentle and soothing. Or at the very least — in the cacophony of extreme degrees of his complex world — he was in search of it. As all fighters are, really.

Clang!

Wind chimes, second cousins, of the boxing ring’s bell, disrupt the silence on the patio where I sit writing this story. And from black skies above me, hundreds of stars twinkle whispers of appreciation.

Whispering what?

Adulation?

Sonny didn’t trust it. How could he? Illiterate and battered by an unfulfilled father and abandoned by an abused mother, he was forever lost. But there was another who would come along. The same color as Sonny, only with a different set of circumstances. Better circumstances than Sonny, but perhaps still not better than most. Still, it was enough to prepare and propel him. May 25, 2015, was the fiftieth anniversary of second fight between Liston and Muhammad Ali. The fight christened the dawning (to the dismay and delight of many) of a disruptive and uncomfortable bolt of thunder and lightning named Cassius Clay, aka Muhammad Ali.

Cassius Clay — to the total surprise of the experts — would handle Sonny rather easily during their first Miami encounter in February of 1964. Sonny had his moments. But the young cat — literally cat-like — controlled the tempo and the boxing ring’s general geography. He systematically shut down Sonny and relegated one of the greatest heavyweight champions in history, to ordinary journeymen status.

Yes, you read that correctly. One of the greatest heavyweight champions in history.

Top three?

In my view, absolutely. In his prime, Sonny’s technique, talent and temperament stops Marciano. Forty nine and oh? More like forty nine and uh oh. Same with Joe Louis.

Interestingly enough, Sonny would have had problems with Joe Walcott, the former heavyweight champ who refereed Ali-Liston II. Walcott was a victim of Marciano and Louis, but Walcott was a slick, talented, cutie-pie boxer who could crack. I see him taking Sonny deep but I think Sonny wears him down and stops him late. Maybe.

Louis and Marciano looked to “punch.” They couldn’t have ‘punched’ and survived with Sonny.

Larry Holmes could and would have because of the three T’s I mentioned before: talent, technique, temperament. Larry’s stock and trade, his jab, his mind and movement would ensnarl Sonny. It’s a good fight though. Like Ali, Holmes, in his prime, and even after it, knew when, where and how to pull the trigger, in the moment. He was brilliant.

Fifty years ago no one had seen or imagined anything like what was fashioned in the great grandson of abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay. His namesake would emphatically put a stamp on his unique approach (in and out the ring) with his first-round knockout of Sonny in Lewiston.

To boxing purists,- the likes of Cus D’Amato chief among them- Ali’s ring behavior was dangerously outside the conventional approach to fighting. In the ring Ali, did everything wrong. He performed with hands by his sides and awkwardly — to the conventionalist — leaned back from opponents punches.

He eschewed body shots and danced –glided as if on skates, actually — to lyrics and a rhythm only he heard. To the gate keepers of America’s status quo, Ali conducted himself with equal- no, scratch that. With a singleness of purpose that was ferocious.

Ali’s protestations — echoes of Malcolm X , his Nation of Islam mentor who was slain a few weeks before the Lewiston rematch — would bring about death threats from those in allegiance with Malcolm as well unwanted attention from the eyes ears of The Company (CIA). The heavyhandedness of the period notwithstanding, history records that one of the greatest heavyweights – Sonny Liston – lost by KO in mysterious fashion to Muhammad Ali in the Lewiston, Maine. There were supposed to be death threats against both fighters. Whether it was Brothers from the Nation of Islam or organized crime, if the fight was fixed Jimmy Breslin’s ‘The Gang That Couldn’t Straight’ must’ve been pulling strings.

In preparation for my portrayal of Sonny Liston in Michael Mann’s ‘ALI’, I was given written works and videos on Sonny. I knew who Sonny was but the rich material supplied to me more than helped fill in the blanks. I’d sit in front of a video monitor and study, frame by frame, Sonny’s movements, idiosyncrasies, in and out of the ring and parse, with the volume muted, rewind and parse again. I’d look at the black and white images of Sonny and the unheard linguistics of his body,- they blared mightily- as he skipped rope to James Brown’s ‘Night Train’, this I’d turn up the volume for- or as when a laugh thundered from him while he was in the company/protection of children.

There were also awkward moments that were in just as awkward and grainy and distorted color images of when he would be seated, talking with a reporter. His searching, protective, untrusting eyes-even in moments where he donned the mask of hubris, one painfully birthed from the canal of private overcoming’s and public triumphs, his eyes would momentarily glazed over with the expectations that abject disappointment was always up ahead and a step or two behind him.

