Sonny Liston was one Big Badass Nigger. Marry him to the Mob and you've got one short and brutish life that will have one ending. Tosches' life of the heavyweight champion is exhaustive in its research and compelling in the telling. His hard-core prose suits the subject perfectly, even if on the odd occasion he wanders into an attempted lyricism which quickly disappears up his fundament. The tale is crowded with colourful characters (the Mob is like that). And if you've ever doubted whether Liston threw the two title bouts with Clay/Ali in 1964, doubt no more.