1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,458 ♪ dramatic music ♪ 2 00:00:04,542 --> 00:00:06,625 ♪♪♪ 3 00:00:06,709 --> 00:00:10,875 [sirens blaring] 4 00:00:10,959 --> 00:00:15,917 ♪♪♪ 5 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,291 [Gandy] My partner and I got a call from dispatch. 6 00:00:18,375 --> 00:00:21,417 It says, uh, "Any narcotics detectives in the area 7 00:00:21,500 --> 00:00:23,583 of Autumn Wood Drive to come by." 8 00:00:23,667 --> 00:00:28,000 ♪♪♪ 9 00:00:28,083 --> 00:00:29,875 I went up to the bedroom. 10 00:00:29,959 --> 00:00:30,750 There was sheriff's deputies running 11 00:00:30,834 --> 00:00:33,041 over the place like ants. 12 00:00:33,125 --> 00:00:34,375 They were everywhere. 13 00:00:34,458 --> 00:00:38,834 ♪♪♪ 14 00:00:38,917 --> 00:00:39,834 It didn't even look like Liston, 15 00:00:39,917 --> 00:00:42,959 he'd been dead for so long. 16 00:00:43,041 --> 00:00:45,458 He'd been dead four or five days. 17 00:00:45,542 --> 00:00:47,250 He was bloated. 18 00:00:47,333 --> 00:00:49,333 He was full of methane gas. 19 00:00:50,250 --> 00:00:53,000 It really made me sick in my stomach, 20 00:00:53,083 --> 00:00:55,792 because he was such a predominant figure 21 00:00:55,875 --> 00:00:58,333 in--in sports world. 22 00:00:58,417 --> 00:01:00,500 I just thought it was a terrible, disrespectful way 23 00:01:00,583 --> 00:01:02,500 for him to go. 24 00:01:03,583 --> 00:01:06,375 [camera shutter clicking] 25 00:01:07,500 --> 00:01:10,458 ♪ tense music ♪ 26 00:01:10,542 --> 00:01:12,375 ♪♪♪ 27 00:01:12,458 --> 00:01:15,917 [Farrell] Sonny Liston was the greatest heavyweight 28 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,792 who ever lived, I have no doubt about that. 29 00:01:18,875 --> 00:01:21,000 He was a bona fide monster. 30 00:01:22,041 --> 00:01:23,291 [Assael] He punched with the force 31 00:01:23,375 --> 00:01:24,375 of a government crash test. 32 00:01:24,458 --> 00:01:26,333 [announcer] Westphal has never been knocked 33 00:01:26,417 --> 00:01:28,000 on his feet until now. 34 00:01:28,083 --> 00:01:30,500 Sonny Liston was the first intimidating fighter 35 00:01:30,583 --> 00:01:33,000 with the mean scowl and the mean grin. 36 00:01:33,083 --> 00:01:37,000 He was a real badass, a real menacing force. 37 00:01:37,083 --> 00:01:39,458 The way Sonny won most of his fights was before he even got 38 00:01:39,542 --> 00:01:42,375 into the ring, those eyes. 39 00:01:42,458 --> 00:01:44,208 ♪♪♪ 40 00:01:44,291 --> 00:01:46,166 [Collins] He was an ex-convict. 41 00:01:46,250 --> 00:01:48,583 ♪♪♪ 42 00:01:48,667 --> 00:01:51,625 - He was brutal. - [grunts] 43 00:01:51,709 --> 00:01:53,291 He was mobbed up. 44 00:01:54,583 --> 00:01:59,375 He was a symbol of the champ we didn't want. 45 00:01:59,917 --> 00:02:01,500 ♪♪♪ 46 00:02:01,583 --> 00:02:04,667 Sonny was in the epicenter of a perfect storm, 47 00:02:04,750 --> 00:02:06,709 as far as what was going on in society. 48 00:02:06,792 --> 00:02:08,291 ♪♪♪ 49 00:02:08,375 --> 00:02:11,375 The Civil Rights Era was just starting, 50 00:02:11,458 --> 00:02:12,792 and he was the guy in the middle 51 00:02:12,875 --> 00:02:15,583 that took all the grief. 52 00:02:15,667 --> 00:02:19,208 America needed to remind the broader white public 53 00:02:19,291 --> 00:02:22,041 of the danger that was black folk, 54 00:02:22,125 --> 00:02:25,709 and nobody represented that danger more than Sonny Liston. 55 00:02:25,792 --> 00:02:29,625 ♪♪♪ 56 00:02:29,709 --> 00:02:32,208 [Roberts] We don't know how Sonny Liston died, 57 00:02:32,291 --> 00:02:35,542 and in the void created by the absence 58 00:02:35,625 --> 00:02:39,208 of rational explanation, conspiracy filled it 59 00:02:39,291 --> 00:02:41,959 like a foul air. 60 00:02:43,709 --> 00:02:46,333 [Assael] The medical examiner called it natural causes. 61 00:02:46,417 --> 00:02:47,291 But nobody around Sonny believed that. 62 00:02:47,375 --> 00:02:50,041 Everybody believed he was murdered. 63 00:02:51,625 --> 00:02:53,667 So many people wanted Sonny dead. 64 00:02:53,750 --> 00:02:56,291 The only question is, who got to him first? 65 00:02:56,375 --> 00:02:59,291 ♪ tense music ♪ 66 00:02:59,375 --> 00:03:03,500 ♪♪♪ 67 00:03:51,542 --> 00:03:54,375 [Collins] Nobody really knows when Sonny Liston was born. 68 00:03:54,458 --> 00:03:59,041 He often gave the date of May 8th, 1932. 69 00:03:59,125 --> 00:04:00,083 But he was probably older than that. 70 00:04:00,166 --> 00:04:01,834 There were no records. 71 00:04:01,917 --> 00:04:04,291 Not even the family Bible had his birth date in there. 72 00:04:04,375 --> 00:04:06,792 So he was a mystery right from the start. 73 00:04:06,875 --> 00:04:11,333 ♪♪♪ 74 00:04:11,417 --> 00:04:15,417 Sonny was the 24th of 25 children. 75 00:04:15,875 --> 00:04:19,333 His father, Tobe, was a sharecropper, 76 00:04:19,417 --> 00:04:21,083 and with that many mouths to feed, 77 00:04:21,166 --> 00:04:23,500 it must have been tough. 78 00:04:23,583 --> 00:04:24,875 I mean, Sonny knew what it was to be hungry. 79 00:04:24,959 --> 00:04:27,041 You know, he knew that. 80 00:04:27,125 --> 00:04:30,500 ♪♪♪ 81 00:04:30,583 --> 00:04:32,083 [Long] In Forrest City, Arkansas, 82 00:04:32,166 --> 00:04:34,125 we were trying to survive. 83 00:04:34,208 --> 00:04:35,375 Day-to-day survival. 84 00:04:35,458 --> 00:04:38,917 'Cause, you know, poor people-- We were poor people. 85 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,667 So, and you know, we trying to live from day to day. 86 00:04:41,750 --> 00:04:44,500 ♪♪♪ 87 00:04:44,583 --> 00:04:46,625 [Collins] He didn't really get much of an education. 88 00:04:46,709 --> 00:04:47,458 He never learned to read or write. 89 00:04:49,625 --> 00:04:51,834 He was out in the fields working by time 90 00:04:51,917 --> 00:04:52,709 he was eight years old. 91 00:04:52,792 --> 00:04:55,709 ♪♪♪ 92 00:04:55,792 --> 00:04:56,417 [Izenberg] The story-- and I think 93 00:04:56,500 --> 00:04:58,875 it's more than apocryphal-- 94 00:04:58,959 --> 00:05:01,917 The mule dies, and his father says, 95 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:04,667 "You're the mule." 96 00:05:04,750 --> 00:05:08,333 Hooks him up to the harness and he's plowing furrows with him. 97 00:05:08,417 --> 00:05:11,208 ♪♪♪ 98 00:05:11,291 --> 00:05:12,375 [Majeski] He was whipped by his father 99 00:05:12,458 --> 00:05:13,291 to force him to work harder, 100 00:05:13,375 --> 00:05:16,709 and Sonny had the marks to prove it. 101 00:05:16,792 --> 00:05:21,625 ♪♪♪ 102 00:05:21,709 --> 00:05:22,834 Getting beaten as a child, you know, 103 00:05:22,917 --> 00:05:25,250 will really affect your outlook on how you see things. 104 00:05:25,333 --> 00:05:27,500 If you had hoped for a better life, 105 00:05:27,583 --> 00:05:29,375 you will live your life differently. 106 00:05:29,458 --> 00:05:30,709 He didn't have hope for a better life. 107 00:05:30,792 --> 00:05:32,375 ♪♪♪ 108 00:05:32,458 --> 00:05:35,834 [Roberts] All Sonny knows is violence. 109 00:05:35,917 --> 00:05:39,417 And if Sonny looks at the world around him, you know, 110 00:05:39,500 --> 00:05:41,250 what does he see? 111 00:05:41,333 --> 00:05:45,417 He sees violence towards black men, black children. 112 00:05:45,500 --> 00:05:47,792 ♪♪♪ 113 00:05:47,875 --> 00:05:49,750 [Jeffries] Jim Crow America was violent. 114 00:05:49,834 --> 00:05:52,083 Jim Crow America was dangerous. 115 00:05:52,166 --> 00:05:53,583 You could be walking down the street as a young man, 116 00:05:53,667 --> 00:05:58,000 as a boy, as a woman, and literally your life 117 00:05:58,083 --> 00:05:59,125 could be snuffed out. 118 00:05:59,208 --> 00:06:01,208 Like, that's what Jim Crow was. 119 00:06:01,291 --> 00:06:05,458 ♪♪♪ 120 00:06:07,375 --> 00:06:12,333 Around 1946, Sonny's mother left to go north 121 00:06:12,417 --> 00:06:14,166 in search of a better life. 122 00:06:14,250 --> 00:06:16,166 She ended up in St. Louis, but Sonny was still back 123 00:06:16,250 --> 00:06:17,834 on the plantation. 124 00:06:17,917 --> 00:06:21,750 So, um, he got a bus ticket to go to St. Louis. 125 00:06:21,834 --> 00:06:26,000 ♪♪♪ 126 00:06:26,083 --> 00:06:27,333 [Jeffries] They called it black folk 127 00:06:27,417 --> 00:06:29,417 in search of the promised land. 128 00:06:29,500 --> 00:06:31,125 You get a couple million black folk literally looking 129 00:06:31,208 --> 00:06:32,917 for a better way of life. 130 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,208 The reality, though, uh, was that promised land 131 00:06:36,291 --> 00:06:37,667 was fabled. 132 00:06:37,750 --> 00:06:41,792 ♪♪♪ 133 00:06:41,875 --> 00:06:43,375 [Roberts] Sonny finds his mother. 134 00:06:43,458 --> 00:06:44,125 Is the mother happy to see him? 135 00:06:44,208 --> 00:06:47,625 Maybe a little. Maybe not. 136 00:06:47,709 --> 00:06:49,333 Sonny is another mouth to feed, 137 00:06:49,417 --> 00:06:52,375 and then he's on the streets. 138 00:06:52,458 --> 00:06:54,291 He was at the dark side of St. Louis at the time, 139 00:06:54,375 --> 00:06:55,875 the real poor section, 140 00:06:55,959 --> 00:06:58,667 and he saw how the poor people got money. 141 00:06:58,750 --> 00:07:00,333 They robbed and steal. 142 00:07:00,417 --> 00:07:02,750 ♪♪♪ 143 00:07:02,834 --> 00:07:05,667 [Majeski] Sonny Liston, after some minor infractions, 144 00:07:05,750 --> 00:07:07,625 went to the big time. 145 00:07:07,709 --> 00:07:09,625 He went to rob a gas station, he went to rob a restaurant, 146 00:07:09,709 --> 00:07:12,625 and he used a gun in the commission of these crimes. 147 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,458 [Collins] Sonny always wore the yellow shirt. 148 00:07:16,542 --> 00:07:18,250 Police knew they were looking for a guy 149 00:07:18,333 --> 00:07:20,166 wearing a yellow shirt, and they got him. 150 00:07:20,250 --> 00:07:25,375 ♪♪♪ 151 00:07:28,417 --> 00:07:30,542 After Sonny was tried, he got, um, five years in jail. 152 00:07:30,625 --> 00:07:33,667 That was the sentence for armed robbery at the time. 153 00:07:33,750 --> 00:07:34,834 And he went to the penitentiary 154 00:07:34,917 --> 00:07:38,417 in Jefferson, which was a really tough place. 155 00:07:38,500 --> 00:07:42,458 ♪♪♪ 156 00:07:42,542 --> 00:07:43,583 [Majeski] Time Magazine called it 157 00:07:43,667 --> 00:07:44,458 the bloodiest 47 acres 158 00:07:44,542 --> 00:07:47,041 in America. Gangs ruled it. 159 00:07:47,125 --> 00:07:48,709 There were fights all the time. 160 00:07:48,792 --> 00:07:52,458 Guards were afraid to patrol some of the d-blocks. 161 00:07:52,542 --> 00:07:53,583 ♪♪♪ 162 00:07:53,667 --> 00:07:56,542 Liston was brutalized early in prison. 163 00:07:56,625 --> 00:07:59,208 I believe Liston had to fight for everything he got there. 164 00:07:59,291 --> 00:08:00,834 And I think he took his share of beatings. 165 00:08:00,917 --> 00:08:02,709 It was a Darwinian existence. 166 00:08:04,417 --> 00:08:07,959 [Rigueur] His story becomes about survival. 167 00:08:08,041 --> 00:08:09,375 Now, his story had always been about survival, 168 00:08:09,458 --> 00:08:12,500 but it takes on a new element. 169 00:08:12,583 --> 00:08:16,709 ♪♪♪ 170 00:08:16,792 --> 00:08:18,542 [Majeski] Father Stevens, who was working at the prison 171 00:08:18,625 --> 00:08:21,166 got him into the boxing program there. 172 00:08:21,250 --> 00:08:23,709 ♪♪♪ 173 00:08:23,792 --> 00:08:27,250 [Collins] Father Stevens was trying to do a good turn 174 00:08:27,333 --> 00:08:29,458 for somebody he thought that might have a chance 175 00:08:29,542 --> 00:08:31,583 to break away from a life of crime. 176 00:08:31,667 --> 00:08:35,834 ♪♪♪ 177 00:08:36,667 --> 00:08:39,375 [Izenberg] Boxing has always been 178 00:08:39,458 --> 00:08:42,583 a step ladder for poor people 179 00:08:42,667 --> 00:08:44,542 without other skills. 180 00:08:44,625 --> 00:08:49,125 And Sonny fit that picture 100 percent. 181 00:08:49,208 --> 00:08:53,250 ♪♪♪ 182 00:08:53,333 --> 00:08:56,417 [Tyson] Sonny Liston saw boxing as a way out. 183 00:08:56,500 --> 00:08:58,250 He didn't wanna live that life in prison no more. 184 00:08:58,333 --> 00:09:00,083 He didn't want to live that life in the streets. 185 00:09:00,166 --> 00:09:03,041 And that's why he excelled and did so well. 186 00:09:03,125 --> 00:09:04,834 ♪♪♪ 187 00:09:04,917 --> 00:09:08,959 [Majeski] Sonny was a prodigy. He was a revelation. 188 00:09:09,041 --> 00:09:11,709 This is a guy who could be really an exceptional athlete. 189 00:09:11,792 --> 00:09:13,125 A great fighter. 190 00:09:13,208 --> 00:09:15,750 ♪♪♪ 191 00:09:15,834 --> 00:09:18,250 [Roberts] And this is something good, 192 00:09:18,333 --> 00:09:21,250 that he can hang his identity onto. 193 00:09:21,333 --> 00:09:23,291 This is what his identity's all about. 194 00:09:27,875 --> 00:09:30,083 Sonny had beaten up all the inmates that dared get in 195 00:09:30,166 --> 00:09:31,125 the ring with him. 196 00:09:31,208 --> 00:09:35,959 ♪ dramatic music ♪ 197 00:09:36,041 --> 00:09:38,291 Father Stevens thought, "Well, let's see how he could 198 00:09:38,375 --> 00:09:39,625 do with a pro. 199 00:09:39,709 --> 00:09:40,709 So they brought in Thurman Wilson 200 00:09:40,792 --> 00:09:43,333 who was considered the best heavyweight 201 00:09:43,417 --> 00:09:44,709 in the neighborhood. 202 00:09:44,792 --> 00:09:46,291 ♪♪♪ 203 00:09:46,375 --> 00:09:47,166 He lasted two rounds with Sonny. 204 00:09:47,250 --> 00:09:50,834 ♪♪♪ 205 00:09:50,917 --> 00:09:51,917 [Majeski] The manager Mitchell who brought him in said, 206 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,458 "I don't think I should be managing Wilson. 207 00:09:54,542 --> 00:09:56,583 I should look into handling Sonny Liston." 208 00:09:58,083 --> 00:09:59,500 As with everything with Sonny Liston, 209 00:09:59,583 --> 00:10:02,333 there's always a subtext, okay? 210 00:10:02,417 --> 00:10:04,834 It turns out that Frank Mitchell 211 00:10:04,917 --> 00:10:06,583 is connected to Johnny Vitale. 212 00:10:06,667 --> 00:10:09,542 Johnny Vitale is in the mob. 213 00:10:09,625 --> 00:10:11,667 ♪♪♪ 214 00:10:11,750 --> 00:10:14,667 And before you know it, Sonny Liston is paroled. 215 00:10:14,750 --> 00:10:16,875 He doesn't have to serve his full years. 216 00:10:16,959 --> 00:10:19,583 [alarm ringing] 217 00:10:19,667 --> 00:10:22,542 Also, Johnny Vitale, he can offer two things. 218 00:10:22,625 --> 00:10:24,542 One is he could offer an outside job, 219 00:10:24,625 --> 00:10:26,750 which is breaking people's legs. 220 00:10:29,083 --> 00:10:29,625 [Majeski] Sonny was gonna be head breaking 221 00:10:29,709 --> 00:10:31,959 against union breakers. 222 00:10:32,041 --> 00:10:34,041 And it was racketeering, and it was picking up money 223 00:10:34,125 --> 00:10:35,083 for the loan sharks. 224 00:10:36,583 --> 00:10:39,709 [Roberts] But secondly, Johnny Vitale knows a guy by the name 225 00:10:39,792 --> 00:10:39,917 of Frankie Carbo. 226 00:10:42,750 --> 00:10:45,500 Frankie Carbo is the underworld 227 00:10:45,583 --> 00:10:46,834 boss of boxing. 228 00:10:48,041 --> 00:10:53,000 [man] Frankie Carbo, Mr. Gray, the Superintendent, 229 00:10:53,083 --> 00:10:56,959 one of the most feared gunmen of the Prohibition Era 230 00:10:57,041 --> 00:11:01,208 and the undisputed czar of the professional sport. 231 00:11:01,291 --> 00:11:04,375 ♪♪♪ 232 00:11:04,458 --> 00:11:07,542 [Collins] You couldn't get a big fight in most divisions 233 00:11:07,625 --> 00:11:10,500 if you didn't have Carbo on your side. 234 00:11:10,583 --> 00:11:12,542 That's just the way it was. 235 00:11:13,834 --> 00:11:17,291 I mean, in a way, boxing has been corrupt forever. 236 00:11:17,375 --> 00:11:18,959 So it wasn't anything new. 237 00:11:19,041 --> 00:11:23,333 But Carbo was more powerful because he had an organization 238 00:11:23,417 --> 00:11:27,208 behind him and he had a reputation as a murderer. 239 00:11:27,291 --> 00:11:29,000 ♪♪♪ 240 00:11:29,083 --> 00:11:32,166 [Majeski] Frankie Carbo would kill you on a dime. 241 00:11:32,250 --> 00:11:33,458 Frankie was the real thing. 242 00:11:33,542 --> 00:11:34,875 He was 100 percent gangster. 243 00:11:34,959 --> 00:11:35,625 There was no question about that. 244 00:11:35,709 --> 00:11:38,417 But Frankie Carbo loved boxing. 245 00:11:38,500 --> 00:11:40,041 ♪♪♪ 246 00:11:40,125 --> 00:11:42,083 [Collins] Sonny decided, you know, if I'm ever gonna make 247 00:11:42,166 --> 00:11:45,667 anything out of my life, I gotta go with these guys 248 00:11:45,750 --> 00:11:48,667 because they're the ones that can get me where I wanna go. 249 00:11:49,375 --> 00:11:50,750 [Jeffries] He chooses this path, 250 00:11:50,834 --> 00:11:52,375 and I don't know how many of us 251 00:11:52,458 --> 00:11:54,000 would choose something different, 252 00:11:54,083 --> 00:11:58,166 uh, given the exact same set of choices that we had. 253 00:11:58,250 --> 00:12:03,250 ♪♪♪ 254 00:12:04,208 --> 00:12:07,959 Before you turn professional, it's good to get an amateur 255 00:12:08,041 --> 00:12:11,166 career--an amateur tryout, if you will. 256 00:12:11,250 --> 00:12:13,959 So Sonny enters into the Golden Gloves tournament. 257 00:12:14,041 --> 00:12:17,667 ♪ dramatic music ♪ 258 00:12:17,750 --> 00:12:19,250 He won the Chicago Golden Gloves. 