St. Paul recorder., 1962-08-31
Low Percentage &
StalIing Irks Liston:
To Souore MofferS


ment" he received in the months
leading up to his title bout sign
ing with champion Floyd Patter-
son, enlarged upon his prediction
to flatten Patterson by saying he
plans to make his victory so con-
vincing that the champion may
not want a return bout, in an in
terview following his first official
workout here last week.
Liston did not box in the work.
out at his Aurora Downs race
track training site, but he put in
nine fast rounds of shadow boxing,
rope skipping and calisthenics. He
took a page out of the book of
Sugar Ray Robinson by nimbly
jumping rope to the tune of a live
ly boogie woogie recording.
A crowd of about $50 persons,
including newspaper reporters and
television crewmen, watched him
as he worked in dead seriousness,
and applauded him at several
points.
He worked out in an outdoor
ring and adjoining platform, both
pitched beside his fashionable
clubhouse quarters. The ring and
platform were covered with tarp-
aulin to shield him from the blaz-
ing sun. Big and ponderous as
ever, Sonny looked fit, despite
slight pouch at the midriff. He
said he planned to scale down to
about 210 for the fight. He weigh
ed PIG after the workout.
His ring chores completed for
the evening, Liston, attired in a
coverall-type, white wooden robe
and looking as relaxed as a vaca-
tioning country squire, sat down
at a table in the glass-paneled
clubhouse, a cup of tea in his
hand, and submitted to the inter-
view.
He said he was satisfied with
his training up to that point, and
that he felt fine" He also said
he was pleased with the training
site. TITS lovely couldn't be
better" he explained.
But Liston wasted little time in
venting his anger on Patterson and
his brain thrust for giving him
the run around when he was seek
ing the title shot, and particularly
for the record low 121a per-
centage he was forced to accept
for the fight. At this point Jack
Nilon, his business representative
Clipped in to point out to this re-
porter that all Of F1oyd's white
Challengers had received larger
percentages.
Asked If he thought Patterson
was personally responsible for the
run around and low percentage,
Liston snapped: He is the one
who signed, isn't he?" He report
ed his dissatisfaction with the per-
centage several times during the
interview and afterwards. He grew
serious almost to the point of Bit
terness, but managed to smile at
the droll humor of q bearded Eng
lish reporter representing the
London Times and Playboy Maya
zine.
Did he have a definite plan for
fighting Patterson? NO" he said.
II am going to get my body in
the best Of shape and when the
bell says bang, I'll go after him"
He said several fighters have been
beaten by attempting to plan their
fights in advance.
What about his plans for the
future? He said he plans to fight
the best man available, after his
commitment with Patterson (the
title contract calls for a return
bout within "a year" on a 30-30I
percentage basis, If Liston wtns).
Then what? He plans to give
Patterson another bout. 'Pn give
him 12h per cent, the same as he
gave me-" Sonny declared.
"Of course" he added, "Patter-
son may not want a return bout
after this fight. But If he still
wants it, I'll give him 1914 per
cent. That's my aim"
Asked how soon he'll knock
Patterson out, Sonny said "1'n
call it between rounds"
So spoke Sonny Liston.
Liston arrived with an entour-
age Of about IL persons, including
his wife, Geraldine; his trainer,
Willie Reddish; Nilon; his personal
cook, Willie Moreland; and three
sparring partners heavweights
Jim Robinson Of Philadelphia, Jim
McCarter Of Chester, Pa, and
light heavyweight Fonieda Cox of
st. Louis. Frank Leahy, former
Notre Dame football coach, was
Llston's guest at the training
camp. He was introduced to the
press by Nilon.