Dec 4, 1961

Sonny Liston vs. Albert Westphal
Convention Hall, Philadelphia

The fight was delayed because the gloves provided for Liston were too small for his hands.

Liston put Westphal down for the count in round one with a right to the jaw. It was the first time Westphal was ever floored.

"Do you think your performance tonight scared Patterson?" a reporter asked Liston. "How long have I been the No. 1 challenger?" Liston asked. "About a year and a half," someone volunteered. "That's how long he's been scared of me," Liston said.

Dec. 4, 1961

The first clean punch Liston landed was a crisp left hook that caught the aggressive Westphal coming in. He didn't stagger long. Sonny caught him with a huge right to the chin. Albert spun like a pole-axed bull into a full face-plant, layout position. Referee Zack Clayton could have counted 100. At 10, Westphal rolled over slowly and lay staring at the ceiling through unseeing eyes. Liston emerged from a neutral corner to admire his glove work. He just gazed impassively at the timbered German.

(by Bill Conlin)

On September 7, 1960, Eddie Machen stepped into the ring to face the feared Sonny Liston.  To many, Liston was the “Uncrowned Heavyweight Champion” and a bout with Patterson was being called for by the fans and press alike.  Only Eddie stood in Sonny’s way.  The bout took place in Seattle and Eddie gave the brutish Liston all he could handle.  In the end, Sonny took a unanimous decision despite losing three points for low blows.

"Liston is a good fighter," Machen said, "but he won't knock down any walls. I don't like to alibi, but I hurt my shoulder six days ago in training and couldn't use my right too well. I want very much to fight him again when I have two hands." Liston, the number one contender for the crown, was equally unimpressed with second-rated Eddie. "All Machen wanted to do was go 12 rounds," he said. "He didn't want to fight. I had a bad night." Liston, who at 211 had a 15-pound weight advantage over Machen.

Machen later said he believed that Liston's handlers made deliberate use of illegal medication in an attempt to temporarily blind him during the fight. He theorized that Liston's handlers rubbed medication on their fighter's shoulders, which was transferred to Machen's forehead during clinches and dripped into his eyes. "I thought my eyes would burn out of my head, and Liston seemed to know it would happen," Machen said. When Liston fought Muhammad Ali—then Cassius Clay—in 1964, Ali returned to his corner after the fourth round and complained that there was something burning in his eyes and he could not see. "The same thing happened to me when I fought Liston," Machen said two days after Ali upset Liston. "Clay did the worst thing when he started screaming and let Liston know it had worked," Machen added. "Clay panicked. I didn't do that. I'm more of a seasoned pro, and I hid it from Liston."

Liston came back to his corner after Round 2 with a nearly closed right eye.
The cornermen were waiting for him with an ice-pack, and hurriedly applied it to the closing right eye in an effort to stop the swelling that was becoming more serious looking by the second.
As the bell sounded for Round 3, Sonny was slow getting out of his corner, and was met by an aggressive Valdes, who came at him quickly from across the ring.
In a flash Nino fired a 3-punch volley followed by a stunning left hook that crashed off of Liston's exposed jaw.
Stunned and angered, Liston retaliated with a volley of solid punches that seemed to take everything out of the 34 year-old Nino's legs, as he rocked back on his heels.
Liston then crashed a big left hook on Ninos' jaw.
With a stunned Nino in front of him Sonny fired a solid combination that drove Nino into the ropes where he bounced off into a savage right cross that dropped Nino like a weight.
Valdes, with his right arm dangling over the lower rope strand was on his knees until the count reached 7 then rolled onto the canvas to be counted out at 0:47 of the round.

1966...former world champion Sonny Liston, was now living and boxing in Sweden, and was preparing for a fight when a new sparring partner was brought in...none other than the lesser-known, lesser-talented younger brother of Floyd Patterson....Ray Patterson......Ray never did that much as a boxer at world level....but that day, behind closed doors, the younger brother of the man who was beaten twice in one round in world heavyweight title fights by Liston, did this...