|
Boxing In The 1970s
During the 1970s, boxing was characterized by dominating champions and history-making rivalries. The decade had many superstars, who also had fierce rivals. Alexis Argüello, for example, who won the world Featherweight and Jr. Lightweight titles in the '70s, had to overcome Alfredo Escalera twice before the decade was over. At least six divisions had world champions who could be considered dominant: The Bantamweights had Carlos Zárate; the Super Bantamweights, (a division created in 1976) had Wilfredo Gómez winning the title in 1977 and keeping it until he left it vacant in 1983; the Lightweights had Roberto Durán, who won the title in 1972 and vacated it in 1979 to seek championships at other weights; the Jr. Welterweights had Antonio Cervantes, who reigned twice; the Middleweights had Carlos Monzón, sometimes referred to as ''King Carlos'' because of his seven-year reign as champion; the Light-Heavyweights had Bob Foster. The Heavyweights, of course, had Muhammad Ali, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boxing In The 1960s
During the 1960s, boxing, like mostly everything else around the world, went through changing times. Notable was the emergence of a young boxer named Cassius Clay, who would, in his own words ''shock the world'', declare himself against war, and change his name to Muhammad Ali. Among significant boxers in lower weights, were middleweights Emile Griffith, Nino Benvenuti and Dick Tiger, and lightweights Joe Brown, Carlos Ortiz and Ismael Laguna as also bantamweight Eder Jofre. The first world champions from Venezuela, Brazil and Thailand were crowned during the 1960s, and the WBA and WBC started competing against each other, after the WBA changed its name from the National Boxing Association in 1962 and a group split from the WBA in 1963 to form the WBC. A new division was created in the Jr. Middleweights, where a high school teacher, Freddie Little, was crowned world champion. Fights were seen on color television for the first time, and one of the most famous tragedies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Quarry
Jerry Quarry (May 15, 1945 – January 3, 1999), nicknamed "Irish" or "The Bellflower Bomber", was an American professional boxer. During the peak of his career from 1968 to 1971, Quarry was rated by ''The Ring'' magazine as the most popular fighter in the sport. His most famous bouts were against Muhammad Ali. Accumulated damage from lack of attention to defense against larger men at the top level, no head guard sparring, and attempted comebacks in 1977, 1983 and 1992 resulted in Quarry developing an unusually severe case of dementia pugilistica. Unable to perform everyday tasks, dependent on his family, and with the fortune he had earned frittered away, Quarry died at 53 years old. Boxing career Early life Quarry's family includes three other pro boxers (his father and two brothers). Jerry's father first put gloves on his son when Jerry was five years. Jerry fought first as a Junior Amateur, winning his first trophies at the age of eight. Later, he contracted nephritis, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don King (boxing Promoter)
Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing promoter, known for his involvement in several historic boxing matchups. He has been a controversial figure, partly due to a manslaughter conviction and civil cases against him, as well as allegations of dishonest business practices by numerous boxers. King's career highlights include, among multiple other enterprises, promoting "The Rumble in the Jungle" and the "Thrilla in Manila". King has promoted some of the most prominent names in boxing, including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Tomasz Adamek, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, Julio César Chávez, Ricardo Mayorga, Andrew Golota, Bernard Hopkins, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr., Azumah Nelson, Gerald McClellan, Marco Antonio Barrera, and Christy Martin. Some of these boxers sued him for allegedly defrauding them. Most of the lawsuits were settled out of court. Mike Tyson was quoted as saying, “He did more bad to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scott LeDoux
