On This Day In Boxing History

Fritzie Zivic & Sonny Liston Were Born!

1913: Fritzie Zivic

Fritzie Zivic  

Born: May 8th, 1913

Birth Name: Ferdinand Henry John Zivicic

Birth Place: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Residence: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pro-Debut: May 5th,1931

Division: Welterweight

Stance: Orthodox

Height: 5′ 10″ 

Reach: 71″  

Record: 158-65-9, 82Ko’s

Bouts: 232

Rounds: 1805

Kos: 35%

Died: Age 71, May 17th, 1984

Fritzie Zivic one of the four fighting brothers: Eddie, Pete and Jack, beating seven future Hall of Famers having battled the likes of Sammy Angott, Al 'Bummy' Davis, Lew Jenkins, Freddie Cochrane, Izzy Jannazzo, Lew Jenkins, Henry Armstrong, Beau Jack, Bob Montgomery, Tommy Bell, Billy Arnold, Freddie Archer, Kid Azteca, Jake LaMotta and Sugar Ray Robinson, winning the World Welterweight title From Henry Armstrong Oct. 4, 1940 and one of the few to step up and face the great Charley Burley (3 times) was inducted into International Boxing Hall of Fame In the Class 1993.

1932? - Sonny Liston

Sonny Liston

Born: ***May 8th, 1932, There is no official record of Liston's birth. His family's home state of Arkansas did not make birth certificates mandatory until 1965. His family, but not one Sonny Liston, can be found in the 1930 census, and in the 1940 census he was listed as 10 years old. It has been suggested Liston himself may not have known what year he was born, as he was not precise on the matter. ***Liston believed his date of birth to be May 8, 1932 and used this for official purposes.

Birth Name: Charles Lenoir Liston

Birth Place: Johnson Township, Arkansas

Residence: Saint Louis, Missouri

Pro-Debut: September 2nd, 1953

Division: Heavy

Stance: Orthodox

Height: 6′ 1″  

Reach: 84″   

Bouts: 54

Rounds: 265

Ko’s: 72.22%

Career: 1953-1970

Record: 50-4, 39Ko’s 

Died: Age 40, December 30th, 1970       

May 8th

1900: Tom Sharkey KO3 Joe Choynski

1907: Tommy Burns W20 Philadelphia Jack O’Brien

1913: Fritzie Zivic in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Harry Greb age 19 debuts against KO2 Red Cumpston

1932: Sonny Liston born in Sand Slough, Arkansas - Well maybe; we’re not really sure. Not even Sonny was certain of his birth date.

1933: Maxie Rosenbloom W10 Charley Belanger

1934: Mickey Walker W10 Maxie Rosenbloom

1936: Tony Canzoneri W10 Jimmy McLarnin

1943: Archie Moore W15 Jack Chase

1947: Tony Zale TKO6 Cliff Beckett

1949: Marcel Cerdan KO4 Lucien Krawczyk

1962: Freddie Miller passes

1967: Muhammad Ali indicted for refusing induction in US Army.     

1969: Fabrice Tiozzo is born in St. Denis, France

1976: Esteban DeJesus W15 Ishimatsu Suzuki

Carlos Zarate KO9 Rodolfo Martinez

Bob Foster KO3 Al Bolden

Carlos Zárate KO9 Rodolfo Martínez

1982: Ray Mancini KO1 Art Frias

Salvador Sanchez W15 Rocky Garcia

Earnie Shavers TKO2 Joe Bugner

1987: Jeff Fenech KO4 Samart Payakaroon

1988: Mike Tyson crashes his $183,000 Bentley on Varick St, NYC

1990: Bobby Czyz W12 Don LaLonde

Riddick Bowe KO1 Jesus Contreras

1992: Mike Tyson found guilty of threatening a guard and disorderly conduct in prison, adding 15 days to his sentence

1993: Gerald McClellan TKO5 Julian Jackson

Julio César Chávez TKO6 Terrence Alli

Lennox Lewis W12 Tony Tucker

1994: Pichit Sithbangprachan W12 Jose Luis Zepeda

1999: Sven Ottke W12 Gabriel Hernandez

Nestor Garza KO8 Carlos Barreto

Erik Morales KO9 Juan Carlos Ramirez

2001: Paul Spadafora W12 Joel Perez

2004: Manny Pacquiao D12 Juan Manuel Marquez

Anne Wolfe vs Vonda Ward

2010: Hugo Fidel Cazares W12 Nobuo Nashiro

Erica Anabella Farias KO8 Darys Esther Pardo

Jorge Solis W12Mario Santiago   

Antonio Margarito W10 Roberto Garcia

2011: Naoko FujiokaRTD8 Anabel Ortiz 

Lionel Rose dies at the age of 62

2013: Kazuto Ioka KO9 Wisanu Kokietgym

2014: Naomi Togashi TKO5 Jujeath Nagaowa

Kazuto Ioka KO9 Phissanu Chimsunthom

Ryo Miyazaki TKO5 Carlos Velarde

Hyun Mi Choi W10 Shannon O'Connell

2016: Naoya Inoue W12 David Carmona          

Akira Yaegashi SD12 Martin Tecuapetla

2021: Canelo Álvarez RTD8 Billy Joe Saunders