259 00:12:19,333 --> 00:12:21,917 ♪♪♪ 260 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,291 [Collins] And then Sonny Liston went on to win 261 00:12:24,375 --> 00:12:25,291 the national Golden Gloves, 262 00:12:25,375 --> 00:12:28,000 and that really put him on the map. 263 00:12:28,083 --> 00:12:32,041 And by September of 1953, he turned professional. 264 00:12:32,125 --> 00:12:33,750 ♪♪♪ 265 00:12:33,834 --> 00:12:37,000 Liston got the attention of the boxing world 266 00:12:37,083 --> 00:12:39,792 very, very early, but you have to understand 267 00:12:39,875 --> 00:12:41,750 that even with mob-controlled fighters, 268 00:12:41,834 --> 00:12:44,709 especially if they're black fighters, 269 00:12:44,792 --> 00:12:45,625 you have to go through a baptism of fire. 270 00:12:45,709 --> 00:12:48,208 Nobody hands you anything. 271 00:12:49,250 --> 00:12:51,750 He's tested right away from the very beginning. 272 00:12:51,834 --> 00:12:55,041 He's not fighting real stumblebums. 273 00:12:55,125 --> 00:12:57,875 ♪♪♪ 274 00:12:57,959 --> 00:12:59,625 He won his first fight by knockout and then continued 275 00:12:59,709 --> 00:13:02,500 the early series of bouts in St. Louis 276 00:13:02,583 --> 00:13:04,917 winning by knockouts. 277 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,000 He was a straight-up fighter that came forward, 278 00:13:08,083 --> 00:13:09,834 looked to seek and destroy you. 279 00:13:09,917 --> 00:13:11,625 If he hit you with a good punch, he knocked you out. 280 00:13:11,709 --> 00:13:16,750 ♪♪♪ 281 00:13:16,834 --> 00:13:20,125 If you wanted to build a perfect heavyweight, 282 00:13:20,208 --> 00:13:21,917 you would use Sonny Liston as your model. 283 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:26,375 He heralded in the era of giant heavyweights 284 00:13:26,458 --> 00:13:29,875 without, in fact, being a giant heavyweight himself. 285 00:13:29,959 --> 00:13:31,709 He was only a little bit over six feet tall, 286 00:13:31,792 --> 00:13:34,667 and he weighed about 200 pounds. 287 00:13:34,750 --> 00:13:37,375 [announcer] That's our newest youngster, the Sonny Liston. 288 00:13:37,458 --> 00:13:40,542 [Farrell] Liston's reach was 86 inches, 289 00:13:40,625 --> 00:13:43,750 which was the greatest reach of any heavyweight champion 290 00:13:43,834 --> 00:13:46,959 in history with a possible exception of Primo Carnera. 291 00:13:47,041 --> 00:13:48,125 [announcer] Trying to stay with the bigger Liston. 292 00:13:48,208 --> 00:13:51,208 Harris gets hit with a left hook and goes down. 293 00:13:51,291 --> 00:13:52,291 [cheers and applause] 294 00:13:52,375 --> 00:13:55,959 He was enormously powerful through the shoulders. 295 00:13:56,041 --> 00:13:57,250 He had long arms. 296 00:13:57,333 --> 00:13:59,667 His fists were like huge hams. 297 00:14:00,750 --> 00:14:03,500 His jab was his greatest weapon, 298 00:14:03,583 --> 00:14:06,542 and it was the greatest jab any heavyweight's ever had. 299 00:14:06,625 --> 00:14:09,792 Most fighters use jabs just to set the opponent up. 300 00:14:09,875 --> 00:14:11,333 Usually it's not that hard. 301 00:14:11,417 --> 00:14:13,333 But Sonny Liston used it as a weapon--boom-- 302 00:14:13,417 --> 00:14:15,250 to knock you out and knock you down. 303 00:14:15,333 --> 00:14:17,208 ♪♪♪ 304 00:14:17,291 --> 00:14:20,417 [Roberts] Sonny's left jab was a nose-cracking, 305 00:14:20,500 --> 00:14:24,208 teeth-busting, jaw-dropping experience. 306 00:14:25,417 --> 00:14:28,333 And they said getting hit by his jab was like getting hit 307 00:14:28,417 --> 00:14:29,250 by a pole. 308 00:14:29,333 --> 00:14:32,750 ♪♪♪ 309 00:14:32,834 --> 00:14:36,333 Well, Sonny Liston had a big menacing tough guy reputation, 310 00:14:36,417 --> 00:14:38,291 and that's what preceded him in the ring. 311 00:14:38,375 --> 00:14:40,583 He intimidates the fighter. 312 00:14:40,667 --> 00:14:42,250 The fighter's really beaten before he even 313 00:14:42,333 --> 00:14:43,250 got in the ring. 314 00:14:44,709 --> 00:14:45,917 Sonny could pull it off. I could pull it off. 315 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,333 Not a lot of people could pull it off. 316 00:14:48,417 --> 00:14:51,041 ♪♪♪ 317 00:14:51,125 --> 00:14:55,208 Sonny, uh, what advice would you give to a young lad 318 00:14:55,291 --> 00:14:58,625 who came to you and said, "I want to become a boxer?" 319 00:14:58,709 --> 00:15:00,959 What would you tell him as regards training and so forth? 320 00:15:01,041 --> 00:15:04,875 Well, they always told me anything you wanna do, 321 00:15:04,959 --> 00:15:08,792 do your best and be the best at it. 322 00:15:08,875 --> 00:15:11,250 [Collins] I don't think the general public ever knew 323 00:15:11,333 --> 00:15:12,333 the real Sonny Liston. 324 00:15:12,417 --> 00:15:16,458 They knew the persona, the thug-like guy who just 325 00:15:16,542 --> 00:15:18,583 knocked everybody out and was associated with the mob 326 00:15:18,667 --> 00:15:20,875 and been in jail. 327 00:15:20,959 --> 00:15:23,458 He wasn't really that. That was a front. 328 00:15:23,542 --> 00:15:27,625 That was like what he needed to protect himself 329 00:15:27,709 --> 00:15:29,792 and also to intimidate his opponents. 330 00:15:29,875 --> 00:15:32,750 He was a very sensitive person. 331 00:15:32,834 --> 00:15:34,709 He could be hurt easily. 332 00:15:34,792 --> 00:15:37,000 ♪ dramatic music ♪ 333 00:15:37,083 --> 00:15:39,542 [Long] Uncle Charles--we didn't call him Sonny at that time-- 334 00:15:39,625 --> 00:15:43,417 was really a soft and gentle person, seriously. 335 00:15:43,500 --> 00:15:45,834 And so I didn't understand how they, you know, 336 00:15:45,917 --> 00:15:48,917 I think at some point they called him the Bear. 337 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,000 But he was never like that with me. 338 00:15:51,083 --> 00:15:54,333 ♪♪♪ 339 00:15:54,417 --> 00:15:59,500 He wanted me to be a little bit above where he came from. 340 00:15:59,583 --> 00:16:01,875 Is the term "surrogate parent"? 341 00:16:01,959 --> 00:16:03,375 He was really close to me. 342 00:16:03,458 --> 00:16:06,542 ♪♪♪ 343 00:16:06,625 --> 00:16:09,166 [Izenberg] He was respectful of kids and old people, 344 00:16:09,250 --> 00:16:14,000 'cause they posed no threat to him. 345 00:16:14,083 --> 00:16:16,875 And most of all, he was very respectful of Geraldine. 346 00:16:16,959 --> 00:16:20,583 He's a good man and he's a kind man 347 00:16:20,667 --> 00:16:23,875 and worthy of a chance to contribute to society. 348 00:16:23,959 --> 00:16:26,208 I am Mrs. Sonny Liston. 349 00:16:26,291 --> 00:16:31,250 ♪♪♪ 350 00:16:33,625 --> 00:16:36,000 [Izenberg] Geraldine was so different than Sonny. 351 00:16:36,083 --> 00:16:39,792 I always wondered how they met. 352 00:16:40,625 --> 00:16:42,917 So one day I asked her. 353 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,375 And she said to me, "Well, you know, Sonny picked me up." 354 00:16:46,458 --> 00:16:47,250 I didn't know what she meant by that. 355 00:16:47,333 --> 00:16:50,667 She said, "No, I mean he picked me up. 356 00:16:50,750 --> 00:16:52,291 It was raining. 357 00:16:52,375 --> 00:16:55,083 I was standing on a St. Louis street corner. 358 00:16:55,166 --> 00:16:59,083 Sonny pulls up in this big car, puts me in the car, 359 00:16:59,166 --> 00:17:02,208 and then says, 'A little lady like you should not be standing 360 00:17:02,291 --> 00:17:03,583 out in the rain.'" 361 00:17:03,667 --> 00:17:07,417 ♪♪♪ 362 00:17:07,500 --> 00:17:10,417 [Reddish Jr.] Geraldine Liston was a beautiful lady 363 00:17:10,500 --> 00:17:13,083 who loved her Charles. 364 00:17:13,166 --> 00:17:16,250 I could hear her right now say, "Charles?" 365 00:17:16,333 --> 00:17:17,917 And he'd, "Yes, dear?" 366 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:22,750 She was his blanket, I'll say. 367 00:17:22,834 --> 00:17:25,625 She covered him and kept him warm. 368 00:17:25,709 --> 00:17:26,625 And loved him. 369 00:17:26,709 --> 00:17:29,792 ♪♪♪ 370 00:17:29,875 --> 00:17:31,542 [Collins] Geraldine probably knew 371 00:17:31,625 --> 00:17:34,625 that Sonny was running around with other women. 372 00:17:34,709 --> 00:17:38,542 But there's a lot of women, they'd rather accept him 373 00:17:38,625 --> 00:17:41,834 messing around on the side than lose him. 374 00:17:41,917 --> 00:17:43,959 And I think that's pretty much where she was. 375 00:17:44,041 --> 00:17:46,291 I think in a way they really loved each other. 376 00:17:46,375 --> 00:17:51,333 ♪♪♪ 377 00:17:51,667 --> 00:17:53,333 You know, there was one thing that Sonny was better at 378 00:17:53,417 --> 00:17:56,125 than boxing, and that was compartmentalizing himself. 379 00:17:56,208 --> 00:17:59,166 He could be a loving husband, he could be a womanizer, 380 00:17:59,250 --> 00:18:01,083 he could be a criminal, he could be a boxer. 381 00:18:01,166 --> 00:18:03,917 That's what he was a master at: 382 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,959 boxing and being able to lead so many different lives. 383 00:18:07,041 --> 00:18:09,000 There were so many men inside that one man. 384 00:18:09,083 --> 00:18:11,458 ♪♪♪ 385 00:18:11,542 --> 00:18:15,625 [Roberts] By the mid-'50s, he's a boxer of some repute. 386 00:18:15,709 --> 00:18:17,667 He's a leg breaker for the mob. 387 00:18:17,750 --> 00:18:19,375 He's an alley dweller. 388 00:18:19,458 --> 00:18:22,291 You know, Sonny never walked on well-lit streets. 389 00:18:22,375 --> 00:18:24,250 Sonny moved around in darkness. 390 00:18:26,667 --> 00:18:29,750 So there was a running battle between the police 391 00:18:29,834 --> 00:18:33,291 and Sonny Liston. The police harassed him. 392 00:18:33,375 --> 00:18:35,917 [Jeffries] He wasn't just some random black guy. 393 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:39,333 He was Sonny Liston-- gangster, criminal. 394 00:18:39,417 --> 00:18:43,417 Once you lose that anonymity in the face of the police, 395 00:18:43,500 --> 00:18:44,500 then you're really gonna catch hell. 396 00:18:44,583 --> 00:18:50,542 ♪♪♪ 397 00:18:53,625 --> 00:18:55,375 [Assael] He had a target on his back. 398 00:18:55,458 --> 00:18:57,208 The St. Louis cops would roust him any time they could. 399 00:18:57,291 --> 00:19:00,208 Sonny was headed towards a championship fight. 400 00:19:00,291 --> 00:19:02,875 But he was also headed towards a whole lot of heat. 401 00:19:02,959 --> 00:19:04,917 ♪♪♪ 402 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:08,041 [Collins] One night, uh, Sonny was, uh, leaving a party 403 00:19:08,125 --> 00:19:12,166 and a policeman came over. 404 00:19:12,250 --> 00:19:13,583 One thing led to another. 405 00:19:13,667 --> 00:19:16,375 ♪♪♪ 406 00:19:16,458 --> 00:19:18,250 The cop went to draw his gun, 407 00:19:18,333 --> 00:19:21,041 and Sonny took it away from him, 408 00:19:21,125 --> 00:19:24,000 dragged him back in the alley, and beat him up. 409 00:19:24,083 --> 00:19:27,583 ♪♪♪ 410 00:19:27,667 --> 00:19:29,333 The weird thing about that was he was arrested 411 00:19:29,417 --> 00:19:33,083 and he was charged, but they only gave him 412 00:19:33,166 --> 00:19:35,208 nine months in the workhouse. 413 00:19:35,291 --> 00:19:37,583 This is a black man in St. Louis 414 00:19:37,667 --> 00:19:40,417 beating up a cop and taking his gun. 415 00:19:40,500 --> 00:19:43,375 That was an unheard of lenient sentence, 416 00:19:43,458 --> 00:19:47,417 and you gotta figure that there was some people connected 417 00:19:47,500 --> 00:19:49,792 behind that. 418 00:19:49,792 --> 00:19:52,333 The mob makes their phone calls and makes sure 419 00:19:52,417 --> 00:19:54,542 that if they need a fighter to be available 420 00:19:54,625 --> 00:19:56,500 to the fight, he's not kept inside 421 00:19:56,583 --> 00:19:57,625 for any length of time. 422 00:19:57,709 --> 00:20:00,583 And after that point, Sonny was known as a cop hater. 423 00:20:00,667 --> 00:20:05,834 ♪♪♪ 424 00:20:12,542 --> 00:20:14,417 There's so much heat around Sonny. 425 00:20:14,500 --> 00:20:16,291 A police captain named John Doherty 426 00:20:16,375 --> 00:20:17,291 takes him to the edge of St. Louis, 427 00:20:17,375 --> 00:20:20,291 puts a gun to his head, and says, 428 00:20:20,375 --> 00:20:20,750 "Get the hell out of town." 429 00:20:20,834 --> 00:20:26,667 ♪♪♪ 430 00:20:29,625 --> 00:20:30,959 [Roberts] Frankie Carbo has henchmen 431 00:20:31,041 --> 00:20:34,041 throughout the country. 432 00:20:34,125 --> 00:20:37,208 In Philadelphia, his leading henchman-- 433 00:20:37,291 --> 00:20:39,709 his partner in crime-- was a guy by the name 434 00:20:39,792 --> 00:20:41,250 of Blinky Palermo. 435 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:43,500 [Majeski] Blinky Palermo had 436 00:20:43,583 --> 00:20:44,500 complete control of Philadelphia. 437 00:20:44,583 --> 00:20:46,792 Had complete control of the commission. 438 00:20:46,875 --> 00:20:48,500 Had complete control of the promotions. 439 00:20:48,583 --> 00:20:51,291 They could do with as they wished in Philadelphia. 440 00:20:51,375 --> 00:20:53,583 ♪♪♪ 441 00:20:53,667 --> 00:20:55,542 In Philadelphia, Blinky Palermo 442 00:20:55,625 --> 00:20:57,125 and Frankie Carbo gave him to Willie Reddish, 443 00:20:57,208 --> 00:21:00,333 who was a legendary trainer. 444 00:21:00,417 --> 00:21:01,583 ♪♪♪ 445 00:21:01,667 --> 00:21:04,917 [Reddish Jr.] Gentleman walks in with Sonny Liston, 446 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,959 talks to my father and say, "Here he is, train him." 447 00:21:08,041 --> 00:21:10,125 Simple as that. 448 00:21:10,208 --> 00:21:15,208 ♪♪♪ 449 00:21:15,917 --> 00:21:17,709 He didn't talk about hurting someone. 450 00:21:17,792 --> 00:21:20,375 He didn't talk about dealing anything. 451 00:21:21,083 --> 00:21:24,208 He was doing just what his job had given him. 452 00:21:24,291 --> 00:21:25,750 To be a fighter. 453 00:21:25,834 --> 00:21:27,333 With Willie Reddish, you know, 454 00:21:27,417 --> 00:21:28,083 he had to work for the first time in his career. 455 00:21:28,166 --> 00:21:30,625 He really had to train hard. 456 00:21:30,709 --> 00:21:32,333 And that was the missing piece of the puzzle. 457 00:21:32,417 --> 00:21:34,792 ♪♪♪ 458 00:21:34,875 --> 00:21:36,667 [Farrell] They started putting him in with the elite fighters 459 00:21:36,750 --> 00:21:40,417 of the heavyweight division-- the guys who nobody wanted, 460 00:21:40,500 --> 00:21:42,375 and the guys who really would beat you. 461 00:21:42,458 --> 00:21:45,583 And Liston just steamrolled every one of them. 462 00:21:45,667 --> 00:21:48,041 ♪♪♪ 463 00:21:48,125 --> 00:21:51,750 [Majeski] He defeats Julio Mederos, destroys Wayne Bethea 464 00:21:51,834 --> 00:21:53,250 on national television. 465 00:21:53,333 --> 00:21:55,208 Sixty-nine seconds after the fight started, 466 00:21:55,291 --> 00:21:58,333 Sonny knocked out 16 of his teeth. 467 00:21:58,417 --> 00:22:00,667 It was a spectacular knockout. 468 00:22:00,750 --> 00:22:01,792 [announcer] Liston with another left hook, 469 00:22:01,875 --> 00:22:05,375 a right, and another left. And Bethea is down! 470 00:22:05,458 --> 00:22:07,250 [Majeski] He knocks out Nino Valdes. 471 00:22:07,333 --> 00:22:09,166 He knocks out Mike DeJohn. 472 00:22:09,250 --> 00:22:12,041 He knocks out Zora Folley. 473 00:22:12,125 --> 00:22:13,291 He outpoints Eddie Machen. 474 00:22:13,375 --> 00:22:15,333 They were tough guys for their time, 475 00:22:15,417 --> 00:22:18,250 and Sonny walked right through them. 476 00:22:18,333 --> 00:22:20,750 Sonny merely was in his own version of Heaven. 477 00:22:20,834 --> 00:22:22,625 ♪♪♪ 478 00:22:22,709 --> 00:22:25,000 He was getting paid money to knock people down, 479 00:22:25,083 --> 00:22:26,250 and nobody could arrest him. 480 00:22:26,333 --> 00:22:27,917 ♪♪♪ 481 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:29,750 And he got better and better and better. 482 00:22:29,834 --> 00:22:35,750 ♪♪♪ 483 00:22:37,250 --> 00:22:39,208 The most impressive fight, he fights a guy 484 00:22:39,291 --> 00:22:41,166 named Cleveland Williams. 485 00:22:41,250 --> 00:22:42,583 Sonny Liston and Cleveland Williams 486 00:22:42,667 --> 00:22:44,166 is like Thor fighting Hercules. 487 00:22:44,250 --> 00:22:46,083 You know, it was no holds barred. 488 00:22:46,166 --> 00:22:47,375 These are the two hardest punching fighters 489 00:22:47,458 --> 00:22:48,959 in the world at that time. 490 00:22:49,041 --> 00:22:50,458 No one wanted to fight either one. 491 00:22:50,542 --> 00:22:53,166 I remember both fighters just swinging, 492 00:22:53,250 --> 00:22:54,125 swinging at the wind, going for it. 493 00:22:54,208 --> 00:22:56,542 Trying to knock each other out. 494 00:22:56,625 --> 00:23:00,458 Cleveland Williams almost knocked Sonny Liston 495 00:23:00,542 --> 00:23:02,625 out of the ring. 496 00:23:02,709 --> 00:23:04,166 He broke a rib. 497 00:23:04,250 --> 00:23:05,792 He battered him. 498 00:23:05,875 --> 00:23:08,333 He was lucky to make it through the round. 499 00:23:08,417 --> 00:23:09,959 That was his epiphany. 500 00:23:10,041 --> 00:23:11,458 I think he saw that, "If I'm gonna lose, 501 00:23:11,542 --> 00:23:14,125 I'll be back in prison, I'll be back in poverty." 502 00:23:14,208 --> 00:23:14,792 And I think his managers and trainers 503 00:23:14,875 --> 00:23:16,750 read the riot act to him. 504 00:23:16,834 --> 00:23:18,083 "Sonny, all you have is your ability as a fighter. 505 00:23:18,166 --> 00:23:20,792 And you have to win." 506 00:23:20,875 --> 00:23:22,291 [announcer] Liston moves in with lefts and rights. 