Muting the volume really put me in touch with the essence of who he was and he came alive for me. As Sonny was an illiterate, he behaved as a man who thought that he wasn’t being heard but simply seen. In the upheaval of the sixties, he was not being seen on his terms, either. Sound and speech are only masks for what’s underneath them.

I’m not that unfamiliar with the feelings that coursed through Sonny.

No fighter is. And that’s why we fight or did fight. To be seen, much more than heard, on what we think are, our own terms.

On extremely rare occasions though, the likes of William Shakespeare, Marlon Brando, Muhammad Ali, Miles Davis, or John, Paul, George and Ringo or Elia Kazan or Bob Marley comes along with the gift (or burden-take your pick) that unapologetically marry ‘what they are saying to us with what they are doing to us.’

Our collective volumes are turned up to full blast, their higher frequencies agitate our molecules into some form of action, whether we like it or not.

‘Your Momma wont lose this one/ Your the lucky one, under the sun/If ya

make me move then you know you’ve got the groove’ – Bob Marley.

Esoteric b—–t? No, all relatable on some levels, if open to it. Ali was completely open to the complexities-if not in full comprehension of them, but who is?- of his world fifty years ago.We can see it in his confusion, which then flashes into outrage while he glares downward, right fist-to his chest- positioned and taunting contemptuously over Sonny.

Fifty years later, Neil Leifer’s iconic photo of two giants, one fallen, -on posters and tee-shirt’s – still symbolizes, the world over, majestic dominance. And just think, it all started with yet another ‘shot’-from the pot boiling-over called The 60’s- that was heard and seen around that world.

In my breaking down of the who, what, why, where and how of the events of Ali-Liston II for the film, I came to a conclusion. The phantom punch was a clean one delivered by Muhammad. Notice, I said clean. As in, it landed flush. But would the punch thrown by Ali -not known as a one-punch knock out artist – in that specific moment result in a stoppage of a fighter of Sonny’s quality? Doubtful.

A flash knockdown as a result of that shot? That’s more believable. But not really because Sonny didn’t sell us it or cell it to himself, very well. And it looked just like what it was, bad acting on Sonny’s part.

Buy why? The look in his eyes afterward, for just a moment: self loathing.

Why?

The Phantom punch was borderline bourgeois,- more style than substance. Not that Muhammad chucked it in that context. He threw that right hand as he threw all of his right hands: with primal elegance, in search of the disruption of hardwire within the faculties of the head it crashed into.

But Ali’s capacity for punching lacked the potency to get someone out of there with literally one shot. He’d never done it before.

Dispatching an opponent with an avalanche of them? Yep – see Ali- Cleveland ‘Big Cat’ Williams. No one- with his a combination of guile, grace and killer instinct- did it better.

Ever.

Would Muhammad’s right hand get Sonny’s attention? Sure. Cause a stoppage? Non cipher.

What caused the stoppage was the macro chaos revolving around the micro chaos of Joe Walcott’s panic, Muhammad histrionics, and Sonny’s capitulation. The aforementioned death threats-hovering over both fighters- didn’t assist in facilitating an uneventful evening either. Sonny was looking for a way out.

It happens.

Recently, Manny Pacquiao, -though he was coming forward against Floyd- looked for a pleasant,agreeable-barely confrontational- way out and succeeded in finding it.

But I digress.

Sonny was coming forward when the shot hit him fifty years ago. Force against force, physics 101.

Yeah….but.

In Sonny’s next to last fight, he was knocked out by one of his former sparring partners. Leotis Martin put two shots together and in graphic fashion, deposited Sonny, face first, onto the canvas, and virtually out cold. Ali — four and a half years prior in Lewiston — never hit Sonny like that.

Or, should I say Sonny never responded to Ali’s Phantom punch like he responded to Martin’s undubbed one.

While prepping for ‘Ali’, I was put in contact with a Las Vegas associate of Ash Resnick, the manager of Sonny.The associate proceeded to give me his insights on Sonny and would also also forward the contact number of Davey Pearl. Mr. Pearl,-famously was the third man in the ring during Leonard-Hearns I- in his 80’s when we spoke, used to be one of Sonny’s best friends.

Near the close of Sonny’s life, he and Mr. Pearl would go for early morning runs on and around Las Vegas golf courses. He travelled with Sonny to ‘keep him straight’ as he told it to me. They went together to New Jersey for Sonny’s last fight against Chuck Wepner.

