Description
Steen, Rob ‘Sonny Boy. The Life and Strife of Sonny Liston’ 1993 1st edition. 245 pages (3).VG in VG non-price clipped dust jacket. (2) $35 each.
Sonny Boy: The Life and Strife of Sonny Liston is a 245-page biography written by Rob Steen and published as a first edition hardcover by Methuen London on January 1, 1993.
Book Summary & Description:
Considered the first complete boxing biography dedicated entirely to the formidable and enigmatic world heavyweight champion Charles “Sonny” Liston, the book chronicles his incredibly turbulent life, highly controversial boxing career, and mysterious death.
Steen meticulously explores the “strife” that defined Liston from the very beginning:
• The Early Years: His origins as one of 25 children born to an abusive, poverty-stricken tenant farmer in Arkansas, his struggle with lifelong illiteracy, and his descent into violent street crime in St. Louis.
• The Rise and the Mob: How he discovered boxing as a saving grace while serving time in a Missouri state prison, only to have his professional career heavily manipulated and controlled by underworld mob figures like Frank “Blinky” Palermo and John Vitale.
• The Pinnacle and the Downfall: His meteoric rise to become one of the most terrifyingly powerful punchers in history, his swift 1962 championship destruction of Floyd Patterson, and his dramatic, highly debated losses to Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali)—including the infamous “phantom punch” rematch.
• The Tragic End: His final years spent in the shadows and his untimely 1970 death in Las Vegas, which officially was ruled as natural causes but has always been heavily shrouded in suspicion of a mob-enforced heroin overdose.
Physical & Publication Details:
• Author: Rob Steen (frequently credited as Robert Steen in library catalogs)
• Publisher: Methuen London (under the Kingswood imprint)
• Publication Date: January 1, 1993
• Format: Hardcover with a protective dust jacket
• Length: 245 pages
• ISBN-10: 0413664007
• ISBN-13: 9780413664006
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