507 00:23:22,375 --> 00:23:24,083 Hammer blows to the head and body. 508 00:23:24,166 --> 00:23:25,333 [Majeski] Sonny doesn't give up, 509 00:23:25,417 --> 00:23:26,959 and he knocks him out in one 510 00:23:27,041 --> 00:23:28,959 of the great fights of all time. 511 00:23:29,041 --> 00:23:29,750 [announcer] One look at Williams' face, 512 00:23:29,834 --> 00:23:30,792 and you know the end is near. 513 00:23:30,875 --> 00:23:35,834 ♪♪♪ 514 00:23:35,917 --> 00:23:36,417 Everybody was scared when he knocked out 515 00:23:36,500 --> 00:23:38,792 Cleveland Williams. 516 00:23:38,875 --> 00:23:41,208 At this point, Sonny was the best heavyweight in the world. 517 00:23:41,291 --> 00:23:44,208 He had cleared out the dangerous part of 518 00:23:44,291 --> 00:23:46,166 the heavyweight division, and he'd done it in a way 519 00:23:46,250 --> 00:23:49,333 that was so unilateral that he was undeniable. 520 00:23:49,417 --> 00:23:52,166 [announcer] And a fast right to the head puts Harris down. 521 00:23:52,250 --> 00:23:53,125 ♪♪♪ 522 00:23:53,208 --> 00:23:56,125 The fight is over. 523 00:23:56,208 --> 00:23:57,750 Sonny Liston sets his sights 524 00:23:57,834 --> 00:23:59,709 on the heavyweight championship. 525 00:23:59,792 --> 00:24:04,166 Every guy who hit the canvas was one body to step over 526 00:24:04,250 --> 00:24:06,333 on the way to a world title fight. 527 00:24:06,417 --> 00:24:07,834 ♪♪♪ 528 00:24:07,917 --> 00:24:10,166 [cheers and applause] 529 00:24:10,250 --> 00:24:12,041 [announcer] Sonny, let's talk about your future now. 530 00:24:12,125 --> 00:24:14,125 Who do you wanna fight in the ring in your next engagement? 531 00:24:14,208 --> 00:24:16,750 The man who got the title. 532 00:24:16,834 --> 00:24:19,166 He thought that the title would turn him 533 00:24:19,250 --> 00:24:20,583 into somebody different. 534 00:24:20,667 --> 00:24:24,625 He saw a chance to reinvent himself. 535 00:24:24,709 --> 00:24:25,709 He had people who wanted to talk to him, 536 00:24:25,792 --> 00:24:28,625 newspaper reporters who wanted to cover him, 537 00:24:28,709 --> 00:24:30,000 because they knew where this was going. 538 00:24:30,083 --> 00:24:34,208 ♪♪♪ 539 00:24:34,291 --> 00:24:36,792 [Collins] The problem was 540 00:24:36,875 --> 00:24:39,917 when he got close to getting a title fight, 541 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,667 that's when all the resistance started. 542 00:24:42,750 --> 00:24:44,542 ♪♪♪ 543 00:24:44,625 --> 00:24:45,625 [Roberts] We have a guy by the name of Kefauver, 544 00:24:45,709 --> 00:24:49,083 senator from Tennessee, who's investigating 545 00:24:49,166 --> 00:24:51,375 corruption in America. 546 00:24:51,458 --> 00:24:52,709 This is an age where America was looking for corruption 547 00:24:52,792 --> 00:24:56,208 all over the place, whether it was communists 548 00:24:56,291 --> 00:24:58,834 or labor unions or what have you. 549 00:24:58,917 --> 00:25:02,125 And Kefauver decides boxing is corrupt. 550 00:25:02,208 --> 00:25:03,417 ♪♪♪ 551 00:25:03,500 --> 00:25:05,917 [Lipsyte] Estes Kefauver saw 552 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,125 these hearings as an opportunity 553 00:25:08,208 --> 00:25:12,583 to be on this very new thing called television. 554 00:25:12,667 --> 00:25:14,750 You gotta remember, it's not like television today 555 00:25:14,834 --> 00:25:16,250 where they'll put a camera in the grave 556 00:25:16,333 --> 00:25:17,709 if they can get away with it. 557 00:25:17,792 --> 00:25:20,375 This was a whole new idea. 558 00:25:20,458 --> 00:25:23,917 Have you ever threatened any 559 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:25,875 manager or boxer 560 00:25:25,959 --> 00:25:27,625 or promoter at any time? 561 00:25:27,709 --> 00:25:31,000 I respectfully decline to answer the question 562 00:25:31,083 --> 00:25:32,208 on the ground that I cannot be compelled to be a witness 563 00:25:32,291 --> 00:25:34,750 against myself. 564 00:25:34,834 --> 00:25:36,750 [Roberts] The spotlight is on Frankie Carbo. 565 00:25:36,834 --> 00:25:38,083 It's on Blinky Palermo. 566 00:25:38,166 --> 00:25:42,250 It's on the other henchmen in the mob involved with boxing. 567 00:25:42,333 --> 00:25:45,291 And Sonny Liston's tied to all of them. 568 00:25:45,375 --> 00:25:47,000 ♪♪♪ 569 00:25:47,083 --> 00:25:48,959 So this is a problem. 570 00:25:49,041 --> 00:25:51,750 Sonny Liston, at a time when he's becoming absolutely 571 00:25:51,834 --> 00:25:54,625 the most famous fighter in the world, 572 00:25:54,709 --> 00:25:58,166 is becoming known as absolutely the most criminally tied 573 00:25:58,250 --> 00:26:01,709 fighter in the world. 574 00:26:01,792 --> 00:26:03,625 [Collins] It hurt his reputation. 575 00:26:03,709 --> 00:26:04,750 The stuff was already there. 576 00:26:04,834 --> 00:26:10,125 But it broadcasted to a much wider audience. 577 00:26:10,208 --> 00:26:13,500 [Assael] J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI are also obsessed-- 578 00:26:13,583 --> 00:26:16,291 I mean obsessed--with Sonny being a linchpin 579 00:26:16,375 --> 00:26:19,000 between the mob and boxing. 580 00:26:19,083 --> 00:26:22,166 This is evidenced by all the FBI reports where you could 581 00:26:22,250 --> 00:26:24,750 see Hoover was following Sonny's career closely. 582 00:26:24,834 --> 00:26:29,709 ♪♪♪ 583 00:26:29,792 --> 00:26:32,542 [Collins] They didn't want a guy like Sonny Liston having 584 00:26:32,625 --> 00:26:34,834 what was probably the most prestigious prize 585 00:26:34,917 --> 00:26:35,250 in sports at the time. 586 00:26:35,333 --> 00:26:40,125 ♪♪♪ 587 00:26:40,208 --> 00:26:43,417 [Farrell] In order to fight for the heavyweight championship, 588 00:26:43,500 --> 00:26:46,291 Sonny Liston would have had to fight Floyd Patterson. 589 00:26:46,375 --> 00:26:48,333 And Patterson's an interesting figure 590 00:26:48,417 --> 00:26:51,500 because he was a very, very popular champion. 591 00:26:51,583 --> 00:26:53,875 ♪♪♪ 592 00:26:53,959 --> 00:26:55,709 [Majeski] And he has one of the cagiest, most brilliant, 593 00:26:55,792 --> 00:26:58,542 most insane managers in the history of the sport, 594 00:26:58,625 --> 00:27:00,625 Cus D'Amato. 595 00:27:00,709 --> 00:27:03,500 And Cus D'Amato did not want to expose this property of his 596 00:27:03,583 --> 00:27:04,750 to Sonny Liston. 597 00:27:04,834 --> 00:27:06,709 [Farrell] And he had a built-in excuse 598 00:27:06,792 --> 00:27:08,917 since he could say, "Well, we don't want 599 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:13,000 the heavyweight title even potentially falling into 600 00:27:13,083 --> 00:27:13,792 the hands of the mob." 601 00:27:16,125 --> 00:27:18,375 [Collins] The time that Sonny lived and fought in 602 00:27:18,458 --> 00:27:20,500 was a time of change in America. 603 00:27:20,583 --> 00:27:23,792 He was caught in the crosshair of a huge upheaval 604 00:27:23,875 --> 00:27:24,834 in this country. 605 00:27:24,917 --> 00:27:27,500 ♪♪♪ 606 00:27:27,583 --> 00:27:29,291 The Civil Rights era was starting. 607 00:27:29,375 --> 00:27:30,709 A lot of changes were being made. 608 00:27:30,792 --> 00:27:33,583 [Rigueur] We're seeing new kinds of protest, 609 00:27:33,667 --> 00:27:37,875 uh, strategies like the sit-in movement. 610 00:27:37,959 --> 00:27:40,250 [announcer] This is the scene of sit-downs in the past. 611 00:27:40,333 --> 00:27:44,041 However now we are told the marchers have stopped here 612 00:27:44,125 --> 00:27:46,208 and a song will be sung. 613 00:27:46,291 --> 00:27:47,917 [Rigueur] Bus boycotts. 614 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:52,458 African-Americans pushing back against societal norms 615 00:27:52,542 --> 00:27:54,542 that are telling them that they are less than. 616 00:27:54,625 --> 00:27:57,917 I would rather die on the highways of Alabama 617 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:00,583 than make a butchery of my conscience. 618 00:28:00,667 --> 00:28:04,750 Also civil rights organizations are picking 619 00:28:04,834 --> 00:28:08,375 and choosing people that they see as model citizens 620 00:28:08,458 --> 00:28:10,875 to essentially prove that African-Americans 621 00:28:10,959 --> 00:28:13,417 are deserving of citizenship. 622 00:28:13,500 --> 00:28:15,583 And so Floyd Patterson fits this idea. 623 00:28:15,667 --> 00:28:18,291 Now we've heard this word "viciousness--" 624 00:28:18,375 --> 00:28:20,041 that a fighter has to have a vicious attitude 625 00:28:20,125 --> 00:28:21,417 before he goes into the ring. 626 00:28:21,500 --> 00:28:22,542 Now, how do you feel about that? 627 00:28:22,625 --> 00:28:23,709 Well, not in all cases, no. 628 00:28:23,792 --> 00:28:25,583 I disagree with that. 629 00:28:25,667 --> 00:28:27,500 In fact, I've only had the vicious attitude in one fight. 630 00:28:27,583 --> 00:28:30,333 ♪♪♪ 631 00:28:30,417 --> 00:28:32,709 [Majeski] Floyd Patterson was the Sidney Poitier of boxing. 632 00:28:32,792 --> 00:28:34,458 You know, very soft spoken, guy you would want 633 00:28:34,542 --> 00:28:36,000 to go out with. 634 00:28:36,083 --> 00:28:36,959 He was involved with civil rights. 635 00:28:37,041 --> 00:28:38,959 He was friendly with Jackie Robinson. 636 00:28:39,041 --> 00:28:40,500 He was friendly with Nelson Rockefeller. 637 00:28:40,583 --> 00:28:42,750 He was meeting senators. 638 00:28:42,834 --> 00:28:44,792 [Jeffries] He's not a uppity negro. 639 00:28:44,875 --> 00:28:46,500 He's just there to get along, uh, and he won't upset 640 00:28:46,583 --> 00:28:49,417 the apple cart, if you will. 641 00:28:49,500 --> 00:28:52,792 That's why the NAACP and others feel comfortable 642 00:28:52,875 --> 00:28:57,208 with him as being sort of the face of this effort 643 00:28:57,291 --> 00:29:00,458 to really desegregate-- integrate America. 644 00:29:00,542 --> 00:29:01,834 ♪♪♪ 645 00:29:01,917 --> 00:29:06,166 Sonny Liston's America's worst nightmare. 646 00:29:06,250 --> 00:29:07,959 He is literally a dangerous negro. 647 00:29:08,041 --> 00:29:12,125 And he's a dangerous negro who's unafraid of white people, 648 00:29:12,208 --> 00:29:15,000 as demonstrated by his consistent and constant 649 00:29:15,083 --> 00:29:16,291 encounters with the police. 650 00:29:16,375 --> 00:29:20,000 [Tyson] He had a bad rap for always being mob connected. 651 00:29:20,083 --> 00:29:23,208 He was like a black eye to the black community. 652 00:29:23,291 --> 00:29:26,125 So nobody wanted to be associated with him. 653 00:29:26,208 --> 00:29:27,625 No respectable person. 654 00:29:27,709 --> 00:29:29,875 ♪♪♪ 655 00:29:29,959 --> 00:29:32,125 [Rigueur] He's imposing, he's violent, 656 00:29:32,208 --> 00:29:34,667 he's abrupt, he has no connection 657 00:29:34,750 --> 00:29:36,291 to the civil rights movement. 658 00:29:36,375 --> 00:29:38,208 And he's unapologetic about it. 659 00:29:38,291 --> 00:29:39,750 [announcer] Sonny, what do you think 660 00:29:39,834 --> 00:29:40,834 about the American Revolution in 1963? 661 00:29:40,917 --> 00:29:43,709 Well, I think it's a simple matter, 662 00:29:43,792 --> 00:29:47,250 but, um, a lot of peoples is carrying this thing 663 00:29:47,333 --> 00:29:49,625 a little too far for what it is. 664 00:29:49,709 --> 00:29:51,250 [Farrell] As he always said about the riots, 665 00:29:51,333 --> 00:29:52,333 "I don't have a dog-proof ass." 666 00:29:52,417 --> 00:29:55,500 He's not gonna get torn apart for somebody else. 667 00:29:55,583 --> 00:30:00,750 ♪♪♪ 668 00:30:02,208 --> 00:30:05,500 The reason why we don't really associate Sonny Liston 669 00:30:05,583 --> 00:30:08,417 with the civil rights movement, uh, is because the civil rights 670 00:30:08,500 --> 00:30:10,875 movement didn't associate itself with Sonny Liston. 671 00:30:10,959 --> 00:30:14,250 Image was very important, and that's exactly what 672 00:30:14,333 --> 00:30:15,875 Sonny Liston didn't have. 673 00:30:17,125 --> 00:30:20,959 [Farrell] I know for a fact that JFK told Patterson 674 00:30:21,041 --> 00:30:23,542 he needed not to fight Sonny Liston. 675 00:30:23,625 --> 00:30:26,083 Which, if you think about it, is an enormous statement 676 00:30:26,166 --> 00:30:28,208 coming from the President of the United States 677 00:30:28,291 --> 00:30:30,041 in regard to a prize fight. 678 00:30:30,125 --> 00:30:35,041 ♪♪♪ 679 00:30:37,083 --> 00:30:38,875 [Reddish Jr.] He had earned his title. 680 00:30:38,959 --> 00:30:42,333 He had earned the championship fight. 681 00:30:42,417 --> 00:30:44,250 Of course he had been incarcerated as a youngster. 682 00:30:44,333 --> 00:30:46,750 Absolutely. 683 00:30:48,291 --> 00:30:51,542 They should have been encouraging him and giving him 684 00:30:51,625 --> 00:30:54,417 a second chance, 685 00:30:54,500 --> 00:30:56,750 so why deny him? 686 00:30:56,834 --> 00:30:59,583 I thought it was a disgrace. 687 00:30:59,667 --> 00:31:04,792 ♪♪♪ 688 00:31:05,834 --> 00:31:10,083 Sonny, I understand that you have a statement to make 689 00:31:10,166 --> 00:31:12,000 as far as fighters are concerned. 690 00:31:12,083 --> 00:31:16,417 Well, I've fought all the top contenders, 691 00:31:16,500 --> 00:31:18,125 and I've fought my way up to the number one spot, 692 00:31:18,208 --> 00:31:22,291 so what do a man have to do to get a earnest shot 693 00:31:22,375 --> 00:31:23,542 at the title? 694 00:31:23,625 --> 00:31:25,792 [Farrell] The real reason that Cus D'Amato didn't want 695 00:31:25,875 --> 00:31:27,000 Floyd Patterson to fight Sonny Liston is he was 696 00:31:27,083 --> 00:31:30,500 absolutely sure--as sure as everyone else-- 697 00:31:30,583 --> 00:31:31,583 that Patterson had no chance to win. 698 00:31:31,667 --> 00:31:33,875 Floyd didn't stand a chance. 699 00:31:33,959 --> 00:31:35,625 He was, you know-- He was too light. 700 00:31:35,709 --> 00:31:39,333 He was too weak. He was scared. 701 00:31:39,417 --> 00:31:41,458 And there's no way you're gonna beat Sonny if you're scared. 702 00:31:41,542 --> 00:31:46,959 ♪♪♪ 703 00:31:47,041 --> 00:31:49,625 [Roberts] Cus D'Amato's goal with Floyd Patterson 704 00:31:49,709 --> 00:31:52,792 is never to match him up against anybody 705 00:31:52,875 --> 00:31:56,709 that's of any competence whatsoever. 706 00:31:56,792 --> 00:31:59,500 The downfall of Floyd Patterson came 707 00:31:59,583 --> 00:32:02,417 with a great televised double-header 708 00:32:02,500 --> 00:32:05,250 where Patterson defended his title against the great 709 00:32:05,333 --> 00:32:07,125 fighter Tom McNeeley. 710 00:32:07,208 --> 00:32:09,041 ♪♪♪ 711 00:32:09,125 --> 00:32:11,375 Tom McNeeley was nothing. 712 00:32:11,458 --> 00:32:14,834 The fight was a sham. 713 00:32:14,917 --> 00:32:17,208 On the same card, Sonny Liston fights 714 00:32:17,291 --> 00:32:18,500 Bert Westphal. 715 00:32:18,583 --> 00:32:21,500 Bert Westphal was a good fighter. 716 00:32:21,583 --> 00:32:24,333 [announcer] Westphal has 12 K.O.s. 717 00:32:24,417 --> 00:32:25,959 [Collins] Westphal tries to stand up to Sonny Liston. 718 00:32:26,041 --> 00:32:28,625 Now he's mixing it in exchanges, 719 00:32:28,709 --> 00:32:31,000 then finally Sonny finds the range. 720 00:32:31,083 --> 00:32:33,000 [announcer] Westphal has never been knocked off his feet 721 00:32:33,083 --> 00:32:34,834 until now. 722 00:32:34,917 --> 00:32:37,875 [Roberts] Liston destroys him. 723 00:32:37,959 --> 00:32:39,917 Liston is the champion. 724 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:41,291 Patterson's the great pretender. 725 00:32:41,375 --> 00:32:44,750 [announcer] Albert Westphal knocked out by Sonny Liston, 726 00:32:44,834 --> 00:32:47,291 who by virtue of this one-round K.O. tonight 727 00:32:47,375 --> 00:32:50,959 has taken a long step toward a fight with Floyd Patterson. 728 00:32:51,041 --> 00:32:54,125 Eventually, under mounting pressure, 729 00:32:54,208 --> 00:32:56,917 Floyd felt that in order to have any integrity-- 730 00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:58,917 personal integrity--he had to fight Sonny Liston. 731 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:03,458 So he overrode D'Amato's concerns. 732 00:33:04,458 --> 00:33:07,208 [Farrell] When Patterson finally agrees to fight Sonny, 733 00:33:07,291 --> 00:33:09,458 it's seen as some supreme act of charity 734 00:33:09,542 --> 00:33:10,667 instead of what it really was, which was, you know, 735 00:33:10,750 --> 00:33:13,041 an obligation. 736 00:33:13,125 --> 00:33:15,417 I personally think that he has every right 737 00:33:15,500 --> 00:33:18,792 to fight for the championship despite his-- 738 00:33:18,875 --> 00:33:20,583 despite his unfortunate background. 739 00:33:20,667 --> 00:33:24,917 ♪♪♪ 740 00:33:25,333 --> 00:33:29,750 How excited was I when Sonny signed for the heavyweight 741 00:33:29,834 --> 00:33:32,291 championship of the world? 742 00:33:32,375 --> 00:33:34,917 Very excite--I just knew we were going to become 743 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,250 the heavyweight champion. I knew it. 744 00:33:37,333 --> 00:33:39,625 That was his ambition in life. 745 00:33:41,333 --> 00:33:42,333 [Farrell] Sonny wanted this title 746 00:33:42,417 --> 00:33:44,333 because he thought it would complete him. 747 00:33:45,166 --> 00:33:47,875 Even with all that had happened-- 748 00:33:47,959 --> 00:33:50,834 the congressional hearings, the dozens and dozens 749 00:33:50,917 --> 00:33:53,583 of rousting by cops, the--the press-- 750 00:33:53,667 --> 00:33:55,583 it's one of the happiest times in his life. 751 00:33:55,667 --> 00:33:56,458 He had the fight of his dreams. 