Sonny Liston

Sonny Liston was an American boxer who turned professional in 1953 and became world heavyweight champion in the early 1960s. Born in St. Francis County, Arkansas, he reached the paid ranks after a brief amateur career in which he won the 1953 Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions by beating Ed Sanders. Known for his great strength, long reach and heavy jab, he beat a series of ranked contenders before taking the title in 1962 with a first-round knockout of Floyd Patterson, then repeated the knockout in their 1963 rematch and became the first WBC heavyweight champion. He lost the belt to Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali, in 1964, and was stopped by him in a disputed 1965 return; he was still a world-ranked heavyweight when he died in 1970. The Ring magazine placed him tenth on its list of the greatest heavyweights, and in 1991 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.