The Life and Death of a Champion
Mad As Birds sheds light on the dark pages of the biography of one of the greatest boxers of the 20th century. An independent British studio has acquired the film rights to Sean Assael's The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin and the Heavyweights.In his youth, Charles "Sonny" Liston often got into trouble and even ended up in prison for armed robbery. There, the guy met the Reverend Alois Stevens, who advised him to channel aggression into a peaceful channel and take up boxing. Liston began his professional career in the ring in 1953. Seven years later, he became the main contender for the heavyweight world title. The winner of the championship belt, Floyd Patterson, diligently avoided meeting with Sonny, but the fight nevertheless took place. On September 25, 1962, Liston knocked out Patterson and received the coveted title. Sonny spent a year and a half on boxing Olympus: in February 1964 he was defeated by Cassius Clay. The 1965 rematch ended in a scandal altogether. Soon after the first duel, Clay received new documents and became Muhamed Ali. In the second minute of the return battle, he dealt a legendary "ghostly" blow to his opponent. Boxing fans are still debating whether the right hook made it to Sonny's head, but the fact remains: Liston fell as if knocked down. Ali shouted"Get up, nobody believes you", but the opponent was in no hurry to get up from the floor. As a result, the audience got the impression that Sonny either voluntarily,  The main emphasis in the script of the film will be on the last year of Liston's life, when he became a regular in the hot spots of Las Vegas. On January 5, 1971, Sonny was found dead at his home. The police put forward a version that the ex-champion died of a drug overdose, but an autopsy showed that the cause of death was lung and heart failure. There were injection marks on the athlete's body, but not a single syringe was found in the house. This gave rise to a lot of conspiracy theories. Sports journalists knew that Liston was afraid of injections and refused to fight overseas, since travel to many countries required vaccinations. There were rumors that before the medical examiners arrived, Sonny's home was cleaned up by the mafia or the police themselves ...  The audience can only guess what version of events the filmmakers will present. The sports drama will be written by Celine Jones (Lighting the Stars). Source: Deadline The Topic of Article: The Life and Death of a Champion. |