752 00:33:56,542 --> 00:34:00,208 [laughter] 753 00:34:00,291 --> 00:34:03,875 [Izenberg] They make the fight. It's gonna be in Chicago. 754 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,875 So I've immediately decided I'm gonna go to Floyd's camp first. 755 00:34:06,959 --> 00:34:07,959 He's the champion. 756 00:34:08,041 --> 00:34:08,458 Let's see what he has to say. 757 00:34:08,542 --> 00:34:09,875 ♪♪♪ 758 00:34:09,959 --> 00:34:12,291 It was the county poor farm. 759 00:34:12,375 --> 00:34:14,542 Rolling green hills. 760 00:34:14,625 --> 00:34:17,583 Blossoms, birdies tweeting. 761 00:34:17,667 --> 00:34:18,959 And little bunny rabbits hopping across the road. 762 00:34:19,041 --> 00:34:24,834 And I said, "This is Floyd Patterson's 763 00:34:24,917 --> 00:34:27,417 emotional home." 764 00:34:27,500 --> 00:34:29,917 He's got two chances-- slim and none. 765 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:34,625 ♪♪♪ 766 00:34:34,709 --> 00:34:38,166 Now I go to see Sonny Liston. 767 00:34:38,875 --> 00:34:41,834 We walk down this concrete corridor 768 00:34:41,917 --> 00:34:45,000 which is ten degrees colder than outside. 769 00:34:47,250 --> 00:34:49,875 Sonny's taking these medicine balls to the stomach. 770 00:34:49,959 --> 00:34:51,208 Boom, boom, boom. 771 00:34:51,291 --> 00:34:53,500 And I'm looking at Sonny's face. 772 00:34:53,583 --> 00:34:56,792 He all but yawned as the ball hit his stomach. 773 00:34:56,875 --> 00:34:58,458 And I'm saying, "I thought there was two chances 774 00:34:58,542 --> 00:35:02,333 for Floyd--slim and none. Slim just went out the door." 775 00:35:03,417 --> 00:35:06,959 You feel that Liston is a capable opponent, I'm sure. 776 00:35:07,041 --> 00:35:11,625 Sure, I feel that, uh, he's a bit above and beyond capable. 777 00:35:11,709 --> 00:35:14,709 ♪♪♪ 778 00:35:14,792 --> 00:35:16,458 [Lipsyte] Before the fight, Sonny Liston goes into 779 00:35:16,542 --> 00:35:17,667 a Spartan condition. 780 00:35:17,750 --> 00:35:20,375 He really kind of picked up the rhythm of his training. 781 00:35:20,458 --> 00:35:24,000 They were longer, they were harder sessions. 782 00:35:24,083 --> 00:35:28,083 He really looked leaner and harder and faster. 783 00:35:29,458 --> 00:35:31,792 He gets himself into the best condition 784 00:35:31,875 --> 00:35:34,083 he will ever be for the rest of his life. 785 00:35:34,166 --> 00:35:35,875 ♪♪♪ 786 00:35:35,959 --> 00:35:37,667 He's prime to fight and try to take the title. 787 00:35:37,750 --> 00:35:41,375 ♪♪♪ 788 00:35:41,458 --> 00:35:43,542 [Roberts] Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston fight-- 789 00:35:43,625 --> 00:35:45,583 there's been very few other fights like it. 790 00:35:45,667 --> 00:35:48,041 Very few in boxing history. 791 00:35:48,125 --> 00:35:52,375 I mean, in boxing, you always want a good guy and a bad guy. 792 00:35:52,458 --> 00:35:54,500 You want a black hat and a white hat, 793 00:35:54,583 --> 00:35:56,375 and you want the white hat to win. 794 00:35:56,458 --> 00:35:58,375 Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, 795 00:35:58,458 --> 00:36:02,500 representative of democracy versus Nazi fascism. 796 00:36:02,583 --> 00:36:06,333 Well, the Patterson-Liston fight was the same thing. 797 00:36:06,417 --> 00:36:09,250 I mean, it's good versus evil. 798 00:36:09,333 --> 00:36:11,959 Fight, no. It was a morality play. 799 00:36:12,041 --> 00:36:14,917 ♪♪♪ 800 00:36:20,208 --> 00:36:22,250 When Liston goes into the ring, 801 00:36:22,333 --> 00:36:26,875 figuratively wearing his black hat, he's booed. 802 00:36:26,959 --> 00:36:29,000 It's almost as if you're in a movie. 803 00:36:29,083 --> 00:36:32,625 [crowd booing] 804 00:36:32,709 --> 00:36:33,959 [Izenberg] I remember when they came in the ring. 805 00:36:34,041 --> 00:36:37,083 Liston was simply staring 806 00:36:37,166 --> 00:36:41,875 across the ring at Patterson. 807 00:36:41,959 --> 00:36:43,417 And Patterson was trying not to look, 808 00:36:43,500 --> 00:36:45,583 but every once in a while, he looked. 809 00:36:45,667 --> 00:36:48,458 And Cus D'Amato's saying, "I have faith in you. 810 00:36:48,542 --> 00:36:50,417 You can do it." 811 00:36:50,500 --> 00:36:51,458 It's a miracle he wasn't struck by lightning, 812 00:36:51,542 --> 00:36:53,625 because he didn't have any faith in him. 813 00:36:53,709 --> 00:36:54,750 ♪ dramatic music ♪ 814 00:36:54,834 --> 00:36:56,959 [Farrell] Sonny Liston didn't come out looking 815 00:36:57,041 --> 00:36:59,333 to knock Floyd's head off. 816 00:36:59,417 --> 00:37:01,083 That's just not the way he fought. 817 00:37:01,166 --> 00:37:04,417 Liston was really a very, very complete fighter. 818 00:37:04,500 --> 00:37:07,458 He took opportunities as they presented themselves, 819 00:37:07,542 --> 00:37:10,291 and if you see the fight, you see that actually 820 00:37:10,375 --> 00:37:14,166 Patterson appears to be the more aggressive initially. 821 00:37:14,250 --> 00:37:18,417 ♪♪♪ 822 00:37:20,375 --> 00:37:23,333 Once he was on the inside, you know, 823 00:37:23,417 --> 00:37:25,542 Liston just took him apart. 824 00:37:25,625 --> 00:37:28,083 And Liston just moves in, catches him with a left, 825 00:37:28,166 --> 00:37:29,625 catch him with another left. 826 00:37:29,709 --> 00:37:33,291 ♪♪♪ 827 00:37:33,375 --> 00:37:34,667 [announcer] Solid left to the cheekbone 828 00:37:34,750 --> 00:37:37,000 dropped the champion. 829 00:37:37,083 --> 00:37:38,875 [Tyson] Floyd just went down. 830 00:37:38,959 --> 00:37:41,000 He just couldn't take the punishment and go down. 831 00:37:41,083 --> 00:37:42,000 It was too much power for him. 832 00:37:42,083 --> 00:37:45,834 Fight? There was no fight. 833 00:37:45,917 --> 00:37:47,583 It--It was a slaughter. 834 00:37:47,667 --> 00:37:51,125 And Sonny Liston wins the heavyweight championship 835 00:37:51,208 --> 00:37:51,542 of the world. 836 00:37:58,917 --> 00:38:00,667 [Majeski] When he became heavyweight champ, 837 00:38:00,750 --> 00:38:02,917 I think the perception was he's gonna be the title holder 838 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:04,333 for the next 20 years. 839 00:38:04,417 --> 00:38:06,709 Nobody's gonna beat this man. 840 00:38:11,667 --> 00:38:16,792 [Roberts] The stadium was eerily quiet, almost funereal. 841 00:38:18,166 --> 00:38:21,875 In a way, it was a funeral. A funeral for Patterson. 842 00:38:21,959 --> 00:38:26,041 A funeral for our visions of what the boxing heavyweight 843 00:38:26,125 --> 00:38:27,625 champion should represent and should be. 844 00:38:28,792 --> 00:38:32,834 It was not a great beginning for the championship career 845 00:38:32,917 --> 00:38:34,834 of Sonny Liston. 846 00:38:34,917 --> 00:38:35,542 [announcer] And the new champion 847 00:38:35,625 --> 00:38:36,917 is inarticulate in victory. 848 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:40,709 ♪ dramatic music ♪ 849 00:38:40,792 --> 00:38:42,542 ♪♪♪ 850 00:38:42,625 --> 00:38:46,709 [Izenberg] Sonny came into this fight with a second goal. 851 00:38:46,792 --> 00:38:48,667 He wanted respect. 852 00:38:48,750 --> 00:38:52,208 Take a look at his life. When was he respected? 853 00:38:52,291 --> 00:38:54,959 When his father was hitching him up to a plow? 854 00:38:55,041 --> 00:38:56,792 When the mob was using him? 855 00:38:58,083 --> 00:39:01,500 So after the fight, he was absolutely euphoric 856 00:39:01,583 --> 00:39:05,458 because he knew Philadelphia would welcome him 857 00:39:05,542 --> 00:39:08,792 with open arms and his life would change. 858 00:39:08,875 --> 00:39:10,417 ♪♪♪ 859 00:39:10,500 --> 00:39:11,792 [Long] It was mainly for his image. 860 00:39:11,875 --> 00:39:15,625 You get to be the heavyweight champ and you're not looked at 861 00:39:15,709 --> 00:39:17,250 as a criminal anymore. 862 00:39:17,333 --> 00:39:21,458 ♪♪♪ 863 00:39:26,834 --> 00:39:29,083 [Collins] Jack McKinney was a boxing writer 864 00:39:29,166 --> 00:39:30,959 for the Philadelphia Daily News, 865 00:39:31,041 --> 00:39:32,959 and he was the only writer in Philadelphia 866 00:39:33,041 --> 00:39:35,417 that Sonny trusted. 867 00:39:35,500 --> 00:39:37,834 He called City Hall in Philadelphia 868 00:39:37,917 --> 00:39:41,000 to get some sort of greeting for Sonny. 869 00:39:41,083 --> 00:39:43,667 ♪♪♪ 870 00:39:43,750 --> 00:39:47,458 He had all these plans that he told Jack about 871 00:39:47,542 --> 00:39:49,667 that, you know, he was gonna turn his life around. 872 00:39:49,750 --> 00:39:53,208 He thought he could be a role model for young men 873 00:39:53,291 --> 00:39:54,959 and children. Sonny loved children. 874 00:39:55,041 --> 00:39:58,250 ♪♪♪ 875 00:39:58,333 --> 00:40:00,041 [Izenberg] The plane lands, he straightens his tie, 876 00:40:00,125 --> 00:40:02,792 and he's ready. 877 00:40:02,875 --> 00:40:04,291 ♪♪♪ 878 00:40:04,375 --> 00:40:06,959 [Collins] Walked into the airport. 879 00:40:07,041 --> 00:40:09,959 ♪♪♪ 880 00:40:10,041 --> 00:40:11,875 There was nobody there to meet him. 881 00:40:11,959 --> 00:40:15,709 ♪♪♪ 882 00:40:15,792 --> 00:40:17,500 And he didn't say anything. 883 00:40:17,583 --> 00:40:19,375 But Jack looks over at him and he said 884 00:40:19,458 --> 00:40:21,000 there was like a little lump in his throat. 885 00:40:21,083 --> 00:40:26,250 ♪♪♪ 886 00:40:29,500 --> 00:40:33,542 It finally sunk in that it didn't matter what he did. 887 00:40:33,625 --> 00:40:35,333 He would never shake his past 888 00:40:35,417 --> 00:40:38,000 and he would never be fully accepted. 889 00:40:38,083 --> 00:40:42,834 And I think that moment where his life could have gone 890 00:40:42,917 --> 00:40:46,125 in one direction, it went in the other. 891 00:40:46,208 --> 00:40:51,125 ♪♪♪ 892 00:40:51,208 --> 00:40:53,417 [Reddish Jr.] I received a phone call from Sonny Liston 893 00:40:53,500 --> 00:40:58,041 that night and he told me, "Come on over." 894 00:40:58,125 --> 00:40:59,875 ♪♪♪ 895 00:40:59,959 --> 00:41:02,000 We just stayed up all night and talked. 896 00:41:02,083 --> 00:41:05,583 ♪♪♪ 897 00:41:05,667 --> 00:41:08,875 All he wanted to do was to be accepted 898 00:41:08,959 --> 00:41:12,166 as a normal human being. 899 00:41:12,250 --> 00:41:17,417 ♪♪♪ 900 00:41:18,959 --> 00:41:20,709 He was heartbroken. 901 00:41:20,792 --> 00:41:23,750 ♪♪♪ 902 00:41:23,834 --> 00:41:26,375 Well, that's life. 903 00:41:26,458 --> 00:41:30,625 ♪♪♪ 904 00:41:35,959 --> 00:41:39,208 [Roberts] The tragedy of Sonny Liston's reign 905 00:41:39,291 --> 00:41:42,458 as heavyweight champion of the world is nothing changed. 906 00:41:42,542 --> 00:41:45,375 The FBI impounded the money to the fight. 907 00:41:45,458 --> 00:41:48,792 The police arrest him for going too slow through a park. 908 00:41:51,083 --> 00:41:53,750 Sonny Liston is still the despised, 909 00:41:53,834 --> 00:41:55,375 the hated, the hassled. 910 00:41:55,458 --> 00:41:57,709 He's not accepted. 911 00:41:58,750 --> 00:42:01,417 [Assael] You know, this was not the press's finest era. 912 00:42:01,500 --> 00:42:04,083 ♪♪♪ 913 00:42:04,166 --> 00:42:05,875 Every invective, every insult you could imagine 914 00:42:05,959 --> 00:42:10,458 being thrown at a black man in America was thrown at Sonny. 915 00:42:10,542 --> 00:42:14,709 ♪♪♪ 916 00:42:19,166 --> 00:42:22,417 [Long] I was hurt, really hurt. 917 00:42:22,500 --> 00:42:24,542 You know, he'd come through all of the other stuff 918 00:42:24,625 --> 00:42:28,000 he'd been through and then to get this far and then have to-- 919 00:42:28,083 --> 00:42:29,417 it took him back, I thought. 920 00:42:29,500 --> 00:42:30,667 ♪♪♪ 921 00:42:30,750 --> 00:42:33,417 And that didn't feel good at all to me. 922 00:42:33,500 --> 00:42:34,792 Mm-mm. 923 00:42:34,875 --> 00:42:36,875 ♪♪♪ 924 00:42:36,959 --> 00:42:41,625 [Collins] He wasn't a bad guy, deep down inside. 925 00:42:41,709 --> 00:42:43,458 He'd done bad things. 926 00:42:43,542 --> 00:42:45,792 But he wanted, actually, to be a good person. 927 00:42:45,875 --> 00:42:50,041 And after that, I don't think he really gave a damn. 928 00:42:50,125 --> 00:42:53,166 The public is not with me now, 929 00:42:53,250 --> 00:42:56,625 but they'll have to swing along until somebody else come along 930 00:42:56,709 --> 00:42:57,542 to beat me. 931 00:42:57,625 --> 00:43:01,792 He accepted it. He tried to escape it. 932 00:43:01,875 --> 00:43:03,375 He went to Vegas. 933 00:43:03,458 --> 00:43:05,291 And we know what happened in Vegas. 934 00:43:05,375 --> 00:43:06,625 ♪♪♪ 935 00:43:06,709 --> 00:43:09,959 Vegas, why hasn't he thought of this before? 936 00:43:10,041 --> 00:43:11,500 It was a perfect town for him. 937 00:43:11,583 --> 00:43:12,667 ♪ exciting music ♪ 938 00:43:12,750 --> 00:43:15,583 Far from being dogged by rumors about the mob. 939 00:43:15,667 --> 00:43:17,500 The mob ran Vegas. 940 00:43:17,583 --> 00:43:20,166 It was an institutional supply of showgirls for him. 941 00:43:20,250 --> 00:43:22,166 His friend Joe Louis was there. 942 00:43:22,250 --> 00:43:23,917 You know, he loved the casinos. 943 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:25,583 Sonny loved Vegas, and Vegas loved Sonny. 944 00:43:25,667 --> 00:43:27,667 It was a marriage made in Heaven. 945 00:43:27,750 --> 00:43:29,291 ♪♪♪ 946 00:43:29,375 --> 00:43:30,959 When Sonny comes off the airplane, 947 00:43:31,041 --> 00:43:33,000 he's met by a jowly figure in a shiny suit 948 00:43:33,083 --> 00:43:35,250 driving a Thunderbird named Ash Resnik, 949 00:43:35,333 --> 00:43:37,125 who'll become a very central figure in his life. 950 00:43:37,208 --> 00:43:38,959 ♪♪♪ 951 00:43:39,041 --> 00:43:43,792 My father came to Las Vegas on the advice of a mobster 952 00:43:43,875 --> 00:43:46,041 named Charlie "The Blade" Tourine, 953 00:43:46,125 --> 00:43:48,667 who probably was instrumental in setting him up 954 00:43:48,750 --> 00:43:50,917 at the Thunderbird, which was my father's first 955 00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:52,667 casino job in Las Vegas. 956 00:43:52,750 --> 00:43:54,750 ♪♪♪ 957 00:43:54,834 --> 00:43:58,709 Every casino had some mob influence back in the '60s. 958 00:43:58,792 --> 00:44:01,375 So you have to remember the people who came to Las Vegas 959 00:44:01,458 --> 00:44:04,375 to join the legal gambling industry had generally 960 00:44:04,458 --> 00:44:06,875 come from illegal gambling elsewhere. 961 00:44:06,959 --> 00:44:08,709 ♪♪♪ 962 00:44:08,792 --> 00:44:10,917 [Assael] Ash fills an important role. 963 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:14,208 The reason is that in Philly, Carbo and Palermo 964 00:44:14,291 --> 00:44:15,375 both go to jail. 965 00:44:15,458 --> 00:44:17,917 ♪♪♪ 966 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:18,500 Ash is here in Vegas. 967 00:44:18,583 --> 00:44:20,709 He knows everybody. 968 00:44:20,792 --> 00:44:22,458 The important fights are moving here. 969 00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:26,125 [Izenberg] Sonny took an immediate liking to him, 970 00:44:26,208 --> 00:44:28,750 and he took an immediate liking to Sonny. 971 00:44:28,834 --> 00:44:30,291 And that relationship would blossom into something 972 00:44:30,375 --> 00:44:31,959 very different. 973 00:44:32,041 --> 00:44:35,709 But at this point, that could have been the most 974 00:44:35,792 --> 00:44:40,500 significant thing that happened to Sonny while he was in Vegas 975 00:44:40,583 --> 00:44:41,625 on that trip. 976 00:44:41,709 --> 00:44:44,709 ♪ dramatic music ♪ 977 00:44:44,792 --> 00:44:48,917 ♪♪♪ 978 00:44:55,166 --> 00:44:57,834 [Farrell] The Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston rematch 979 00:44:57,917 --> 00:45:01,875 was held at the Las Vegas convention center. 980 00:45:01,959 --> 00:45:05,083 Liston, who was disliked before the first fight, if anything, 981 00:45:05,166 --> 00:45:07,125 was more disliked now. 982 00:45:07,208 --> 00:45:10,417 Since he'd entrenched himself, he was now the champion. 983 00:45:10,500 --> 00:45:13,458 And I think Patterson-- who was deeply beloved 984 00:45:13,542 --> 00:45:17,000 before the fight--if anything was now held as a, you know, 985 00:45:17,083 --> 00:45:17,917 sort of last beacon of hope. 986 00:45:22,667 --> 00:45:24,583 [announcer] Floyd is down for the third time. 987 00:45:24,667 --> 00:45:26,834 Lightning has struck again in the same round 988 00:45:26,917 --> 00:45:28,500 as the first fight. 989 00:45:28,583 --> 00:45:29,792 The only difference in the fight, really, 990 00:45:29,875 --> 00:45:31,792 was it lasted four seconds longer. 991 00:45:31,875 --> 00:45:34,083 Two minutes and ten seconds and, boop, that's it. 992 00:45:34,166 --> 00:45:36,667 [announcer] Sonny Liston again knocks out Floyd Patterson 993 00:45:36,750 --> 00:45:40,041 in one round to successfully defend 994 00:45:40,125 --> 00:45:42,458 his world heavyweight title. 995 00:45:42,542 --> 00:45:45,959 The one thing significant about Patterson-Liston II 996 00:45:46,041 --> 00:45:51,041 is we got a glimpse of the future of professional sports. 997 00:45:51,875 --> 00:45:54,375 At the end of the fight, a guy by the name 998 00:45:54,458 --> 00:45:59,333 of Cassius Clay jumps in the ring and puts on a performance. 