Today in Boxing History: R.I.P. Sonny Liston

On this day in 1970, Sonny Liston is believed to have died. He would be found dead in his Las Vegas home seven days later by his wife, Geraldine. The cause of his death is still the subject of controversy.

Liston emerged from a hard upbringing and a life of crime to win the heavyweight title with a first round knockout of Floyd Patterson in 1962. He demolished Patterson in a rematch in 1963, but lost his title after retiring at the end of the seventh round against a young Muhammad Ali in 1964. After being stopped by Ali’s “phantom punch� in the first round of their rematch in 1965, Liston spent more than a year out of the ring.

He returned in 1966, won his next 14 bouts, and was on the cusp of title contention until Leotis Martin knocked him out in the ninth round in 1969. Liston’s next fight was a knockout of Chuck Wepner in June of 1970. It would be his last.

On January 5, 1971, Geraldine Liston returned from visiting family to find her husband’s body. The coroner officially determined that he had died at least a week earlier of heart failure and lung congestion. What caused the heart failure and lung congestion remains a mystery. Liston had needle marks on his arms, leading many people to speculate that he died of a heroin overdose. However, detractors of that argument point out that Liston was afraid of needles, which supports the theory of a mob hit.

His death is not the only point of his life that is subject to speculation. Liston’s birth also remains a mystery because he was born outside of a hospital in Forrest City, Arkansas, in the early 1930s, and the State of Arkansas did not require mandatory birth certificates until 1965.