The Ali-Liston rematch was originally scheduled for November 16, 1965 at Boston Garden, Mr. Pearl would tell me that Sonny’s conditioning clicked, focused and returned to that of his two round in two fights blitzkrieg of Floyd Patterson, saying that Sonny ‘was in the best shape of his career’.

But wherever Muhammad and Liston went drama followed. Sonny would never get to show what kind of shape he was in. Three days before the rematch, Ali suffered a hernia and the fight was postponed six months.

Perpetually Effed! – That’s Sonny’s word not mine. I mean I played him but……

History.

What a concept.

Blues: Sonny Liston: slow, easy and methodical.

Rock and Roll: Ali: outwardly disruptive

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Michael Bentt

Ramon Cardenas Channels Micky Ward and KOs Eduardo Ramirez on ProBox

Published

1 day ago

April 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Ramon-Cardenas-Channels-Micky-Ward-and-KOs-Eduardo-Ramirez-on-ProBox

The Wednesday night bi-monthly series of fights on the ProBox TV platform is the best deal in boxing; the livestream is free with no strings attached! Tonight’s episode was headlined by a super bantamweight match between San Antonio’s Ramon Cardenas and Eduardo Ramirez who brought a caravan of rooters from his hometown in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.

Cardenas, coached by Joel Diaz, entered the contest ranked #4 by the WBA. He was expected to handle Ramirez with little difficulty, but this was a close, tactical fight through eight frames when lightning struck in the form of a left hook to the liver from Cardenas. Ramirez went down on one knee and wasn’t able to beat the count. It was as if Cardenas summoned the ghost of Micky Ward who had a penchant for terminating fights with the same punch that arrived out of the blue.

The official time was 1:37 of round nine. Cardenas improved to 25-1 with his14th win inside the distance. Ramirez, who was stopped in the opening round by Nick “Wrecking” Ball in London in his lone previous fight outside Mexico, falls to 23-3-3.

Co-Feature

In an upset, Tijuana super welterweight Damian Sosa won a split decision over previously undefeated Marques Valle, a local area fighter who was stepping up in class in his first 10-round go. Sosa was the aggressor, repeatedly backing his taller opponent into the ropes where Valle was unable to get good leverage behind his punches.

The 25-year-old Valle, managed by the influential David McWater, was the house fighter. This was his 10^th appearance in this building. He brought a 10-0 (7) record and was hoping to emulate the success of his younger brother Dominic Valle who scored a second-round stoppage of his opponent in this ring two weeks ago, improving to 9-0. But Sosa, who brought a 24-2 record, proved to be a bridge too high.

The judges had it 97-93 and 96-94 for the Tijuana invader and a disgraceful 98-92 for the house fighter.

Also

In a fight whose abrupt ending would be echoed by the main event, 34-year-old SoCal featherweight Ronny Rios, now training in Las Vegas, returned to the ring after a 22-month hiatus and scored a fifth-round stoppage over Nicolas Polanco of the Dominican Republic.

A three-punch combo climaxed by a left hook to the liver took the breath out of Polanco who slumped to his knees and was counted out. A two-time world title challenger, Rios advanced to 34-4 (17 KOs). Polanco, 34, declined to 21-6-1. The official time was 0:54 of round five.

—

The next ProBox show (Wednesday, May 8) will have an international cast with fighters from Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom. In the main event, Liverpool’s Robbie Davies Jr will make his U.S. debut against the California-based Kazakh Sergey Lipinets.

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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock

Published

3 days ago

April 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Haney-Garcia-Redux-with-the-Focus-on-Harvey-Dock

Saturday’s skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated – the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort – but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.

Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.

The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadn’t previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haney’s second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter – watching at home – as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.

In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. “At the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,” said Garcia. “He could have stopped that fight.”

Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the “under,” undoubtedly felt the same way.

The internet lit up with comments assailing Dock’s competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.

Stephen A. Smith, reputedly America’s highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: “This referee is absolutely terrible….Unreal! Horrible officiating,” tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.

Harvey Dock

Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jersey’s Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.

A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.

Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dock’s 364^th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they weren’t even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.

On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.

Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few “premature stoppages” were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.

With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dock’s Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)

Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.

The Haney-Garcia fight wasn’t Harvey Dock’s best hour, I’ll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.

—

While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on “X” that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.

Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.

FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie “Blazing Saddles,” described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricio’s late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.

Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaiman’s rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.

Haney’s mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.

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In a Shocker, Ryan Garcia Confounds the Experts and Upsets Devin Haney

Published

5 days ago

April 21, 2024

David A. Avila

In-a-Shocker-Ryan-Garcia-Confounds-the-Experts-and-Upsets-Devin-Haney

Its good to be crazy. Like a fox.