999 00:45:59,417 --> 00:46:03,041 ♪♪♪ 1000 00:46:03,125 --> 00:46:05,417 At the time, the public thought Cassius Clay 1001 00:46:05,500 --> 00:46:07,166 was crazy because he jumped in the ring 1002 00:46:07,250 --> 00:46:10,542 threatening Sonny Liston after the Patterson fight. 1003 00:46:10,625 --> 00:46:13,333 You've gotta remember nobody challenged Sonny Liston. 1004 00:46:13,417 --> 00:46:16,917 Now, here's this up and coming young fighter jumping in, 1005 00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:18,333 tell him, "I want you. I want you. 1006 00:46:18,417 --> 00:46:19,875 You ugly." 1007 00:46:19,959 --> 00:46:22,500 You know, he didn't know what to think. 1008 00:46:22,583 --> 00:46:23,917 ♪♪♪ 1009 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:28,458 [Izenberg] This is really a low-class burlesque. 1010 00:46:28,542 --> 00:46:30,500 However, um, nobody went broke 1011 00:46:30,583 --> 00:46:33,792 underestimating the mentality 1012 00:46:33,875 --> 00:46:36,166 of the American boxing fan. 1013 00:46:36,250 --> 00:46:38,000 So they ate it up. 1014 00:46:38,083 --> 00:46:39,709 The media fell in love with him. 1015 00:46:39,792 --> 00:46:44,542 He was an easy story, this, you know, 1016 00:46:44,625 --> 00:46:47,000 a narcissistic loudmouth. 1017 00:46:47,083 --> 00:46:48,333 It's like covering Trump. 1018 00:46:48,417 --> 00:46:49,208 Well, let me finish. Let me talk. 1019 00:46:49,291 --> 00:46:50,875 This boy's modest. I'm the greatest. 1020 00:46:50,959 --> 00:46:52,375 He's not a talker. 1021 00:46:52,458 --> 00:46:53,750 I'm gonna fight Sonny Liston right after 1022 00:46:53,834 --> 00:46:55,333 I annihilate Henry Cooper. 1023 00:46:55,417 --> 00:46:56,709 And as soon as I annihilate Henry Cooper, 1024 00:46:56,792 --> 00:46:59,041 I want that big ugly bear right in, uh, 1025 00:46:59,125 --> 00:47:00,125 right here on Miami Beach. 1026 00:47:00,208 --> 00:47:02,834 [Collins] Cassius Clay bugged Sonny Liston 1027 00:47:02,917 --> 00:47:04,583 even before the fight was signed. 1028 00:47:04,667 --> 00:47:07,917 It was part of his psychological warfare. 1029 00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:12,834 He had a bus that he took to Sonny's house 1030 00:47:12,917 --> 00:47:14,041 in the middle of the night screaming and yelling. 1031 00:47:14,125 --> 00:47:16,500 [Roberts] "You gotta fight me! You gotta fight me! 1032 00:47:16,583 --> 00:47:18,166 I'm the champion!" 1033 00:47:18,250 --> 00:47:20,250 Lights are going off around the neighborhood. 1034 00:47:20,333 --> 00:47:21,500 It pulls the police out there. 1035 00:47:21,583 --> 00:47:24,792 Last thing Sonny Liston wants at his house are the police. 1036 00:47:25,792 --> 00:47:30,041 He did anything he could think of to rattle Sonny. 1037 00:47:30,125 --> 00:47:32,083 And let's face it, he was pretty creative. 1038 00:47:32,166 --> 00:47:33,917 ♪♪♪ 1039 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:35,959 He hunts Sonny Liston down in Vegas. 1040 00:47:36,041 --> 00:47:37,250 Sonny Liston is shooting craps. 1041 00:47:37,333 --> 00:47:41,291 Cassius Clay shows up and says, "You can't even shoot craps! 1042 00:47:41,375 --> 00:47:43,583 You're a loser!" 1043 00:47:43,667 --> 00:47:45,583 It just pissed Sonny Liston off. 1044 00:47:45,667 --> 00:47:47,583 You don't mess with Sonny Liston 1045 00:47:47,667 --> 00:47:48,750 when he's about to throw the dice. 1046 00:47:48,834 --> 00:47:51,333 So he got slapped for his trouble. 1047 00:47:51,417 --> 00:47:54,166 ♪♪♪ 1048 00:47:54,250 --> 00:47:55,917 All of a sudden he said, "Yeah, we're gonna fight. 1049 00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:57,792 I'm gonna kill you." 1050 00:47:57,875 --> 00:47:59,959 Sonny Liston took the fight because he thought he could 1051 00:48:00,041 --> 00:48:01,000 destroy Cassius Clay. 1052 00:48:01,083 --> 00:48:04,166 Don't you have any respect for him at all 1053 00:48:04,250 --> 00:48:05,166 as a fighter? 1054 00:48:05,250 --> 00:48:07,083 As a fighter? 1055 00:48:07,166 --> 00:48:10,250 I think he should be locked up for impersonating a fighter. 1056 00:48:11,917 --> 00:48:12,709 [Roberts] The promotion of the fight 1057 00:48:12,792 --> 00:48:17,208 began as a classic promotion. 1058 00:48:17,291 --> 00:48:18,959 Sonny Liston was very comfortable wearing 1059 00:48:19,041 --> 00:48:20,959 the black hat by this time. 1060 00:48:21,041 --> 00:48:23,542 He knew that was the only one he was going to wear. 1061 00:48:23,625 --> 00:48:27,000 But then suddenly rumors appear that Cassius Clay 1062 00:48:27,083 --> 00:48:30,959 has secretly joined the Nation of Islam. 1063 00:48:31,041 --> 00:48:33,125 The Nation of Islam at this time is viewed 1064 00:48:33,208 --> 00:48:36,750 as an anti-white hate organization. 1065 00:48:37,750 --> 00:48:40,041 [Assael] I'd be like Rocky Marciano saying, "I'm a member 1066 00:48:40,125 --> 00:48:41,333 of the Ku Klux Klan." 1067 00:48:41,417 --> 00:48:42,834 It shocks white America. 1068 00:48:42,917 --> 00:48:45,417 It shocks a lot of black America. 1069 00:48:46,417 --> 00:48:47,542 [Jeffries] The only thing scarier to white America 1070 00:48:47,625 --> 00:48:50,792 than the black brute 1071 00:48:50,875 --> 00:48:54,959 is the black brute who is articulate and smart. 1072 00:48:55,792 --> 00:48:57,875 And that's what, to white America, 1073 00:48:57,959 --> 00:48:59,709 the Nation of Islam was. 1074 00:48:59,792 --> 00:49:02,291 We know that we're going to lose a few, 1075 00:49:02,375 --> 00:49:04,959 but we know that God going to kill all of you. 1076 00:49:05,041 --> 00:49:06,000 [cheering] 1077 00:49:06,083 --> 00:49:08,000 [Jeffries] The head of the Nation of Islam 1078 00:49:08,083 --> 00:49:10,291 was Elijah Muhammad. 1079 00:49:10,375 --> 00:49:15,000 But it's Malcolm X-- his principal recruit-- 1080 00:49:15,083 --> 00:49:16,500 uh, who has the charisma. 1081 00:49:16,583 --> 00:49:19,792 ♪♪♪ 1082 00:49:19,875 --> 00:49:23,166 [Rigueur] He provides a very stark contrast 1083 00:49:23,250 --> 00:49:26,208 with the respectability model 1084 00:49:26,291 --> 00:49:29,709 of middle class civil rights organizations. 1085 00:49:29,792 --> 00:49:32,083 Malcolm X is saying, 1086 00:49:32,166 --> 00:49:34,625 "Violence is as American as apple pie." 1087 00:49:34,709 --> 00:49:37,709 That's our motto. 1088 00:49:37,792 --> 00:49:40,458 We want freedom by any means necessary. 1089 00:49:40,542 --> 00:49:44,041 [Rigueur] He is speaking a language of the dispossessed. 1090 00:49:44,125 --> 00:49:47,542 He is speaking a language of people 1091 00:49:47,625 --> 00:49:50,166 that have felt powerless. 1092 00:49:50,250 --> 00:49:51,792 This is kind of going into this narrative 1093 00:49:51,875 --> 00:49:54,583 that Clay has grown up with. 1094 00:49:54,667 --> 00:49:57,959 ♪♪♪ 1095 00:49:58,041 --> 00:50:00,166 When Malcolm X starts showing up and seeming 1096 00:50:00,250 --> 00:50:02,041 buddy-buddy with Cassius Clay, 1097 00:50:02,125 --> 00:50:05,000 it scares the hell out of promoters. 1098 00:50:05,083 --> 00:50:07,250 [Kilroy] They wanted to keep--to keep him quiet. 1099 00:50:07,333 --> 00:50:09,583 They didn't want him to say he belonged 1100 00:50:09,667 --> 00:50:12,166 to the Nation of Islam because they were afraid no one 1101 00:50:12,250 --> 00:50:13,709 would come to their fight, 1102 00:50:13,792 --> 00:50:15,041 or no one would go to Closed Circuit. 1103 00:50:15,125 --> 00:50:16,125 ♪♪♪ 1104 00:50:16,208 --> 00:50:19,375 [Jeffries] This gives Liston the chance 1105 00:50:19,458 --> 00:50:23,583 to be the hero that he had never been before. 1106 00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:28,417 If he wins, he will be thanked by white America 1107 00:50:28,500 --> 00:50:30,083 for shutting that dude up. 1108 00:50:30,166 --> 00:50:34,291 ♪♪♪ 1109 00:50:37,709 --> 00:50:39,583 [Roberts] The Liston-Clay fight in Miami 1110 00:50:39,667 --> 00:50:43,333 in February of 1964 1111 00:50:43,417 --> 00:50:47,000 was a pivotal moment, really, in American history. 1112 00:50:47,083 --> 00:50:48,875 America was--was changing. 1113 00:50:48,959 --> 00:50:52,542 Changing in fundamental ways. 1114 00:50:52,625 --> 00:50:54,792 In November, the President of the United States-- 1115 00:50:54,875 --> 00:50:57,125 John F. Kennedy--had been assassinated. 1116 00:50:57,208 --> 00:50:58,250 ♪♪♪ 1117 00:50:58,333 --> 00:51:02,125 The country had gone into a period of mourning. 1118 00:51:02,208 --> 00:51:04,542 ♪♪♪ 1119 00:51:04,625 --> 00:51:07,625 Then in February, there was a glacial shift 1120 00:51:07,709 --> 00:51:11,333 in American culture. 1121 00:51:11,417 --> 00:51:15,750 In music, the Beatles arrive from Great Britain. 1122 00:51:15,834 --> 00:51:18,250 Everybody recognized something's changing. 1123 00:51:18,333 --> 00:51:20,500 There's a new wave coming in. 1124 00:51:21,542 --> 00:51:23,208 Then you have this young brash-- 1125 00:51:23,291 --> 00:51:27,000 a fighter like no other, Cassius Clay. 1126 00:51:27,083 --> 00:51:31,583 So the Liston-Clay fight has to be viewed 1127 00:51:31,667 --> 00:51:32,959 in this continuum. 1128 00:51:33,041 --> 00:51:36,500 ♪♪♪ 1129 00:51:36,583 --> 00:51:40,709 Malcolm X goes into Clay's locker room and says to Clay, 1130 00:51:40,792 --> 00:51:42,333 "This is the cross and the crescent-- 1131 00:51:42,417 --> 00:51:43,667 Christianity versus the Nation of Islam." 1132 00:51:43,750 --> 00:51:46,542 ♪♪♪ 1133 00:51:46,625 --> 00:51:49,667 So he's sure that this fight's going to be important. 1134 00:51:49,750 --> 00:51:51,000 And sure enough, he's right. 1135 00:51:51,083 --> 00:51:53,834 ♪♪♪ 1136 00:51:53,917 --> 00:51:55,750 [Kilroy] Everybody was talking about it. 1137 00:51:55,834 --> 00:51:58,333 It was one of the biggest sporting events in history, 1138 00:51:58,417 --> 00:52:00,792 not only in the United States, all over the world. 1139 00:52:00,875 --> 00:52:02,709 ♪♪♪ 1140 00:52:02,792 --> 00:52:05,125 Most of the people-- 75 percent of them-- 1141 00:52:05,208 --> 00:52:07,959 thought Sonny Liston would destroy Cassius Clay. 1142 00:52:08,041 --> 00:52:09,542 He may end up in the morgue. 1143 00:52:09,625 --> 00:52:15,542 ♪♪♪ 1144 00:52:17,500 --> 00:52:20,000 Liston is prepared for a quick knockout. 1145 00:52:20,083 --> 00:52:22,583 Liston comes after him. He can't get him. 1146 00:52:22,667 --> 00:52:24,709 Cassius Clay's not throwing any punches at first. 1147 00:52:24,792 --> 00:52:26,667 He's just moving. 1148 00:52:26,750 --> 00:52:28,959 [announcer] Cassius Clay's on the move, as we see, 1149 00:52:29,041 --> 00:52:30,875 looking to get Sonny to lunge. 1150 00:52:30,959 --> 00:52:33,083 ♪ dramatic music ♪ 1151 00:52:33,166 --> 00:52:35,917 Cassius Clay was outthinking Sonny Liston. 1152 00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:37,750 Liston was fighting to the death, 1153 00:52:37,834 --> 00:52:39,959 but he wasn't fighting Sonny. He was running through Sonny. 1154 00:52:40,041 --> 00:52:41,000 And that threw Sonny off. 1155 00:52:41,083 --> 00:52:43,500 But as he got close to the bell, 1156 00:52:43,583 --> 00:52:46,375 he threw a flurry of punches that all landed. 1157 00:52:46,458 --> 00:52:49,583 And that was to let Liston know 1158 00:52:49,667 --> 00:52:50,750 that he had something too. 1159 00:52:50,834 --> 00:52:54,041 ♪♪♪ 1160 00:52:54,125 --> 00:52:56,250 And I'm saying, "That son of a bitch. 1161 00:52:56,333 --> 00:52:58,208 I can't believe he's doing this to Liston. 1162 00:52:58,291 --> 00:52:59,417 It's gotta be a trap. 1163 00:52:59,500 --> 00:53:01,583 Liston's gotta be setting a trap." 1164 00:53:01,667 --> 00:53:03,208 [Roberts] But then Clay starts hitting him. 1165 00:53:03,291 --> 00:53:04,667 Hitting him a little bit harder. 1166 00:53:04,750 --> 00:53:06,500 Right crosses, right leads. 1167 00:53:06,583 --> 00:53:08,959 [announcer] Sonny rattled, Sonny rattled. 1168 00:53:09,041 --> 00:53:11,750 Cassius has him hurt! 1169 00:53:11,834 --> 00:53:15,125 And all of a sudden there's puffiness under Liston's eye. 1170 00:53:15,208 --> 00:53:17,917 And then suddenly in the third round, boom. 1171 00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:19,750 [announcer] He has a cut below the eye 1172 00:53:19,834 --> 00:53:23,458 and he's getting hit with all the punches in the book. 1173 00:53:23,542 --> 00:53:26,083 Liston had never been cut before in a fight. 1174 00:53:26,166 --> 00:53:27,709 [Izenberg] Whoever was there 1175 00:53:27,792 --> 00:53:28,625 saw the blood and then we went-- 1176 00:53:28,709 --> 00:53:29,583 [gasps] 1177 00:53:29,667 --> 00:53:32,208 It was like the room was a giant vacuum 1178 00:53:32,291 --> 00:53:35,083 and suddenly sucked all the air out of it. 1179 00:53:35,166 --> 00:53:38,208 And then when the bell rang and Liston was still upright-- 1180 00:53:38,291 --> 00:53:39,458 [sighs] All the air went out again. 1181 00:53:39,542 --> 00:53:42,625 Now, the fourth round was a, uh, notorious round. 1182 00:53:42,709 --> 00:53:46,792 Clay started to feel a burning sensation in his eye. 1183 00:53:46,875 --> 00:53:49,625 And it got worse. 1184 00:53:49,709 --> 00:53:51,291 He told Angelo Dundee, his trainer, 1185 00:53:51,375 --> 00:53:55,000 "Cut the gloves off. I can't see. 1186 00:53:55,083 --> 00:53:56,333 We're going home." 1187 00:53:56,417 --> 00:53:58,917 [Roberts] The question in Clay's corner is, 1188 00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:00,458 what happened? 1189 00:54:00,542 --> 00:54:03,834 Can we get this guy out fighting again? 1190 00:54:05,458 --> 00:54:10,166 [Collins] What got in Clay's eyes is a matter of debate. 1191 00:54:10,250 --> 00:54:12,458 Boxers use liniment sometimes on themselves 1192 00:54:12,542 --> 00:54:13,792 to--muscle aches and stuff like that. 1193 00:54:13,875 --> 00:54:19,041 The original theory was some of that had got on Liston's glove 1194 00:54:19,125 --> 00:54:21,208 and accidentally got into Clay's eyes. 1195 00:54:21,291 --> 00:54:24,333 I don't think that's what happened. 1196 00:54:24,417 --> 00:54:26,542 Other fighters who had fought Liston--Cleveland Williams, 1197 00:54:26,625 --> 00:54:29,000 Eddie Machen--had complained that something had gotten 1198 00:54:29,083 --> 00:54:31,875 in their eyes--Monsel's solution in their eyes. 1199 00:54:31,959 --> 00:54:34,166 The belief was--and that we have some evidence-- 1200 00:54:34,250 --> 00:54:36,375 that Liston's gloves were loaded. 1201 00:54:36,458 --> 00:54:38,583 Now, all hell breaks loose in that corner. 1202 00:54:38,667 --> 00:54:41,834 That was not a corner of great decorum ever anyway, 1203 00:54:41,917 --> 00:54:44,083 with Bundini and with Angelo. 1204 00:54:44,166 --> 00:54:46,417 [announcer] That's Angelo Dundee 1205 00:54:46,500 --> 00:54:47,417 that he was arguing with, Joe. 1206 00:54:47,500 --> 00:54:49,500 Angelo now is telling him off a little bit 1207 00:54:49,583 --> 00:54:50,542 while he gets him ready. 1208 00:54:50,625 --> 00:54:53,083 [Collins] Angelo Dundee was an old pro. 1209 00:54:53,166 --> 00:54:54,417 He knew what to do. 1210 00:54:54,500 --> 00:54:56,375 He said, "Cut this bullshit out. 1211 00:54:56,458 --> 00:54:58,875 Go out there and run." 1212 00:54:58,959 --> 00:55:02,834 [Roberts] And that led to the dramatic round five. 1213 00:55:02,917 --> 00:55:05,417 The belief was Clay's gonna get killed. 1214 00:55:05,500 --> 00:55:06,500 [announcer] His eyes are bothering him. 1215 00:55:06,583 --> 00:55:09,709 They're yelling from Cassius Clay's corner. 1216 00:55:09,792 --> 00:55:11,500 [Rahmen Muhammad] Bundini was working the corner. 1217 00:55:11,583 --> 00:55:14,041 And Bundini was saying, "Keep a yard stick out there! 1218 00:55:14,125 --> 00:55:15,417 Keep a yard stick--" 1219 00:55:15,500 --> 00:55:17,709 That mean keep the left hand out. 1220 00:55:17,792 --> 00:55:18,583 'Cause Sonny was trying to come at him, 1221 00:55:18,667 --> 00:55:21,542 but literally the man was blind. 1222 00:55:21,625 --> 00:55:22,125 ♪♪♪ 1223 00:55:22,208 --> 00:55:23,709 Liston hits him a lot. 1224 00:55:23,792 --> 00:55:27,208 ♪♪♪ 1225 00:55:27,291 --> 00:55:29,041 Liston just can't hurt him, 1226 00:55:29,125 --> 00:55:30,959 can't knock him out. 1227 00:55:31,041 --> 00:55:33,709 And by the end of the round, the last minute of the round, 1228 00:55:33,792 --> 00:55:37,208 Clay's eyes had cleared and Clay just takes him apart. 1229 00:55:37,291 --> 00:55:38,917 Hits him with everything. 1230 00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:41,208 Hits him with hooks. 1231 00:55:41,291 --> 00:55:42,750 Hits him with jabs. 1232 00:55:42,834 --> 00:55:44,625 Hits him with right hand leads. 1233 00:55:44,709 --> 00:55:45,458 [bell rings] 1234 00:55:47,500 --> 00:55:50,959 [Collins] When Liston flopped his butt down on the stool 1235 00:55:51,041 --> 00:55:51,959 at the end of the sixth round, 1236 00:55:52,041 --> 00:55:55,250 he said, "That's it." 1237 00:55:55,333 --> 00:55:56,583 Willie Reddish didn't know what he was saying. 1238 00:55:56,667 --> 00:56:00,458 He put the mouthpiece in to go out for the next round. 1239 00:56:00,542 --> 00:56:03,792 Sonny spit it out and he said, "I said that's it." 1240 00:56:03,875 --> 00:56:05,750 And that was the end of the fight. 1241 00:56:05,834 --> 00:56:06,667 [bell rings] 1242 00:56:06,750 --> 00:56:08,959 [announcer] They might be stopping it. 1243 00:56:09,041 --> 00:56:10,709 That might be all, ladies and gentlemen. 