Rating: 
Summary: A fine mood piece, but lacking as hard biography
Review: A study of the short, mysterious, brutal and strange life of Charles Sonny Liston. Tosches is an erudite writer; his vivid, poetic prose propels his narrative along, even when as a detective biographer he goes out on a limb. It's fact that Liston was in with the Mob, but that it's a given in this book that Liston's two fights to Ali were fixed is a little preseumptious - but only a little. Tosches has a wealth of interviews and solid evidence at his disposal; that and his moody, evocative prose keeps his story going. At times, the book meanders too much into mini-bios of Mob figures and peripheral boxing people, and skips too quickly over important events in Liston's life (his fights with Ali and the media hype preceding them, for example). On the whole, though, this is a finely-crefted and important look into, not so much Liston's shadowy life, but the shadowy world that he inhabited.
Rating: 
Summary: An Ignored Champ Gets His Due
Review: In 1987 I had the pleasure of having a half-hour chat with Floyd Patterson, Floyd was convinced Liston threw both fights to Ali. Ali's cut man for the first Liston fight contacted his friends and relatives and told them the fight was fixed and to bet everything on Ali (this was mentioned in a casino sports betting paper in 1991). Six months after supposedly knocking out Liston with a six inch right hand, Ali could not finish off a badly injured Patterson (who foolishly went into the fight with a very bad back).Liston's facial features clearly show he was around 40 when he knocked out Patterson on a brisk Chicago night in 1962. Liston was the best heavyweight for at least five years before he won the title. The powers-that-be knew a long Liston reign would just about kill off boxing, much like Evander Holyfield whose fights drew poorly unless he fought a Tyson/Foreman/Bowe. Top contender Henry Cooper openly stated in a 1971 Ring magazine interview that he refused to fight Liston under any circumstances. This author refuses to "dumb down" his writing, which means he wrote over the heads of most boxing fans. A local talk radio host reported there was a rumor that Liston was supposed to have thrown the Chuck Wepner fight and that he angered certain organized crime types when he did not. Wepner was manuvered into an undeserved shot at Ali in 1975. This same radio host reported that Liston was courteous and reasonably friendly in person. A good book about an ignored man, hopefully someone will do one about tragic Jerry Quarry.
Rating:
Summary: It could be better
Review: The book is good, but could be better. The author seems to try too hard to find new versions about Sonny's fights with Ali (he believes both were fixed) and his death in 1971. I just think he could have exploit better the incredible personality of Liston and don't try to go to deep in the Mafia world, because actually even himself is not sure of what he wrote.
Rating: 
Summary: Stylish biography
Review: Nick Tosches demythologizes Ali along with Liston in this eccentric yet readable biography. Mr. Tosches elucidates on Liston's beginnings, his major bouts and downfall. He also sheds verisimilitude on Ali's two fixed victories over Liston. This book is not for those who are looking for a straight, dull biography of Liston.
Rating:
Summary: one you might want to keep
Review: I don't know if Nick Tosches is a great writer or not but he is the right man to tell the story of Sonny Liston. If you have an interest in boxing and the people who were involved at the professional level through the fifties, sixties and seventies read this account. Tosches neither justifies, villifies or passes judgment. That is left for the reader. His research is extensive and acknowledged & there is a constant intensity reaching an inevitable climax followed by a harrowing denouement and finality. Familiar names from a not too distant past appear, play their apportioned role in the subject's brutal ascent to boxing's ultimate pinnacle & leave the stage much as they entered: actors in a world of street corners, jails, motels and courtrooms: playing their parts because really, what else can one do? Sonny with bits of paper in his pocket, mixed with coins and dirt. Sonny, in jail, in the ring, in a car, with a woman, any woman, cruel, moody, unflinching, but with a certain sense of humour as only the devil's plaything can understand humour. The final snapshot of Sonnny complete with shadow and captioned "Vegas, near the end", is a study in itself. Highly recommended for those who appreciate the bitter, not only in their liquor but in life itself
Rating:
Summary: The Devil and Sonny Liston
Review: I am now reading this book on Sonny Liston and really felt bad about how Sonny Liston was raised and mistreated so badly by his father and never had a chance to get any education and had to mainly rely on his boxing ability. I beleive that next to Rocky Marciano I like Sonny Liston as my second favorite fighter. I wish I knew how to get a hold of Geraldine Listons address so I could write here and let her know how I feel about Sonny Liston.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: One of the main problems with this book is that Nick Tosches is far more concerned with the colourfulness of his language then with any particularly helpful insight into the life and personality of Sonny Liston. I admire what Tosches has attempted to do by not adhering to convention but it simply does not work. By writing in this style he leaves many important issues untouched or unresolved and why oh why does he insist on using the 'mo fo' saying so often?? The language, though, is just one of many problems. The more worrying aspect of his biography is his continual justification of events and outcomes as simply human nature. At the start of the book he puts his bizarre case forward for the justification of the slave trade and then proceeds to romanticise slavery in America and basically sums up by suggesting that it's just human nature!! I couldn't believe what I was reading! Tosches doesn't even bother to look what affect the racial climate in America had upon the life of Sonny Liston. This, for me, is one of the major disappointments of the book. So much has been left out to make room for his fancy writing. It's not often I say this, but, don't waste your time reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Look Into the Dark Side
Review: Nick Tosches did and unbelivable job in this book. I am an avid boxing fan, and have nearly every biography ever written on fighters, but this is unlike any other. Tosches digs deep within the unknown soul of a lost human being, and takes us along for the ride in an unparelled read. One of the best nonfiction books ever written.
Rating:
Summary: Who are these characters?
Review: So many names. So many digressions. So much gratuitous cussing. Who are all these people? Why do they each have a name and four nicknames? This writing is so self-absorbed that the story is virtually incomprehensible.
Rating:
Summary: The Devil is in Tosche's Writing
Review: By Dan Moreland Sonny Liston was the Mike Tyson of the 1960s- a big bad guy with a criminal past who became the most feared Heavyweight champion of all time. Actually compared to Liston, Tyson would be nothing more than the schoolyard nebbish. Certainly Liston's controversial life, career and death should be an easy and entertaining read, even if poorly written. Amazingly, Tosches manages to make it a 250-page borefest. Instead of recounting this sad epic, Tosches decides to wax poetic about how Liston's life was some sort of metaphor for slavery and black oppression and other esoteric issues. It's not that it's not a well-deserved metaphor- it's just that after 50 pages, you want to yell, "Get to the good stuff!" After all, this IS boxing, not Philosophy 101! Good stuff meaning Liston appearing on the cover of a national magazine with a Santa hat, an image that scared White America to death. Or how a young truculent Cassius Clay burst into Sonny's camp calling him "The Big Ugly Bear". Two famous Liston incidents, by the way, not even mentioned in the book! Instead, he uses the space to go into great detail about the history of the Liston name going back to Norman England. What drudgery. Who cares? It's not that Tosches isn't a good writer or a brilliant man. It's just that he is in love with his own prose. The book does have its merits. Tosches presents and outstanding case that Liston took a dive in both Ali fights. And, while told way too dryly, he details an outstanding history of Mafia control over boxing in the 50s and the 60s. In addition, the book has a terrific cover, and that combined with the title should make a great piece for your coffee table. Just do yourself a favor. Wait for the paperback.
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