RIP Smokin' Joe.

RIP

Even while he was champ, he seemed to be in Ali's shadow.

But if not The Greatest, he was still one of the greatest.

I just found out Norm Ramsey died last Friday.

Great scientist. I used the “separated oscillatory fields method" that he developed. When I was in grad school I read an article by him in Scientific American, describing his set up. I was well into the article when I realized why I understood it so well: I was using the same set up! (D'oh). Made for a good reference.

I also got to meet him at a conference. Cordial and friendly.

RIP indeed.

So sad to see what has happened to both Joe and Ali. They WERE boxing, and boxing was far better off when they were.

Good ol' Joe. He came from a day when fighters were gents and not animals.

(11-08-2011 10:23 AM)smn1256 Wrote:  Good ol' Joe. He came from a day when fighters were gents and not animals.

Well.... sort of.

Read up on Sonny Liston if you have time. A hard, hard life. Born in Arkansas -- believed to be the 12th of 13 kids; can't be sure because there were no birth certificates. Five years in Missouri prisons; Liston said that was actually a good place for him because he knew he'd get 3 meals a day.

Heavyweight champion of the world from '62-'64. Underworld connections very public, very obvious. Probably took a dive in the 1st round of his rematch against Ali. Ali had not yet become the legend he is today, so people felt free to say that the fight was fixed. (In the Will Smith movie, Liston was felled by a punch that could have knocked 10 men down. The ringside-witnesses in Lewiston Maine saw it differently.)

Sonny Liston was found dead in a Las Vegas hotel room in January '71. Time of death unknown; coroner's estimation based on the dates of the newspapers found outside his door. He was probably 42 but who knows.

A hard, hard life.