1244 00:56:10,792 --> 00:56:13,083 I think it was unacceptable that Sonny Liston didn't get 1245 00:56:13,166 --> 00:56:14,125 off the stool. 1246 00:56:14,208 --> 00:56:17,166 He should have carried on. 1247 00:56:17,250 --> 00:56:18,917 [Lipsyte] If you're heavyweight champion, 1248 00:56:19,041 --> 00:56:20,500 you die trying. 1249 00:56:20,583 --> 00:56:23,291 But he just kind of sat there. 1250 00:56:23,375 --> 00:56:25,583 He gave up. 1251 00:56:26,583 --> 00:56:27,500 Why did he give up? 1252 00:56:27,583 --> 00:56:31,125 And this, of course, is the mystery 1253 00:56:31,208 --> 00:56:32,917 at the heart of it all. 1254 00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:37,166 Did he give up because he was in such 1255 00:56:37,250 --> 00:56:39,375 terrible agony he couldn't move? 1256 00:56:39,458 --> 00:56:42,417 Did he give up because he suddenly realized 1257 00:56:42,500 --> 00:56:44,542 he couldn't win this fight? 1258 00:56:44,625 --> 00:56:47,458 Did he give up because he had been paid 1259 00:56:47,542 --> 00:56:50,458 to dump it at some point? 1260 00:56:50,542 --> 00:56:52,250 Um, who knows? 1261 00:56:52,333 --> 00:56:56,750 ♪♪♪ 1262 00:56:58,625 --> 00:57:00,709 [Farrell] There were two Clay-Liston fights. 1263 00:57:00,792 --> 00:57:04,166 The first fight was the real fix. 1264 00:57:04,250 --> 00:57:07,500 And let me talk about that a little bit. 1265 00:57:08,583 --> 00:57:11,333 The mob isn't in the boxing business to do anything 1266 00:57:11,417 --> 00:57:14,166 other than to make money. 1267 00:57:14,250 --> 00:57:16,834 The odds were eight to one. 1268 00:57:16,917 --> 00:57:20,000 They could make a tremendous amount of money 1269 00:57:20,083 --> 00:57:21,291 betting against Liston. 1270 00:57:21,375 --> 00:57:24,458 That was where the money really was. 1271 00:57:24,542 --> 00:57:26,667 You know, a guy who would have had to go years and years 1272 00:57:26,750 --> 00:57:31,083 fighting fights that didn't interest the public. 1273 00:57:31,166 --> 00:57:36,125 Or you cash him in--this old guy--right away. 1274 00:57:36,834 --> 00:57:38,834 This is really boxing 101. 1275 00:57:38,917 --> 00:57:40,750 [Roberts] I think it's utter nonsense to say 1276 00:57:40,834 --> 00:57:42,667 that first fight was fixed. 1277 00:57:42,750 --> 00:57:46,375 If Sonny was trying to fix the fight, 1278 00:57:46,458 --> 00:57:49,291 why was he loading up his gloves before round four? 1279 00:57:49,750 --> 00:57:52,834 He was loading up the gloves to blind Clay 1280 00:57:52,917 --> 00:57:54,000 to win the fight. 1281 00:57:54,083 --> 00:57:56,208 [Rahmen Muhammad] Sonny wanted to kill that man. 1282 00:57:56,291 --> 00:57:58,417 I guarantee and just about put my life on it. 1283 00:57:58,500 --> 00:57:59,625 That wasn't no fix. 1284 00:57:59,709 --> 00:58:00,250 That was a good ass whooping. 1285 00:58:00,333 --> 00:58:04,000 ♪ dramatic music ♪ 1286 00:58:04,083 --> 00:58:09,208 ♪♪♪ 1287 00:58:12,792 --> 00:58:16,166 [Long] When Sonny lost the title, it made me feel 1288 00:58:16,250 --> 00:58:17,875 really, really, really sad. 1289 00:58:17,959 --> 00:58:19,542 ♪♪♪ 1290 00:58:19,625 --> 00:58:21,417 I mean, I cried. I actually cried. 1291 00:58:21,500 --> 00:58:24,375 So, my uncle got beat up? 1292 00:58:24,458 --> 00:58:26,417 You know, that's the term I could remember using. 1293 00:58:26,500 --> 00:58:27,667 ♪♪♪ 1294 00:58:27,750 --> 00:58:29,792 Beat my uncle Charles up? Oh, no. 1295 00:58:29,875 --> 00:58:31,250 That didn't go well at all with me. 1296 00:58:31,333 --> 00:58:33,333 ♪♪♪ 1297 00:58:33,417 --> 00:58:36,417 I was anticipating Sonny holding onto that title 1298 00:58:36,500 --> 00:58:38,250 for at least five, six years. 1299 00:58:38,333 --> 00:58:42,250 Make himself $30, 40 million, 1300 00:58:42,333 --> 00:58:45,709 whatever the case may be, 1301 00:58:45,792 --> 00:58:48,583 and live a good life. 1302 00:58:48,667 --> 00:58:51,917 But that wasn't the plan. 1303 00:58:52,000 --> 00:58:54,750 ♪♪♪ 1304 00:58:54,834 --> 00:58:57,083 [Assael] Sonny didn't have a friend after that fight. 1305 00:58:57,166 --> 00:58:58,792 Maybe Ash. 1306 00:58:58,875 --> 00:58:59,417 But otherwise, Sonny didn't have a friend. 1307 00:58:59,500 --> 00:59:01,333 I mean, Sonny was toxic. 1308 00:59:01,417 --> 00:59:03,542 I mean, really radioactive. 1309 00:59:03,625 --> 00:59:07,542 Reporters--who are looking to descend on him anyway-- 1310 00:59:07,625 --> 00:59:11,500 came at him hard like a group of vultures. 1311 00:59:11,583 --> 00:59:13,834 The press was saying Sonny was a dog. 1312 00:59:13,917 --> 00:59:14,834 Sonny was a quitter. 1313 00:59:14,917 --> 00:59:16,417 Sonny threw the fight. I mean, there were-- 1314 00:59:16,500 --> 00:59:19,208 You know, they couldn't explain it. 1315 00:59:19,291 --> 00:59:21,959 It only added to his bad reputation, 1316 00:59:22,041 --> 00:59:24,834 not as an individual, but as a fighter. 1317 00:59:24,917 --> 00:59:27,166 And it was probably the worst thing he did in his career. 1318 00:59:27,250 --> 00:59:30,750 ♪♪♪ 1319 00:59:33,208 --> 00:59:36,083 [Lipsyte] The second fight was booked to be in Boston. 1320 00:59:36,166 --> 00:59:38,375 The Kennedys pushed it out of Boston 1321 00:59:38,458 --> 00:59:42,250 because of the criminality around Liston. 1322 00:59:42,333 --> 00:59:44,458 So it ended up in Lewiston, Maine. 1323 00:59:44,542 --> 00:59:45,458 [Izenberg] Lewiston, Maine. 1324 00:59:45,542 --> 00:59:48,333 Small town on the Canadian border 1325 00:59:48,417 --> 00:59:50,583 known for having a bedspread factory there. 1326 00:59:50,667 --> 00:59:52,000 That's pretty much all it had. 1327 00:59:52,083 --> 00:59:56,417 ♪♪♪ 1328 00:59:56,500 --> 00:59:59,291 There was so much tension around that fight. 1329 00:59:59,375 --> 01:00:02,500 There was two controversial characters fighting 1330 01:00:02,583 --> 01:00:04,667 and, you know, a lot of stuff was going on. 1331 01:00:04,750 --> 01:00:07,125 ♪♪♪ 1332 01:00:07,208 --> 01:00:09,667 [Izenberg] In the months following that first fight, 1333 01:00:09,750 --> 01:00:14,417 Elijah Muhammad gave Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali. 1334 01:00:14,500 --> 01:00:16,041 Muhammad means "worthy of all praises," 1335 01:00:16,125 --> 01:00:18,166 and Ali means "most high." 1336 01:00:18,250 --> 01:00:19,792 Yes, sir, I wanna be called by that name. 1337 01:00:19,875 --> 01:00:21,500 I write autographs with that name. 1338 01:00:21,583 --> 01:00:23,500 I wanna be known all over the world as that name. 1339 01:00:23,583 --> 01:00:25,500 You want us to call you what name? 1340 01:00:25,583 --> 01:00:29,417 That is the furthest thing from 1341 01:00:29,500 --> 01:00:31,834 sort of the minds of white folk 1342 01:00:31,917 --> 01:00:34,709 when it comes to black respectability. 1343 01:00:34,792 --> 01:00:36,875 ♪♪♪ 1344 01:00:36,959 --> 01:00:39,834 [Roberts] Shortly after that, Malcolm X was thrown out 1345 01:00:39,917 --> 01:00:43,875 of the Nation of Islam by Elijah Muhammad. 1346 01:00:43,959 --> 01:00:46,208 That tension between the two factions 1347 01:00:46,291 --> 01:00:47,959 just continues to build 1348 01:00:48,041 --> 01:00:50,917 with Elijah Muhammad and others really pushing this 1349 01:00:51,000 --> 01:00:53,250 idea that Malcolm is a traitor and deserves no fate 1350 01:00:53,333 --> 01:00:55,792 other than death. 1351 01:00:55,875 --> 01:00:59,500 Malcolm X and anybody else who attacks or talks about 1352 01:00:59,583 --> 01:01:03,333 attacking Elijah Muhammad will die. 1353 01:01:03,417 --> 01:01:05,709 Just when you think the social issues that are swirling 1354 01:01:05,792 --> 01:01:08,583 around boxing can't get any more raw, 1355 01:01:08,667 --> 01:01:10,417 Malcolm X gets assassinated. 1356 01:01:10,500 --> 01:01:14,667 ♪♪♪ 1357 01:01:14,750 --> 01:01:17,166 Some thought that the Nation was behind his assassination. 1358 01:01:17,250 --> 01:01:20,792 So to have Ali still fighting under the banner of the Nation 1359 01:01:20,875 --> 01:01:24,583 adds this whole other overlay to that fight. 1360 01:01:24,667 --> 01:01:27,625 So there was a real kind of undercurrent 1361 01:01:27,709 --> 01:01:30,917 of existential terror up in Lewiston, Maine. 1362 01:01:33,500 --> 01:01:37,208 All sorts of rumors floating around before this fight, 1363 01:01:37,291 --> 01:01:40,375 that there are people who had supported Malcolm 1364 01:01:40,458 --> 01:01:43,959 that were going to come to the fight and assassinate 1365 01:01:44,041 --> 01:01:45,750 Muhammad Ali. 1366 01:01:45,834 --> 01:01:47,792 ♪♪♪ 1367 01:01:47,875 --> 01:01:50,959 There were rumors going around that white women 1368 01:01:51,041 --> 01:01:54,834 were going to be smuggling hand guns into the arena 1369 01:01:54,917 --> 01:01:58,041 for their black lovers to kill Cassius in the ring. 1370 01:01:58,125 --> 01:02:00,875 And so they abled these cops and state troopers, 1371 01:02:00,959 --> 01:02:04,792 they were opening up women's purses looking for guns, 1372 01:02:04,875 --> 01:02:07,959 while at the same time nobody was guarding the doors 1373 01:02:08,041 --> 01:02:11,458 or the windows, and local kids were climbing in. 1374 01:02:11,542 --> 01:02:13,250 It was--it was crazy. 1375 01:02:17,333 --> 01:02:18,875 [Izenberg] Sonny's plan was very simple. 1376 01:02:18,959 --> 01:02:21,667 He would knock Ali out in the first round. 1377 01:02:21,750 --> 01:02:23,291 He would put such pressure on him that Ali 1378 01:02:23,375 --> 01:02:24,375 would have to fall. 1379 01:02:24,458 --> 01:02:28,959 ♪ dramatic music ♪ 1380 01:02:29,041 --> 01:02:30,875 [Majeski] Liston got more cheers than Ali. 1381 01:02:30,959 --> 01:02:33,000 They finally said, "Well, between these two, 1382 01:02:33,083 --> 01:02:35,125 the lesser of the evils is Sonny Liston. 1383 01:02:35,208 --> 01:02:38,500 So we'll cheer this ex-convict who lost his title 1384 01:02:38,583 --> 01:02:41,500 on the stool rather than root for a guy who says 1385 01:02:41,583 --> 01:02:43,333 he's a black Muslim separatist." 1386 01:02:43,417 --> 01:02:47,041 The challenger, Sonny Liston. 1387 01:02:47,125 --> 01:02:48,375 [cheers and applause] 1388 01:02:48,458 --> 01:02:51,583 [announcer] Sonny Liston very popular with the folks here 1389 01:02:51,667 --> 01:02:53,750 in Lewiston, Maine. No kidding about that. 1390 01:02:53,834 --> 01:02:54,792 [Majeski] He enjoyed that. 1391 01:02:54,875 --> 01:02:58,333 He sort of basked in that kind of glory 1392 01:02:58,417 --> 01:02:59,750 for the first time in his life. 1393 01:03:00,917 --> 01:03:02,625 But then what happens is the Kennedy assassination 1394 01:03:02,709 --> 01:03:04,959 of boxing. Everybody's got an idea. 1395 01:03:05,041 --> 01:03:06,583 Nobody has the truth. 1396 01:03:06,667 --> 01:03:09,959 When the fight started, it didn't last very long. 1397 01:03:10,041 --> 01:03:12,542 ♪♪♪ 1398 01:03:12,625 --> 01:03:16,709 There was hardly an exchange when Liston went down. 1399 01:03:16,792 --> 01:03:19,041 I was at ringside and I didn't really understand 1400 01:03:19,125 --> 01:03:20,542 what was going on. 1401 01:03:20,625 --> 01:03:22,125 I was sitting next to Howard Cosell who had 1402 01:03:22,208 --> 01:03:27,208 a monitor, so we replayed it 100 times right away 1403 01:03:27,291 --> 01:03:28,333 to watch it again. 1404 01:03:28,417 --> 01:03:29,375 And maybe by the 100th time, I saw the punch. 1405 01:03:29,458 --> 01:03:31,917 I don't know. 1406 01:03:32,000 --> 01:03:33,542 [Collins] He did clip him with a right hand. 1407 01:03:33,625 --> 01:03:36,709 How hard it is, only Sonny Liston knew. 1408 01:03:36,792 --> 01:03:39,667 I think the punch that Muhammad Ali hit Sonny Liston 1409 01:03:39,750 --> 01:03:40,959 with in the second fight, I think it was enough 1410 01:03:41,041 --> 01:03:42,375 to knock him down, especially if he didn't 1411 01:03:42,458 --> 01:03:44,458 see the punch. 1412 01:03:45,625 --> 01:03:48,166 [Rahmen Muhammad] I told Muhammad Ali to punch, 1413 01:03:48,250 --> 01:03:49,959 then he knocked Sonny Liston out. 1414 01:03:50,041 --> 01:03:53,542 It was them kind of punches you use in karate. 1415 01:03:53,625 --> 01:03:55,583 You know, when you're punching in karate, 1416 01:03:55,667 --> 01:03:56,625 you turn it when you hit. 1417 01:03:56,709 --> 01:03:59,750 You know, it's a twist. 1418 01:03:59,834 --> 01:04:01,083 Yow! 1419 01:04:01,166 --> 01:04:01,959 Popped him right on the jawbone. 1420 01:04:02,041 --> 01:04:05,083 And the punch was so fast and so quick. 1421 01:04:05,166 --> 01:04:08,083 I didn't know the punch was gonna knock him out. 1422 01:04:08,166 --> 01:04:09,083 But it did. 1423 01:04:09,166 --> 01:04:11,458 ♪♪♪ 1424 01:04:11,542 --> 01:04:14,625 [Lipsyte] Now it turns into theatre. 1425 01:04:14,709 --> 01:04:18,041 Ali, he's challenging Liston, "Get up, chump! 1426 01:04:18,125 --> 01:04:19,250 Get up and fight!" 1427 01:04:19,333 --> 01:04:21,208 ♪♪♪ 1428 01:04:21,291 --> 01:04:23,000 [Majeski] Liston rolls over. 1429 01:04:23,083 --> 01:04:25,875 Attempts to get up and rolls over again. 1430 01:04:25,959 --> 01:04:26,583 ♪♪♪ 1431 01:04:26,667 --> 01:04:29,166 Ali is shouting and screaming. 1432 01:04:29,250 --> 01:04:31,250 Jersey Joe Walcott loses complete control of the fight. 1433 01:04:31,333 --> 01:04:34,959 Finally Liston does get up. They start exchanging blows. 1434 01:04:35,041 --> 01:04:37,542 [Izenberg] Suddenly Nat Fleischer-- 1435 01:04:37,625 --> 01:04:39,041 the editor of The Ring magazine-- 1436 01:04:39,125 --> 01:04:43,750 stands on a chair and goes-- 1437 01:04:43,834 --> 01:04:45,500 Fleisher yells over to Jersey Joe Walker, 1438 01:04:45,583 --> 01:04:46,709 "Stop the fight. It's over. 1439 01:04:46,792 --> 01:04:48,542 The count--He's counted out." 1440 01:04:50,417 --> 01:04:54,458 Walcott stops the fight. Utter absolute confusion. 1441 01:04:56,834 --> 01:04:59,125 [Izenberg] A full-throated roar begins. 1442 01:04:59,208 --> 01:05:02,125 Fix, fix, fix, fix. 1443 01:05:02,208 --> 01:05:05,375 And I heard that for an hour, probably, while I was writing. 1444 01:05:05,458 --> 01:05:08,625 And still the heavyweight 1445 01:05:08,709 --> 01:05:09,500 champion of the world, 1446 01:05:09,583 --> 01:05:11,959 Muhammad Ali. 1447 01:05:12,041 --> 01:05:14,291 [announcer] One of the most controversial 1448 01:05:14,375 --> 01:05:15,458 of all title fights. 1449 01:05:15,542 --> 01:05:17,208 [Farrell] There was a real "fuck you" element here. 1450 01:05:17,291 --> 01:05:22,709 I mean, I think it was a kind of standard wise guy move. 1451 01:05:22,792 --> 01:05:24,792 ♪♪♪ 1452 01:05:24,875 --> 01:05:26,500 The fix is the first fight. 1453 01:05:26,583 --> 01:05:28,166 That's the money-making fight. 1454 01:05:28,250 --> 01:05:32,041 The second fight is picking up the few remaining 1455 01:05:32,125 --> 01:05:34,709 chips off the table and going home. 1456 01:05:35,625 --> 01:05:37,333 [Assael] Why fix the fight? 1457 01:05:37,417 --> 01:05:39,959 Well, that's where the secret percentage theory comes in, 1458 01:05:40,041 --> 01:05:43,625 which is that Sonny had agreed to an under-the-table deal 1459 01:05:43,709 --> 01:05:47,458 to get a cut of Ali's future earnings if he went down. 1460 01:05:47,542 --> 01:05:49,834 It's exactly what a mobster would have done 1461 01:05:49,917 --> 01:05:52,000 and it's exactly, I think, what Sonny did do. 1462 01:05:53,625 --> 01:05:55,166 The other reason that I think that theory is persuasive 1463 01:05:55,250 --> 01:05:58,500 is the role of Ash Resnick. He was there at the fight. 1464 01:05:58,583 --> 01:06:00,041 Think about it. That's exactly the kind 1465 01:06:00,125 --> 01:06:02,375 of deal Ash was an expert at making. 1466 01:06:02,458 --> 01:06:05,291 ♪♪♪ 1467 01:06:05,375 --> 01:06:06,500 [Kilroy] It's not true. 1468 01:06:06,583 --> 01:06:08,041 ♪♪♪ 1469 01:06:08,125 --> 01:06:10,500 All the stuff about Sonny Liston having a part 1470 01:06:10,583 --> 01:06:12,667 of Ali's purse, that never happened. 1471 01:06:12,750 --> 01:06:14,250 Who would make an agreement like that? 1472 01:06:14,333 --> 01:06:15,750 Who would make an agreement like that? 1473 01:06:15,834 --> 01:06:17,792 That's crazy. 1474 01:06:17,875 --> 01:06:20,000 [Assael] Another rumor was that the Nation of Islam 1475 01:06:20,083 --> 01:06:21,875 was sending contract crew killers to shoot Sonny 1476 01:06:21,959 --> 01:06:24,333 unless Sonny took a dive. 1477 01:06:24,417 --> 01:06:25,500 ♪♪♪ 1478 01:06:25,583 --> 01:06:29,834 My mother says that Geraldine virtually disappeared 1479 01:06:29,917 --> 01:06:32,667 for a few days before the fight and she didn't know what was 1480 01:06:32,750 --> 01:06:34,375 wrong or how to get, uh, in touch with her. 1481 01:06:34,458 --> 01:06:35,750 And then when she did see her, 1482 01:06:35,834 --> 01:06:38,166 she said she'd literally gone white. 1483 01:06:38,250 --> 01:06:40,792 The black Muslims somehow got to Sonny. 1484 01:06:41,458 --> 01:06:43,959 [Rahmen Muhammad] Hogwash. 1485 01:06:44,041 --> 01:06:45,875 The whole story is this. 1486 01:06:45,959 --> 01:06:49,083 I got a letter from the honorable Elijah Muhammad 1487 01:06:49,166 --> 01:06:52,083 and told me, said just don't get Cassius Clay. 1488 01:06:52,166 --> 01:06:54,542 Try to get Sonny to be a Muslim too. 1489 01:06:54,625 --> 01:06:59,083 ♪♪♪ 1490 01:06:59,166 --> 01:07:01,792 So I tried to get to Sonny, but they wouldn't let me 1491 01:07:01,875 --> 01:07:03,458 get to him. 1492 01:07:03,542 --> 01:07:08,458 ♪♪♪ 1493 01:07:08,542 --> 01:07:11,417 [Assael] After the second fight, Sonny's a dead man. 1494 01:07:11,500 --> 01:07:13,250 ♪♪♪ 1495 01:07:13,333 --> 01:07:15,083 He's not only just reviled, right? 