More than fifty years ago Floyd Patterson fought Sonny Liston twice and got destroyed twice. Trainer Cus D’Amato didn’t want Floyd to fight Liston. He knew Floyd was intimidated by the Big Bear. Before Cassius Clay dethroned him, Liston was the most feared fighter around. Cus doubted whether Floyd could beat the Big Bear, and to make matters worse, Cus felt a loss would mean the most coveted championship in all of sport would fall into the hands of one of the most undesirable characters in the fight game. Liston was an ex-con and there were rumors about him being controlled by the mob. Their first fight took place at Comiskey Park in front of crowd of over 18,000 fight fans.
At that time, Liston was a scary brute. He outweighed Patterson by 25 lbs. and enjoyed a 13 inch reach advantage. Floyd was an over grown light heavy, having won the Olympic Gold as a middleweight. Cus advised Patterson against taking the fight, but Floyd overruled him. Floyd desperately wanted to be a true champion and fight the best challengers. As history tells us, Floyd was like a lamb being led to the slaughter. Liston used a powerful jab with big blasts from both hands to destroy Floyd in less than one round. Then Sonny proved it was no fluke by doing it again in a rematch.