Alan Scott LeDoux, nicknamed "The Fighting Frenchman," (January 7, 1949 – August 11, 2011) was a politician, professional heavyweight boxer, professional wrestler, and referee. Career Boxing LeDoux began his professional boxing career in 1974. His first boxing match was a knockout victory over Arthur Pullens. LeDoux's final bout in 1983 was a technical knockout loss to Frank Bruno. LeDoux retired from the ring with a record of 33-13-4 (including 22 knockouts). LeDoux's opponents included Ken Norton, Ron Lyle, Gerrie Coetzee, Leon Spinks, Greg Page, Frank Bruno, George Foreman, Mike Weaver, and Larry Holmes. In his match with Leon Spinks, LeDoux earned a 'draw', just months before Spinks defeated Ali. He also knocked off broadcaster Howard Cosell's toupee in a scuffle that followed a losing effort with Johnny Boudreaux. LeDoux insisted the fight was fixed by Don King and he ranted to Cosell to "Tell it like it is" mimicking Cosell's famous catch phrase. A pushing m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Bugner
József Kreul Bugner (born 13 March 1950) is a Hungarian-born British- Australian former heavyweight boxer and actor. He holds triple nationality, being a citizen of Hungary and a naturalised citizen of both Australia and the United Kingdom. He unsuccessfully challenged Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight championship in 1975, losing by unanimous decision. As an actor, he is best known for his role in the 1994 action film ''Street Fighter'' alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia. Born in Szőreg, a southeastern suburb of Szeged in southern Hungary, Bugner and his family fled after the 1956 Soviet invasion and settled in Britain. Standing at with a prime weight of around , Bugner twice held the British and British Commonwealth heavyweight titles and was a three-time European heavyweight champion. He was ranked among the world's top ten heavyweights in the 1970s, fighting such opponents as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ron Lyle, Jimmy Ellis, Manuel Ramos, Chuck ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ron Lyle
Ronald David Lyle (February 12, 1941 – November 26, 2011) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1971 to 1980, and in 1995. He challenged unsuccessfully for the world heavyweight championship, losing to Muhammad Ali in 1975. Known for his punching power, crowd-pleasing fighting style, and his courage and determination in the ring, Lyle defeated Buster Mathis, Oscar Bonavena, Jimmy Ellis, Vicente Rondón, Earnie Shavers, Joe Bugner, and Scott LeDoux, but is best known for his fight against George Foreman in 1976, which was voted Fight of the Year by ''The Ring'' magazine. Early life Lyle was born the third of 19 children to William and Nellie Lyle of Dayton, Ohio. In 1954, they moved to Denver, Colorado, where his father got a job as a sandblaster at Buckley Air Force Base. Growing up in the housing projects on the city's northeast side, Lyle associated with street gangs and at 19, after dropping out of Manual High School, Lyle was involved in the shooti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Young (boxer)
Jimmy Young (November 14, 1948 – February 20, 2005) was an American heavyweight professional boxer. Young was known for his awkward, defensive style and counterpunching. He had his greatest success during the mid-1970s, most notably earning a victory over George Foreman in 1977 and losing a unanimous decision against Muhammad Ali in 1976. Young fought many significant fighters of his era, including twice outpointing Ron Lyle and losing only by a split decision to then-number one contender Ken Norton in a title eliminator in late 1977. A fellow boxer, Bobby Watts, was his cousin. Professional career Early fights An inexperienced Young was matched against contender Earnie Shavers in what was only his 11th professional fight. Shavers, who at that time had a 42–2 record dealt Young his first knockout loss. Young had tried trading blows and was caught early on by one of the division's hardest punchers who was well known for his overwhelming early attacks. After this defeat Young ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Tate (boxer)
John Tate (January 29, 1955 – April 9, 1998) was an American professional boxer, and held the WBA heavyweight championship from 1979 to 1980. As an amateur he won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 1976 Summer Olympics. Amateur career "Big John" Tate (named due to his height) captured a bronze medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, losing to Olympic boxing legend Teófilo Stevenson in a semifinal bout. 1976 Olympic results *Round of 16: Defeated Andrzej Biegalski (Poland) by decision, 5-0 *Quarterfinal: Defeated Peter Hussing (West Germany) by decision, 3-2 *Semifinal: Lost to Teófilo Stevenson (Cuba) KO round 1 (was awarded bronze medal) Tate lost in the finals of the 1975 National Golden Gloves to Emory Chapman. He lost in the quarterfinals the next year in a split decision to Michael Dokes. He avenged his loss to Dokes in the Olympic Trials by decision, and beat 1976 National AAU Champion Marvin Stinson to advance to the Olympic team. He also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