1496 01:07:15,166 --> 01:07:17,125 I mean, he can't even get a job. 1497 01:07:17,208 --> 01:07:19,542 Boxing commissions won't license him. 1498 01:07:19,625 --> 01:07:21,166 So the way Sonny sees this, you know, 1499 01:07:21,250 --> 01:07:23,375 let Joe Louis be America's hero. 1500 01:07:23,458 --> 01:07:25,709 Let Ali be a voice of a generation. 1501 01:07:25,792 --> 01:07:27,291 You know, fuck it. 1502 01:07:27,375 --> 01:07:30,750 ♪♪♪ 1503 01:07:30,834 --> 01:07:32,667 Sonny moves into this neighborhood 1504 01:07:32,750 --> 01:07:35,291 called Paradise Palms thanks to Ash Resnick who gets him 1505 01:07:35,375 --> 01:07:39,792 a sweet little deal on a bungalow on a winding street. 1506 01:07:39,875 --> 01:07:41,834 ♪♪♪ 1507 01:07:41,917 --> 01:07:42,792 [Gentry] That was a very exclusive 1508 01:07:42,875 --> 01:07:44,750 neighborhood at the time, 1509 01:07:44,834 --> 01:07:47,583 and people were just so up in arms not only that my father 1510 01:07:47,667 --> 01:07:50,583 would arrange to have the home sold to a black person 1511 01:07:50,667 --> 01:07:52,458 but to Sonny Liston, of all people. 1512 01:07:52,542 --> 01:07:55,959 ♪♪♪ 1513 01:07:56,041 --> 01:07:57,291 [Assael] He suddenly right there on the fairway 1514 01:07:57,375 --> 01:08:00,750 of the Stardust country club, he's able to go running 1515 01:08:00,834 --> 01:08:02,291 in the mornings, waving at his famous neighbors. 1516 01:08:03,375 --> 01:08:06,291 Going to a little golf club in the afternoon 1517 01:08:06,375 --> 01:08:08,583 where he might run into Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin 1518 01:08:08,667 --> 01:08:10,667 or Sammy, you know, drinking cocktails. 1519 01:08:10,750 --> 01:08:12,333 ♪♪♪ 1520 01:08:12,417 --> 01:08:13,959 On the face of it, Vegas was great. 1521 01:08:14,041 --> 01:08:15,750 The problem was that, you know, 1522 01:08:15,834 --> 01:08:18,834 Sonny didn't have any nest egg. He was cut up. 1523 01:08:18,917 --> 01:08:23,000 He probably didn't even know how much of himself he owned. 1524 01:08:23,083 --> 01:08:24,000 [Roberts] Sonny's money has been going 1525 01:08:24,083 --> 01:08:25,959 a lot of different places. 1526 01:08:26,041 --> 01:08:29,500 And it's not going to him. He's not a wealthy man. 1527 01:08:29,583 --> 01:08:32,000 All he knows is fighting, so you keep fighting. 1528 01:08:32,083 --> 01:08:33,875 That's what fighters do. 1529 01:08:33,959 --> 01:08:37,709 Fighters keep fighting until they can't fight anymore. 1530 01:08:37,792 --> 01:08:40,208 Until they get defeated too many times 1531 01:08:40,291 --> 01:08:41,500 or they die. 1532 01:08:41,583 --> 01:08:46,667 ♪♪♪ 1533 01:08:46,750 --> 01:08:48,667 [announcer] How about Mrs. Liston? 1534 01:08:48,750 --> 01:08:50,041 What does she think about all this fighting 1535 01:08:50,125 --> 01:08:51,959 and your activities? 1536 01:08:52,041 --> 01:08:54,375 Well, she think that I should have got another-- 1537 01:08:54,458 --> 01:08:55,875 picked out another sport. 1538 01:08:55,959 --> 01:08:57,417 What other sport? 1539 01:08:57,500 --> 01:08:59,583 Anything except for fighting. 1540 01:08:59,667 --> 01:09:02,208 ♪♪♪ 1541 01:09:02,291 --> 01:09:04,542 [Roberts] The so-called comeback 1542 01:09:04,625 --> 01:09:06,333 was really a sad downward arc. 1543 01:09:06,417 --> 01:09:10,041 He was--he was on the skids. It was over. 1544 01:09:10,125 --> 01:09:13,083 He was--it became clearer and clearer he was not 1545 01:09:13,166 --> 01:09:15,166 going to make it back. 1546 01:09:15,250 --> 01:09:16,917 ♪♪♪ 1547 01:09:17,000 --> 01:09:20,583 [announcer] Yeah, right by Martin! Oh! 1548 01:09:20,667 --> 01:09:23,583 Liston was not the fighter he had once been. 1549 01:09:23,667 --> 01:09:25,667 I think there's no question about that. 1550 01:09:25,750 --> 01:09:27,834 ♪♪♪ 1551 01:09:27,917 --> 01:09:30,000 [Kilroy] It was over then. 1552 01:09:30,083 --> 01:09:32,000 Sonny became the perfect opponent, 1553 01:09:32,083 --> 01:09:34,250 fighting here, fighting there, picking up the payday. 1554 01:09:34,333 --> 01:09:38,208 ♪♪♪ 1555 01:09:38,291 --> 01:09:40,291 [Collins] Sonny had one last fight. 1556 01:09:40,375 --> 01:09:43,792 He fought a guy called the Bayonne Bleeder. 1557 01:09:43,875 --> 01:09:45,041 Chuck Wepner. 1558 01:09:45,125 --> 01:09:47,625 ♪♪♪ 1559 01:09:47,709 --> 01:09:49,166 [Farrell] Sonny's last fight against Chuck Wepner 1560 01:09:49,250 --> 01:09:51,166 is very, very interesting. 1561 01:09:51,250 --> 01:09:53,083 He factors into the story I think in a major way. 1562 01:09:53,166 --> 01:09:55,417 ♪♪♪ 1563 01:09:55,500 --> 01:09:58,250 Liston was not brought into that fight to win. 1564 01:09:58,333 --> 01:10:00,083 ♪♪♪ 1565 01:10:00,166 --> 01:10:03,959 I believe the Wepner fight was a deal that went 1566 01:10:04,041 --> 01:10:05,583 terribly, terribly wrong. 1567 01:10:05,667 --> 01:10:07,250 ♪♪♪ 1568 01:10:07,333 --> 01:10:09,250 In the first round, Sonny Liston comes out 1569 01:10:09,333 --> 01:10:12,125 and throws a left hook, and Chuck Wepner's eye breaks open 1570 01:10:12,208 --> 01:10:14,458 above his right eyebrow, and there's a cut, 1571 01:10:14,542 --> 01:10:15,667 and it starts bleeding. 1572 01:10:15,750 --> 01:10:18,208 And every time he hit Wepner, Wepner would open up 1573 01:10:18,291 --> 01:10:20,125 another cut. 1574 01:10:20,208 --> 01:10:20,875 It was a gory, bloody mess. 1575 01:10:20,959 --> 01:10:22,959 ♪♪♪ 1576 01:10:23,041 --> 01:10:24,959 As the rounds went by, 1577 01:10:25,041 --> 01:10:27,417 Liston couldn't find a place to fall. 1578 01:10:27,500 --> 01:10:30,375 Wepner is increasingly beat up, 1579 01:10:30,458 --> 01:10:31,959 and eventually the fight 1580 01:10:32,041 --> 01:10:33,333 gets stopped because of the cuts. 1581 01:10:34,875 --> 01:10:36,959 Liston won the fight. 1582 01:10:37,041 --> 01:10:39,417 So it's a series of miscommunications 1583 01:10:39,500 --> 01:10:42,208 where nobody does exactly what they're supposed to do. 1584 01:10:42,291 --> 01:10:43,792 [glass shatters] 1585 01:10:43,875 --> 01:10:46,125 The mob lost a lot of money, 1586 01:10:46,208 --> 01:10:49,291 and there were dire consequences. 1587 01:10:49,375 --> 01:10:53,500 ♪♪♪ 1588 01:11:05,583 --> 01:11:08,959 [Majeski] Soon after that, he's pretty much down to his own. 1589 01:11:10,250 --> 01:11:13,959 Where does Sonny Liston go? What does Sonny Liston do? 1590 01:11:14,041 --> 01:11:16,417 He went back to where he was at the beginning of the career. 1591 01:11:16,500 --> 01:11:18,166 To the St. Louis streets. 1592 01:11:18,250 --> 01:11:19,291 He went back to the west side of Las Vegas. 1593 01:11:19,375 --> 01:11:21,667 Same element, different location. 1594 01:11:21,750 --> 01:11:24,667 ♪♪♪ 1595 01:11:24,750 --> 01:11:26,208 He was always involved in a criminal culture, 1596 01:11:26,291 --> 01:11:28,166 whether by choice or necessity. 1597 01:11:28,250 --> 01:11:31,583 Sonny went to what he knew best. 1598 01:11:31,667 --> 01:11:34,333 ♪♪♪ 1599 01:11:34,417 --> 01:11:35,667 [Jeffries] The west side of Vegas 1600 01:11:35,750 --> 01:11:37,375 was not very different at all 1601 01:11:37,458 --> 01:11:40,875 from other black communities across America. 1602 01:11:40,959 --> 01:11:43,583 Uh, high concentration of poverty, 1603 01:11:43,667 --> 01:11:46,375 uh, low job opportunities, and rife with crime, 1604 01:11:46,458 --> 01:11:51,083 uh, in part because they became areas where crime, 1605 01:11:51,166 --> 01:11:51,917 uh, became tolerated. 1606 01:11:52,000 --> 01:11:54,583 ♪♪♪ 1607 01:11:54,667 --> 01:12:00,166 Sonny Liston had a beautiful home on the golf course-- 1608 01:12:00,250 --> 01:12:01,875 Las Vegas golf course. 1609 01:12:01,959 --> 01:12:04,417 But he also was there on the west side quite a bit. 1610 01:12:04,500 --> 01:12:07,875 ♪♪♪ 1611 01:12:07,959 --> 01:12:11,041 Sonny came to the west side to let his hair down, 1612 01:12:11,125 --> 01:12:13,166 to be with his people. 1613 01:12:13,250 --> 01:12:16,208 The fact he did something with nothing 1614 01:12:16,291 --> 01:12:17,542 is what they respected him for. 1615 01:12:17,625 --> 01:12:20,709 Whereas on the strip, they just look at him 1616 01:12:20,792 --> 01:12:22,625 as a loser to Ali. 1617 01:12:22,709 --> 01:12:25,667 ♪♪♪ 1618 01:12:25,750 --> 01:12:28,291 Every morning he would go to Friendly Liquor Store 1619 01:12:28,375 --> 01:12:31,750 and buy two bottles of wine before he-- 1620 01:12:31,834 --> 01:12:32,625 to start his day out. 1621 01:12:32,709 --> 01:12:36,250 And we'd had 16 murders in one year 1622 01:12:36,333 --> 01:12:37,875 in that one bar alone. 1623 01:12:37,959 --> 01:12:40,417 Uh, when the police got a call at Friendly's, 1624 01:12:40,500 --> 01:12:43,959 they answered those calls in force with shotguns. 1625 01:12:44,041 --> 01:12:44,917 It was a dangerous place. 1626 01:12:45,000 --> 01:12:48,583 ♪♪♪ 1627 01:12:48,667 --> 01:12:51,750 The people that he was hanging out with were killers. 1628 01:12:51,834 --> 01:12:53,917 They would kill you in a heartbeat. 1629 01:12:54,000 --> 01:12:55,333 Of course now, he wore a .38 on his ankle, 1630 01:12:55,417 --> 01:12:59,917 so he was pretty well in with the crew. 1631 01:13:00,041 --> 01:13:01,875 One of the more colorful figures that Sonny was hanging 1632 01:13:01,959 --> 01:13:05,709 out with was a jazz musician named Red Rodney-- 1633 01:13:05,792 --> 01:13:06,792 Robert Chudnick. 1634 01:13:06,875 --> 01:13:08,291 Somebody who was there at the founding of bebop. 1635 01:13:08,375 --> 01:13:11,458 Played with Charlie Parker. 1636 01:13:11,542 --> 01:13:13,792 He was a jazz musician by day, a heroin dealer 1637 01:13:13,875 --> 01:13:14,792 and head of a criminal gang by night. 1638 01:13:14,875 --> 01:13:18,208 ♪♪♪ 1639 01:13:18,291 --> 01:13:19,375 Sonny was no stranger to hanging around 1640 01:13:19,458 --> 01:13:21,250 with two-bit gangsters. 1641 01:13:21,333 --> 01:13:24,041 The problem is that he was the king of the west side, 1642 01:13:24,125 --> 01:13:25,583 but he was also the king of the things that were done 1643 01:13:25,667 --> 01:13:27,625 on the west side. 1644 01:13:27,709 --> 01:13:29,375 And that began to pull him into the darkness that he wouldn't 1645 01:13:29,458 --> 01:13:31,125 get out of. 1646 01:13:31,208 --> 01:13:33,750 It turned out my dad and Sonny were doing some kind 1647 01:13:33,834 --> 01:13:35,291 of dealing together--heroin. 1648 01:13:35,375 --> 01:13:37,583 ♪♪♪ 1649 01:13:37,667 --> 01:13:39,625 My dad saw that Sonny kind of liked me. 1650 01:13:39,709 --> 01:13:43,166 We had a little rapport together and so I went with him 1651 01:13:43,250 --> 01:13:45,291 a few times to pick up some money on collections. 1652 01:13:45,375 --> 01:13:47,917 He let me go with them. 1653 01:13:48,000 --> 01:13:51,500 He knew that guys his age made fun of him behind his back 1654 01:13:51,583 --> 01:13:53,458 'cause he was dumb, you know, and he didn't read or write, 1655 01:13:53,542 --> 01:13:54,333 this and that. 1656 01:13:54,417 --> 01:13:55,333 ♪♪♪ 1657 01:13:55,417 --> 01:13:57,792 But kids weren't like that. 1658 01:13:57,875 --> 01:13:59,291 They considered me a kid, you know. 1659 01:13:59,375 --> 01:14:02,917 ♪♪♪ 1660 01:14:03,000 --> 01:14:04,792 I never felt afraid of him. 1661 01:14:04,875 --> 01:14:06,750 Then. 1662 01:14:08,250 --> 01:14:11,500 ♪♪♪ 1663 01:14:11,583 --> 01:14:14,250 [Assael] The thing about Sonny dealing drugs on the west side 1664 01:14:14,333 --> 01:14:16,166 is it couldn't have happened at a worse time. 1665 01:14:16,250 --> 01:14:20,500 America's public enemy number one in the United States 1666 01:14:20,583 --> 01:14:23,208 is drug abuse. 1667 01:14:23,291 --> 01:14:25,500 In order to fight and defeat this enemy, 1668 01:14:25,583 --> 01:14:30,166 it is necessary to wage a new all-out offensive. 1669 01:14:30,250 --> 01:14:31,750 [Assael] Nixon's policy in Vietnam 1670 01:14:31,834 --> 01:14:32,709 had caused his poll numbers to sink 1671 01:14:32,792 --> 01:14:35,709 and he needed something to rescue him. 1672 01:14:35,792 --> 01:14:38,000 So he launched an all-out offensive on drugs, 1673 01:14:38,083 --> 01:14:41,333 which meant the number of drug cops in Vegas 1674 01:14:41,417 --> 01:14:42,500 was starting to climb. 1675 01:14:42,583 --> 01:14:44,500 ♪♪♪ 1676 01:14:44,583 --> 01:14:46,917 [Gandy] All of the narcotics divisions were beefing up. 1677 01:14:47,000 --> 01:14:50,583 We were getting influxed with money for the war on drugs. 1678 01:14:50,667 --> 01:14:53,709 And everybody was just so well-known. 1679 01:14:53,792 --> 01:14:56,000 It was just a matter of time before they brought him down. 1680 01:14:56,083 --> 01:14:59,542 ♪♪♪ 1681 01:14:59,625 --> 01:15:03,250 In February, 1969, myself and two other agents 1682 01:15:03,333 --> 01:15:04,917 from the L.A. office of the Bureau of Narcotics 1683 01:15:05,041 --> 01:15:07,000 and Dangerous Drugs had an arrest warrant 1684 01:15:07,083 --> 01:15:10,208 for one of the bigger traffickers 1685 01:15:10,291 --> 01:15:13,041 in the west side of Las Vegas-- Earl Cage. 1686 01:15:13,125 --> 01:15:15,208 ♪♪♪ 1687 01:15:15,291 --> 01:15:17,250 [Gandy] Earl Cage was very, very dangerous. 1688 01:15:17,333 --> 01:15:19,250 In fact, we think that he killed one of our informants, 1689 01:15:19,333 --> 01:15:20,417 but we couldn't prove it. 1690 01:15:20,500 --> 01:15:22,166 He was a very dangerous man. 1691 01:15:22,250 --> 01:15:24,917 ♪♪♪ 1692 01:15:25,000 --> 01:15:28,083 [Alden] We went over to his residence to arrest him. 1693 01:15:28,166 --> 01:15:29,959 We made forced entry. 1694 01:15:30,041 --> 01:15:32,500 The first person I saw was the former heavyweight champion 1695 01:15:32,583 --> 01:15:34,709 of the world, Sonny Liston. 1696 01:15:34,792 --> 01:15:37,458 On the other side of the bed was the defendant, Earl Cage. 1697 01:15:37,542 --> 01:15:39,542 And I'm thinking, "Now what? 1698 01:15:39,625 --> 01:15:41,041 We got a serious problem here." 1699 01:15:41,875 --> 01:15:46,458 And then two detectives came in, and they said, 1700 01:15:46,542 --> 01:15:48,458 "Sonny, you come with us. 1701 01:15:48,542 --> 01:15:50,125 We're gonna take care of this. 1702 01:15:50,208 --> 01:15:50,959 You come with us." 1703 01:15:51,041 --> 01:15:53,125 ♪♪♪ 1704 01:15:53,208 --> 01:15:55,625 Sonny was released that evening. 1705 01:15:55,709 --> 01:15:57,917 He was the only person that wasn't charged 1706 01:15:58,000 --> 01:15:59,458 and subsequently convicted. 1707 01:15:59,542 --> 01:16:01,792 ♪♪♪ 1708 01:16:01,875 --> 01:16:05,834 If I were Earl Cage, I would definitely think that 1709 01:16:05,917 --> 01:16:06,959 Sonny was the one that did me in. 1710 01:16:07,041 --> 01:16:09,458 ♪♪♪ 1711 01:16:09,542 --> 01:16:11,375 [Gandy] But Earl was slick. 1712 01:16:11,458 --> 01:16:14,291 He would wait until the time was just right to get you 1713 01:16:14,375 --> 01:16:16,166 so there was no suspicion. 1714 01:16:16,250 --> 01:16:21,458 ♪♪♪ 1715 01:16:29,166 --> 01:16:30,667 [Assael] But what was more dangerous for Sonny 1716 01:16:30,750 --> 01:16:32,500 than crossing somebody like Earl Cage 1717 01:16:32,583 --> 01:16:36,417 was talking about the cut he had 1718 01:16:36,500 --> 01:16:38,333 of Ali's future earnings-- the secret percentage theory. 1719 01:16:38,417 --> 01:16:40,667 And the reason is that 1720 01:16:40,750 --> 01:16:42,583 Ali-Frazier was about to happen-- 1721 01:16:42,667 --> 01:16:44,166 The biggest fight purse in boxing history, 1722 01:16:44,250 --> 01:16:45,917 $5 million. 1723 01:16:46,000 --> 01:16:46,917 And Sonny was walking around the west side 1724 01:16:47,000 --> 01:16:49,333 telling people that he had a cut of it. 1725 01:16:49,417 --> 01:16:51,625 ♪♪♪ 1726 01:16:51,709 --> 01:16:54,291 [Geran] We first started hearing 1727 01:16:54,375 --> 01:16:56,041 about Sonny Liston owning a percentage 1728 01:16:56,125 --> 01:17:00,208 of Muhammad Ali's contract from the barbershop. 1729 01:17:00,291 --> 01:17:04,500 He was getting a shoe shine, and the shoe shine man 1730 01:17:04,583 --> 01:17:07,709 was taunting him about his loss to Ali. 1731 01:17:09,917 --> 01:17:12,709 Sonny just started boasting about, 1732 01:17:12,792 --> 01:17:14,542 "Ali works for me. 1733 01:17:14,625 --> 01:17:17,792 I own a percentage of him. You know? 1734 01:17:17,875 --> 01:17:19,875 I'm the one who really won." 1735 01:17:20,625 --> 01:17:22,208 [Assael] There were a lot of people 1736 01:17:22,291 --> 01:17:23,917 who didn't want the curtain lifted 1737 01:17:24,000 --> 01:17:25,125 on what happened in his second fight with Ali. 1738 01:17:25,208 --> 01:17:28,208 There were a lot of people who had an invested interest 1739 01:17:28,291 --> 01:17:29,750 in shutting Sonny up. 1740 01:17:31,125 --> 01:17:34,667 Around that time, people saw Sonny and Ash fighting. 1741 01:17:34,750 --> 01:17:36,625 Ash had to be careful. 1742 01:17:36,709 --> 01:17:39,875 There are FBI memos that call Ash the linchpin between 1743 01:17:39,959 --> 01:17:43,709 corruption and boxing-- the mob and boxing. 