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia knocked down WBC super lightweight titlist Devin Haney three times to remind everyone of his fighting abilities in winning by majority decision on Saturday.

“I just knew what I could do,” Garcia said.

Fans will not forget the lanky kid from Victorville, California now.

Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) fooled everyone in playing crazy weeks before the fight, then showed shocking power to hand Haney (30-1, 15 KOs) his first loss as a professional at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Haney’s WBC super lightweight title was not at stake for Garcia because he weighed three pounds over the limit.

After Garcia seemingly acting out of control on social media, Haney’s guard must have slipped in the first round during the first few seconds as Garcia connected with that hellish left hook and Haney, with a look of shock in his eyes, almost went down. He barely survived the first round.

“He caught me with it,” said Haney.

During the next few rounds, Haney proceeded to advance toward Garcia seemingly fully aware of the lethal left hook. He used feints and rights to score with a busier approach as Garcia seemed cocked and ready to counter with a left hook.

In the fourth round it seemed Haney was confident he had regained control of the fight, but every time he opened up with more than a two-punch combination Garcia reminded him whose hands were faster and more dangerous.

Though Garcia seldom jabbed he seemed bent on looking for the right moment to unleash his deadly left hook. And every time the Southern California fighter opened up with a combination he scored and Haney dare not exchange.

A few times Haney smiled as if signifying he escaped.

In the seventh round Haney looked to punish Garcia’s body and instead was met with a three-punch combination included a left hook to the chin and down went Haney slumped on the ground. He managed to beat the count and as soon as Garcia came within reach Haney wrapped his arms around him with a python grip. Despite the warnings by referee Harvey Dock, the fallen fighter would not release and Garcia impatiently fired a weak punch during the break. The referee deducted a point from Garcia though he could have deducted a point from Haney for not obeying his instructions to release his hold. Haney actually went down three times in the round but only one was counted by the referee.

From that point on Haney was very cautious but still looking to win by decision.

Though Garcia kept using a shoulder-roll defense that left his body exposed, he would retaliate with three and four punch combinations that usually Haney could defend against other fighters.. But Garcia’s blazing combinations were too fast to defend.

In the 10^th round Haney looked to attack and was countered by Garcia’s right and a blinding left hook to the chin and another two blows that sent the former undisputed lightweight champion to the floor again.

It didn’t look good for Haney to survive.

Garcia walked into the 11^th round still composed and never out-of-control He dared Haney to exchange and when within striking distance Garcia unleashed another lightning combination and down went Haney again with a defeated look.

Both fighters had fought each other as amateurs six times so there were no surprises between them. But Garcia’s power and speed were superior and that was the difference in a professional fight.

In the final round both were cautious with Garcia’s combination punching proving too dangerous for Haney to open up. Garcia celebrated early as the round ended confident of victory.

After 12 rounds Garcia was seen the victor by majority decision 112-112, 114-110, 115-109.

“You really thought I was crazy,” Garcia told the interviewer and the crowd. “You guys hated on me.”

Other Bouts

Arnold Barboza (30-0) won a curious split decision victory over United Kingdom’s Sean McComb (18-2) in a 10-round super lightweight fight. McComb’s long reach and busy southpaw style gave Barboza trouble. But he managed to win the fight though the crowd was not pleased.

Bektemir Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs) defeated France’s Pierre Dibombe (22-1-1) by technical decision after eight rounds due to a cut on his eye from an accidental head butt. It was a very competitive super middleweight fight.

Costa Rica’s David Jimenez (16-1, 11 KOs) outworked John “Scrappy Ramirez (13-1, 9 KOs) in a 12-round scrap to upset the Los Angeles based fighter. After a few close rounds Jimenez simply bullied his way inside and forced Ramirez against the ropes and unloaded his guns.

After 12 rounds two judges saw it 117-111 and 116-114 all for Jimenez.

“I’m a hard-working man from Cartago I come from nothing,” said Jimenez. “My corner told me I had to work inside.”

Charles Conwell (19-0, 14 KOs) stepped on the gas early with vicious body shots and uppercuts and blasted through the resilient Nathaniel Gallimore (22-8-1, 17 KOs) for several rounds. After a brutal fifth and sixth round the referee halted the one-side beating in favor of Conwell who was fighting for the first time under the Golden Boy banner.

Another winner was Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-5) by decision over Vaughn Alexander (18-11-1) in a super middleweight match.

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