| 1932 |
Born May 8 in Forrest City, Arkansas (birth date according to one official document signed by Liston; other dates and birthplaces given variously by Liston, his mother, and other sources) |
| 1946 |
Leaves his father to go live with his mother in St. Louis |
| 1950 |
Sentenced to Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City, for armed robbery and larceny; begins boxing in prison under tutelage of athletic director Father Edward Schlattmann |
| 1952 |
Paroled from prison |
| 1953 |
Enters professional boxing, knocking out Don Smith in first round |
| 1957 |
Sentenced to nine months in St. Louis workhouse for assaulting a police officer; released August 1957 |
| 1957 |
Marries Geraldine Clark |
| 1958 |
Signs contract with Joseph "Pep" Barone, associate of alleged mobsters Frankie Carbo and "Blinky" Palermo |
| 1962 |
Defeats Floyd Patterson to win heavyweight title |
| 1964 |
Loses heavyweight title to Cassius Clay |
| 1965 |
Loses rematch to Muhammad Ali (formerly Cassius Clay) after so-called "Phantom Punch" |
| 1966 |
Defeats Gerhard Zach in Stockholm, Sweden, as start of comeback |
| 1967 |
With Geraldine, adopts three-year-old son, Daniel |
| 1970 |
Wins technical knockout in his last fight, against Chuck Wepner |
| 1971 |
Discovered dead on January 5 by Geraldine and Daniel in their Las Vegas home. Official date of death put as December 30. Lung congestion and heart failure ruled as official cause of death |
User Comments Add a comment…
4 months ago
larry dum » larryd828 ((at)) aol dot com
Frankie Carbo and "Blinky" Palermo are described as "alleged" gansters. they were "alleded" gangsters the same way hitler was an "alleged" nazi.
take it from somebody who watched ali's entire career, he was the greatest.
in his prime ali was as fast as most middleweights. he was champion when the heavyweight division was loaded with legendary contenders like george foreman, sonny liston, joe fraizer and ken norton.
norton broke ali's jaw in the second round of a 12-round non-title fight and won. but ali finished the fight with the broken jaw.