1744 01:17:43,792 --> 01:17:46,166 I mean, the feds were actively going after Ash. 1745 01:17:46,250 --> 01:17:48,583 ♪♪♪ 1746 01:17:48,667 --> 01:17:52,083 [Gentry] My father was always concerned about 1747 01:17:52,166 --> 01:17:53,208 his associations. 1748 01:17:53,291 --> 01:17:56,083 And I'm sure my father didn't want to be around him 1749 01:17:56,166 --> 01:17:57,083 at the time. 1750 01:17:57,166 --> 01:17:59,333 ♪♪♪ 1751 01:17:59,417 --> 01:18:01,333 [Assael] Ash didn't want anything to do with Sonny, 1752 01:18:01,417 --> 01:18:02,750 but remember, a lot of people didn't want to have anything 1753 01:18:02,834 --> 01:18:04,750 to do with Sonny at that point. 1754 01:18:04,834 --> 01:18:06,709 Increasingly even including Geraldine who was scared about 1755 01:18:06,792 --> 01:18:09,917 how far off the edge he was going. 1756 01:18:10,000 --> 01:18:11,000 He was getting into cocaine more and more. 1757 01:18:11,083 --> 01:18:14,125 He was getting into everything more and more. 1758 01:18:15,750 --> 01:18:17,208 And he didn't have anything to anchor him anymore. 1759 01:18:17,291 --> 01:18:20,917 ♪♪♪ 1760 01:18:21,000 --> 01:18:24,709 It was about late 1970, and my dad and Sonny had 1761 01:18:24,792 --> 01:18:26,417 a falling out somehow. 1762 01:18:26,500 --> 01:18:28,000 He said, "Look, I don't want Sonny coming around 1763 01:18:28,083 --> 01:18:29,250 and we're not seeing him anymore. 1764 01:18:29,333 --> 01:18:30,834 Don't go over there." 1765 01:18:30,917 --> 01:18:33,417 And so he had to go out of town, 1766 01:18:33,500 --> 01:18:37,417 and then Sonny came over the next night. 1767 01:18:37,500 --> 01:18:39,542 He just went right by me, pushed me out of the way, 1768 01:18:39,625 --> 01:18:41,709 went into my dad's room, and I could hear a lot 1769 01:18:41,792 --> 01:18:44,208 of things banging around in there. 1770 01:18:44,291 --> 01:18:45,792 He was opening drawers, looking through stuff. 1771 01:18:45,875 --> 01:18:47,625 Uh, I don't know if he found anything, 1772 01:18:47,709 --> 01:18:48,959 but after a while he just left. 1773 01:18:50,875 --> 01:18:52,291 My dad came back a couple of days later 1774 01:18:52,375 --> 01:18:55,667 and I told him what happened, and he was really pissed, man. 1775 01:18:55,750 --> 01:18:57,458 He said, "Mark, I have to tell you. 1776 01:18:57,542 --> 01:18:59,041 I have to stress this. 1777 01:18:59,125 --> 01:19:00,000 Do not go over to Sonny's house anymore. 1778 01:19:00,083 --> 01:19:02,667 His days are numbered. I'm telling you." 1779 01:19:02,750 --> 01:19:04,125 That's the way he said it. 1780 01:19:04,208 --> 01:19:09,291 ♪♪♪ 1781 01:19:17,250 --> 01:19:19,125 [Izenberg] I'm in Vegas for another fight. 1782 01:19:19,208 --> 01:19:21,625 And I walk up to the Stardust 1783 01:19:21,709 --> 01:19:24,333 and I see Sonny putting a tip 1784 01:19:24,417 --> 01:19:27,208 down on the table and all these dirty dishes. 1785 01:19:27,291 --> 01:19:29,166 So I go in and Sonny says, "Hey, how you been? 1786 01:19:29,250 --> 01:19:30,250 How you doing?" 1787 01:19:30,333 --> 01:19:31,125 I said, "Fine, how are you?" 1788 01:19:31,208 --> 01:19:33,000 "Good," He said. "Did you eat yet?" 1789 01:19:33,083 --> 01:19:35,333 And I said, "No." 1790 01:19:35,417 --> 01:19:36,792 And he said, "I didn't eat, either. 1791 01:19:36,875 --> 01:19:38,959 Let's have breakfast." 1792 01:19:39,041 --> 01:19:42,750 That showed me how lonely at that point of his life 1793 01:19:42,834 --> 01:19:44,792 Sonny Liston was. 1794 01:19:46,417 --> 01:19:49,583 And actually, probably was the last time we ever spoke. 1795 01:19:49,667 --> 01:19:53,500 ♪♪♪ 1796 01:19:53,583 --> 01:19:56,041 [Assael] December, 1970. 1797 01:19:56,125 --> 01:19:58,583 Sonny's getting even more out of control. 1798 01:19:58,667 --> 01:20:01,333 ♪♪♪ 1799 01:20:01,417 --> 01:20:04,083 Geraldine goes to visit her family in St. Louis. 1800 01:20:04,166 --> 01:20:07,709 It's the last time she sees him alive. 1801 01:20:07,792 --> 01:20:11,792 ♪♪♪ 1802 01:20:11,875 --> 01:20:14,875 Geraldine comes home from vacation. 1803 01:20:14,959 --> 01:20:17,375 ♪♪♪ 1804 01:20:17,458 --> 01:20:19,750 Smells something. Doesn't know what it is. 1805 01:20:21,959 --> 01:20:24,041 Goes from one room to another. Follows the smell 1806 01:20:24,125 --> 01:20:24,500 up to their bedroom... 1807 01:20:24,583 --> 01:20:28,667 ♪♪♪ 1808 01:20:28,750 --> 01:20:31,583 ...where she finds her husband slumped backwards 1809 01:20:31,667 --> 01:20:34,000 and in advanced state of decomposition. 1810 01:20:34,083 --> 01:20:39,000 ♪♪♪ 1811 01:20:39,083 --> 01:20:39,875 She races out of the house 1812 01:20:39,959 --> 01:20:43,709 and to the nearby home of a friend. 1813 01:20:44,834 --> 01:20:47,500 They come back to the house at around nine. 1814 01:20:47,583 --> 01:20:52,959 ♪♪♪ 1815 01:20:53,041 --> 01:20:54,750 It's not until midnight they make 1816 01:20:54,834 --> 01:20:56,709 the first call to the police. 1817 01:20:56,792 --> 01:21:01,917 ♪♪♪ 1818 01:21:05,417 --> 01:21:06,750 [Gandy] There was sheriff's deputies 1819 01:21:06,834 --> 01:21:08,083 running over the place like ants. 1820 01:21:08,166 --> 01:21:11,083 They were everywhere. 1821 01:21:11,166 --> 01:21:13,750 It was gruesome. 1822 01:21:13,834 --> 01:21:16,083 He had obviously been dead for four or five days, 1823 01:21:16,166 --> 01:21:18,917 'cause he was literally full of methane gas. 1824 01:21:19,000 --> 01:21:20,291 It was real bad. 1825 01:21:20,375 --> 01:21:22,000 ♪♪♪ 1826 01:21:22,083 --> 01:21:24,291 I don't really know how to explain it. 1827 01:21:24,375 --> 01:21:27,250 Uh, here one of your childhood heroes 1828 01:21:27,333 --> 01:21:30,333 laying there bloated, you know. 1829 01:21:30,417 --> 01:21:33,458 And I just thought it was a terrible disrespectful way 1830 01:21:33,542 --> 01:21:36,625 for him to go and not be found, that's all. 1831 01:21:36,709 --> 01:21:39,917 I just, uh-- It was startling. 1832 01:21:40,000 --> 01:21:40,792 ♪♪♪ 1833 01:21:40,875 --> 01:21:43,291 Mmm. 1834 01:21:43,375 --> 01:21:46,083 How he died. 1835 01:21:46,166 --> 01:21:47,625 He died alone. I just kept thinking he was 1836 01:21:47,709 --> 01:21:49,667 by himself, you know? 1837 01:21:49,750 --> 01:21:51,250 And what happened to him? 1838 01:21:51,333 --> 01:21:52,834 I just always wonder what happened. 1839 01:21:52,917 --> 01:21:56,458 Sonny Liston, the fighter that Muhammad Ali 1840 01:21:56,542 --> 01:21:59,333 used to call the big ugly bear was found dead today 1841 01:21:59,417 --> 01:22:00,583 in his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. 1842 01:22:00,667 --> 01:22:02,792 He had been dead about a week before his wife returning 1843 01:22:02,875 --> 01:22:05,166 from a trip found the body. 1844 01:22:05,250 --> 01:22:07,625 Investigators say there was no sign of foul play, 1845 01:22:07,709 --> 01:22:09,500 but they found some substances they think may be drugs. 1846 01:22:09,583 --> 01:22:12,375 ♪♪♪ 1847 01:22:12,458 --> 01:22:16,625 [Collins] Geraldine not calling the police until three hours 1848 01:22:16,709 --> 01:22:20,500 after finding Sonny's body is strange. 1849 01:22:20,583 --> 01:22:22,250 There are a lot of theories. 1850 01:22:22,333 --> 01:22:25,250 Um, one was that there was quite a stash of heroin 1851 01:22:25,333 --> 01:22:28,291 at Sonny's house and they needed to get it out of there. 1852 01:22:29,375 --> 01:22:30,166 [Gandy] But the police had found 1853 01:22:30,250 --> 01:22:34,542 a balloon of heroin downstairs. 1854 01:22:35,917 --> 01:22:38,875 It seemed strange that she wouldn't have disposed of it 1855 01:22:38,959 --> 01:22:41,375 to save Sonny's reputation, if nothing else. 1856 01:22:41,458 --> 01:22:45,291 I don't know where she went or who she talked to or what, 1857 01:22:45,375 --> 01:22:47,542 but that seems very strange to me. 1858 01:22:47,625 --> 01:22:52,625 ♪♪♪ 1859 01:22:53,291 --> 01:22:56,458 [Roberts] An athlete dies at a young age. 1860 01:22:56,542 --> 01:22:59,375 Why? 1861 01:22:59,458 --> 01:23:02,375 There's some heroin found in his system. 1862 01:23:02,458 --> 01:23:04,375 Now the question is, did Sonny take drugs? 1863 01:23:04,458 --> 01:23:09,709 There are innumerous friends of Sonny that would have come 1864 01:23:09,792 --> 01:23:11,041 forward and did come forward and said, 1865 01:23:11,125 --> 01:23:13,792 "He would never have shot heroin." 1866 01:23:13,875 --> 01:23:17,208 He was petrified of needles. 1867 01:23:17,291 --> 01:23:20,208 ♪ dramatic music ♪ 1868 01:23:20,291 --> 01:23:22,750 ♪♪♪ 1869 01:23:22,834 --> 01:23:24,083 Well, if there's heroin in his system, 1870 01:23:24,166 --> 01:23:27,417 did somebody else shoot him full of heroin? 1871 01:23:27,500 --> 01:23:31,750 ♪♪♪ 1872 01:23:32,291 --> 01:23:35,667 Now we get in, well, if somebody else did, 1873 01:23:35,750 --> 01:23:36,875 was it murder? 1874 01:23:36,959 --> 01:23:38,750 ♪♪♪ 1875 01:23:38,834 --> 01:23:41,291 If it was murder, why did they murder Sonny Liston? 1876 01:23:42,417 --> 01:23:45,250 [Farrell] Depending on what your point of view is 1877 01:23:45,333 --> 01:23:48,417 and what your agenda is, that will determine 1878 01:23:48,500 --> 01:23:50,250 how you feel he was killed. 1879 01:23:50,333 --> 01:23:54,375 ♪♪♪ 1880 01:23:54,458 --> 01:23:57,250 I've been told that Liston was killed because 1881 01:23:57,333 --> 01:24:00,083 of the Wepner fight. 1882 01:24:00,166 --> 01:24:03,166 The mob lost a lot of money, and I know that it's something 1883 01:24:03,250 --> 01:24:06,208 that everybody involved would have done. 1884 01:24:06,291 --> 01:24:08,583 Another person who wanted to see him dead was Red Rodney, 1885 01:24:08,667 --> 01:24:09,667 who was a cautious criminal. 1886 01:24:09,750 --> 01:24:11,959 The last thing he wanted to see was Sonny Liston 1887 01:24:12,041 --> 01:24:13,959 shooting his mouth off about the drug gang 1888 01:24:14,041 --> 01:24:14,792 that he was running. 1889 01:24:14,875 --> 01:24:16,667 ♪♪♪ 1890 01:24:16,750 --> 01:24:18,792 [Rodney] I remembered that my dad and Sonny had 1891 01:24:18,875 --> 01:24:20,959 a falling out somehow. 1892 01:24:21,041 --> 01:24:22,709 My dad was real pissed. 1893 01:24:22,792 --> 01:24:23,959 So, you know, I asked him, I said, 1894 01:24:24,041 --> 01:24:25,250 "Did you have anything to do with that? 1895 01:24:25,333 --> 01:24:26,625 Or do you know about that?" 1896 01:24:26,709 --> 01:24:27,500 And he goes, "No." That's that. 1897 01:24:27,583 --> 01:24:29,709 But he left town a couple of days later 1898 01:24:29,792 --> 01:24:31,959 because he knew the cops would be coming around. 1899 01:24:32,041 --> 01:24:34,041 But I don't think he had anything to do with that. 1900 01:24:34,125 --> 01:24:35,083 I really don't. 1901 01:24:35,166 --> 01:24:36,542 ♪♪♪ 1902 01:24:36,625 --> 01:24:42,291 [Assael] There is a theory-- a extremely persuasive one. 1903 01:24:42,375 --> 01:24:45,166 A former police informant walks into the Vegas Metro 1904 01:24:45,250 --> 01:24:48,125 Police Department with a story about a hero cop 1905 01:24:48,208 --> 01:24:50,917 who broke bad. 1906 01:24:51,000 --> 01:24:52,000 The very first thing he said was, 1907 01:24:52,083 --> 01:24:55,333 "That cop killed Sonny Liston." 1908 01:24:55,417 --> 01:24:58,166 ♪♪♪ 1909 01:24:58,250 --> 01:25:02,458 This informant said Ash Resnick wanted Sonny dead. 1910 01:25:02,542 --> 01:25:05,166 Ash hired the cop to kill Sonny Liston. 1911 01:25:05,250 --> 01:25:08,500 The more he talks, the more detail he gives. 1912 01:25:08,583 --> 01:25:10,792 ♪♪♪ 1913 01:25:10,875 --> 01:25:12,750 The investigators didn't want to believe him 1914 01:25:12,834 --> 01:25:15,667 because it was the guy that they all considered a hero cop. 1915 01:25:15,750 --> 01:25:18,000 It was Larry Gandy. 1916 01:25:18,083 --> 01:25:20,959 ♪♪♪ 1917 01:25:21,041 --> 01:25:23,166 Killing people really does something to you. 1918 01:25:23,250 --> 01:25:24,333 And it scars you for life. 1919 01:25:24,417 --> 01:25:28,000 It made me sick that somebody would accuse me 1920 01:25:28,083 --> 01:25:30,792 of killing somebody for hire. 1921 01:25:30,875 --> 01:25:33,417 I am not a contract killer. 1922 01:25:33,500 --> 01:25:33,875 And never would be. 1923 01:25:33,959 --> 01:25:36,291 ♪♪♪ 1924 01:25:36,375 --> 01:25:39,917 I sought out Larry Gandy who was the man who was 1925 01:25:40,000 --> 01:25:43,667 supposedly the hitman on my father's behalf. 1926 01:25:43,750 --> 01:25:45,458 And he said he'd never met my father. 1927 01:25:45,542 --> 01:25:49,792 I don't believe that my father was capable of hurting anyone. 1928 01:25:49,875 --> 01:25:53,250 Especially someone he revered as much as he loved Sonny. 1929 01:25:53,834 --> 01:25:56,792 [Gandy] I think Sonny Liston was killed because of the raid 1930 01:25:56,875 --> 01:26:00,458 that went bad on Earl Cage's house. 1931 01:26:00,542 --> 01:26:03,375 He had motive, opportunity, and means. 1932 01:26:03,458 --> 01:26:04,917 ♪♪♪ 1933 01:26:05,000 --> 01:26:09,458 Rumor, rumor, rumor, story, story, story. 1934 01:26:11,458 --> 01:26:13,417 That's the story of Sonny's life. 1935 01:26:13,500 --> 01:26:17,250 ♪♪♪ 1936 01:26:17,333 --> 01:26:19,917 [Assael] The medical examiner just figured natural causes 1937 01:26:20,000 --> 01:26:22,542 was the easiest way to just end it. 1938 01:26:22,625 --> 01:26:24,041 And that's what happened. 1939 01:26:24,125 --> 01:26:25,208 There was no homicide investigation. 1940 01:26:25,291 --> 01:26:26,875 Sonny's death was Sonny's death. 1941 01:26:26,959 --> 01:26:28,333 He was given a funeral, a send-off, 1942 01:26:28,417 --> 01:26:32,917 with a procession up the Las Vegas strip. 1943 01:26:33,000 --> 01:26:34,750 Dead and buried. 1944 01:26:34,834 --> 01:26:40,000 ♪♪♪ 1945 01:26:47,834 --> 01:26:49,417 I don't know. 1946 01:26:49,500 --> 01:26:52,792 I really don't know whether Sonny, um, overdosed 1947 01:26:52,875 --> 01:26:53,875 or was murdered. 1948 01:26:54,000 --> 01:26:56,125 It's much easier to deal 1949 01:26:56,208 --> 01:27:00,458 with the idea that there were, 1950 01:27:00,542 --> 01:27:02,959 you know, powerful forces 1951 01:27:03,041 --> 01:27:06,750 that finally did in 1952 01:27:06,834 --> 01:27:09,208 this powerful man. 1953 01:27:09,291 --> 01:27:11,875 I think that's easier than just saying, 1954 01:27:11,959 --> 01:27:13,959 "Hey, you know, we're-- we're all complicit 1955 01:27:14,041 --> 01:27:17,458 in the Sonny Liston story." 1956 01:27:17,542 --> 01:27:22,500 ♪♪♪ 1957 01:27:24,208 --> 01:27:26,417 [Jeffries] I think there's enough 1958 01:27:26,500 --> 01:27:28,750 culpability to go around. 1959 01:27:28,834 --> 01:27:31,500 ♪♪♪ 1960 01:27:31,583 --> 01:27:34,917 America is responsible, not just white America 1961 01:27:35,000 --> 01:27:38,667 but black America as a whole for really shaping the life 1962 01:27:38,750 --> 01:27:41,875 and determining to a certain extent the fortune and fate 1963 01:27:41,959 --> 01:27:42,834 of Sonny Liston. 1964 01:27:42,917 --> 01:27:45,667 ♪♪♪ 1965 01:27:45,750 --> 01:27:47,375 [Izenberg] And the people on the sidelines can say, 1966 01:27:47,458 --> 01:27:49,667 "Well, he should have changed after this. 1967 01:27:49,750 --> 01:27:50,750 He should have changed." 1968 01:27:50,834 --> 01:27:53,000 Nobody tried to hitch me up to a mule in Arkansas 1969 01:27:53,083 --> 01:27:54,750 when I was 11 years old. 1970 01:27:54,834 --> 01:27:56,041 Nobody had me hitchhike all the way to St. Louis 1971 01:27:56,125 --> 01:27:58,208 to meet my sister and mother 1972 01:27:58,291 --> 01:27:59,875 who I hadn't seen in three years. 1973 01:28:01,375 --> 01:28:04,917 And nobody said, "How else can I make a living?" 1974 01:28:06,041 --> 01:28:09,000 So this is who he was, and this is what he was. 1975 01:28:09,083 --> 01:28:10,417 ♪♪♪ 1976 01:28:10,500 --> 01:28:12,375 [Jeffries] I don't think it's a wonder 1977 01:28:12,458 --> 01:28:14,333 that he died when he did. 1978 01:28:14,417 --> 01:28:16,834 I think it's a wonder that he didn't die earlier. 1979 01:28:16,917 --> 01:28:19,458 I don't think it's a wonder that he didn't hold on 1980 01:28:19,542 --> 01:28:23,041 to the championship longer than he did. 1981 01:28:23,125 --> 01:28:24,291 I think it's a wonder that he made it 1982 01:28:24,375 --> 01:28:26,834 that far to hold it at all. 1983 01:28:26,917 --> 01:28:29,709 ♪♪♪ 1984 01:28:29,792 --> 01:28:32,500 [Majeski] Sonny Liston's fate was sealed in the womb. 1985 01:28:32,583 --> 01:28:35,542 He reached the stars, and when he grabbed the star, 1986 01:28:35,625 --> 01:28:36,583 it burnt him up. 1987 01:28:36,667 --> 01:28:40,166 There was nothing left in Liston to give. 1988 01:28:40,250 --> 01:28:42,333 ♪♪♪ 1989 01:28:42,417 --> 01:28:45,208 [Tyson] Sonny Liston should be remembered as a great fighter. 1990 01:28:45,291 --> 01:28:47,834 Once he's champ, he's always champ. 1991 01:28:47,917 --> 01:28:49,750 That's always gonna be his identity. 1992 01:28:49,834 --> 01:28:51,709 People will always call him champ. 1993 01:28:51,792 --> 01:28:54,959 ♪♪♪ 1994 01:28:55,041 --> 01:28:56,709 [Reddish Jr.] Charles Sonny Liston. 1995 01:28:56,792 --> 01:28:58,667 ♪♪♪ 1996 01:28:58,750 --> 01:29:00,625 He was a man amongst men. 1997 01:29:00,709 --> 01:29:03,083 ♪♪♪ 1998 01:29:03,166 --> 01:29:04,583 And that's the story. 1999 01:29:04,667 --> 01:29:06,834 ♪♪♪ 2000 01:29:06,917 --> 01:29:11,583 I tell the world, "I'm glad he came through my way one time." 2001 01:29:13,125 --> 01:29:18,250 ♪♪♪