Night Train

In 1962, Sonny Liston became boxing's world heavyweight champion. He was a poor plantation boy and a bruiser for the mob who had done time for armed robbery, but he had fought his way to the top. Those he met in the ring said he was unstoppable, even dangerous. Sonny, however, knew differently. His mob connections and his violent drunkeness made him an unpopular but feared champion; and when he lost his title to Muhammad Ali with barely a struggle, no one, least of all Liston, seemed to care. He had begun his descent into the depths, which only ended with his mysterious death. In prose as hard-hitting as Liston's left hook, Nick Tosches excavates the life of Sonny Liston from the murky underworld which never let him go.