José Roman (boxer)
José "King" Roman (born December 17, 1946) is a Puerto Rican former boxer who was Puerto Rico's first world heavyweight championship challenger. He is known as "Joe King Roman." He holds notable victories over Manuel Ramos and ex-Light Heavyweight champion Vicente Rondon. Pro career In Roman's early career, he achieved mixed results. He defeated people like Jack O'Halloran and Chuck Wepner but lost to Jack Bodell. After the Bodell loss, Roman had a win-streak, defeating O'Halloran once again and besting Manuel Ramos. He lost to Robie Harris but put together a streak of wins before fighting George Foreman. Foreman Fight In late August 1973, he travelled to Tokyo, Japan to challenge world Heavyweight champion George Foreman, losing by a knockout in the first round there on September 1. Roman's corner protested that he was hit by Foreman while Roman was down, although no action was taken on this complaint. Even though he lost, he made history by becoming the first Puerto R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chuck Wepner
Charles Wepner (born February 26, 1939) is an American former professional boxer. He fell just nineteen seconds short of a full fifteen rounds against world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali in a 1975 championship fight. Wepner also scored notable wins over Randy Neumann and former world heavyweight champion Ernie Terrell. He was also the last man to fight former undisputed world heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. Wepner's boxing career, and fight with Ali, inspired the 1976 film ''Rocky'', and other life events were chronicled in the 2016 film, '' Chuck''. He was also the subject of the 2019 film '' The Brawler''. Early life Charles Wepner was born on February 26, 1939, in New York City. He is of German, Ukrainian, and Polish descent. Wepner learned to fight on the streets of Bayonne, New Jersey, saying, "This was a tough town with a lot of people from the docks and the naval base and you had to fight to survive". Wepner was about a year old when he moved in with his g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ron Stander
Ron Stander (October 17, 1944 – March 8, 2022) was an American professional boxer, who fought from 1969 to 1982. The highlight of Stander's pro career came on May 25, 1972 when he challenged for the world heavyweight championship in Omaha, Nebraska. Stander lost to champion Joe Frazier by fifth-round technical knockout when the ring doctor stopped the fight after the fourth round. Prior to his unsuccessful match versus Frazier, Stander had scored a fifth-round knockout victory over hard-punching Earnie Shavers in 1970, and a decision win over contender Thad Spencer in 1971. An award-winning documentary titled "The Bluffs Butcher," after his adopted hometown of Council Bluffs, Iowa, produced by journalism student Andrew Batt, was released in 2004. The documentary tells the story of Iowa's arguably best shot at a World Heavyweight Boxing Title and chronicled Stander's journey from virtual unknown to boxing's largest stage. Frazier-Stander Fight Stander was largely an unknown co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larry Holmes
Larry Holmes (born November 3, 1949) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002 and was world heavyweight champion from 1978 until 1985. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which led to his boxing nickname of the "Easton Assassin". Holmes' left jab is often rated among the best in heavyweight boxing history. In addition to holding the WBC heavyweight title from 1978 to 1983, Holmes held the '' Ring'' magazine and lineal heavyweight titles from 1980 to 1985 and the inaugural IBF heavyweight title from 1983 to 1985. Holmes won his first 48 professional bouts, including victories over Ken Norton (the man he defeated in 1978 for the WBC championship), Muhammad Ali, Earnie Shavers, Mike Weaver, Gerry Cooney, Tim Witherspoon, Carl Williams, and Marvis Frazier. Holmes fell one short of matching Rocky Marciano's career record of 49–0 when he lost to Michael Spinks in a 1985 upset. Holmes retired after losing a rematch to Spinks the following y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
