Nov. 5, 1964 - There was no recording of “Night Train” to pace his rope-skipping, and the medicine ball he caught in his stomach weighed only 16 pounds, but Sonny Liston’s left arm, the one that dropped the heavyweight title eight months ago, seemed strong and healthy today as he worked out before the public.
In a stifling hot golf club overlooking Massachusetts Bay choked with $1‐a‐head spectators and T.V. cameras, a faster and trimmer Liston drove three sparring partners around the ring.
The former champion conceded that he had been “stupid” in his first fight with Muhammad Ali, said he would “come out ahead” in their rematch Nov. 16 in Boston, and once again displayed the personal grace and charm for which he has become famous.
“Hey, Willa,” he growled as his trainer, Willie Reddish, kneeled at ringside and spoke into a T.V. microphone.
The trainer talked on as Liston waited impatiently for someone to put his gloves on. “Willa!”
Then he walked across the ring and kicked Reddish’s shoulder through the ropes. Willie dropped the mike and came over.
Observers agreed that the workout today seemed far more strenuous than any Liston had gone through last February before defending his title against Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, in Miami Beach. In a news conference after the workout, Liston said that he was training harder this time but that today was an “off day.”
He also said that he had a “surprise” for Ali, who was only a “fair fighter,” and not nearly so “brave as [Floyd] Patterson.”
Patterson lost his title and the rematch to Liston by rushing him and getting belted out in the first round of both fights. Last Feb. 25, Liston was unable to answer the bell for the seventh round against Ali because of a left‐shoulder injury. He lost his title on the stool.
“I fought a stupid fight. I shouldn’t have run after him. I had something he wanted, and I should have waited for him to come to me,” said Liston.
Was he bitter over the last defeat?
“I’m bitter, but not bitter enough to lose my head,” he said. “When I catch him, you’ll know I’m bitter.”
He smiled only twice during the news conference — once when a man said, “We all have an idol in life, Sonny. And you, as you went down through the years, was there some…”
“Who’s your idol?” snapped Liston. While the man sat stunned, Liston laughed at his own put‐down and said: “Yeah, Joe Louis.”
Then the former champion pulled a huge watch from his pocket, looked at its broad face, and said, “Time to go.” And he did, chuckling at his wit all the way home.
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