Lawrence Gene Fullmer (July 21, 1931 – April 27, 2015) was an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

and World

Middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

champion.

Professional career

Fullmer began his professional career in 1951 and won his first 29 fights, 19 by knockout. His manager during many years of his career was his mentor, Marv Jenson, who encouraged many youth in

West Jordan, Utah West Jordan is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is a suburb of Salt Lake City and has a mixed economy. According to the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 116,961, placing it as the third most populous in the state. T ...

, to enter boxing as amateurs.

Middleweight champion

Fullmer won the world middleweight championship on January 2, 1957, when he upset the legendary

Sugar Ray Robinson Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regarded ...

by soundly winning a unanimous 15-round decision. On May 1, 1957 they fought a rematch. The fight began as expected, with Fullmer using his strength and awkwardness to bull into Robinson and really force him onto his heels. In the fifth round Robinson, while backing up, lashed out with what has been called the perfect left hook. It caught Fullmer flush on the chin and knocked him out. In 1959, the

National Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...

withdrew its recognition of Robinson as middleweight champion. Fullmer and fellow former middleweight champion

Carmen Basilio Carmen Basilio (born Carmine Basilio, April 2, 1927 – November 7, 2012) was an American professional boxer who was the world champion in both the welterweight and middleweight divisions, beating Sugar Ray Robinson for the latter title. An iro ...

fought for the vacant NBA title on August 28, 1959, and Fullmer won the crown when he TKOed Basilio in the 14th round. Meanwhile, Robinson was to lose his version of the middleweight championship to

Paul Pender Paul Pender (June 20, 1930 – January 12, 2003), was an American boxer and firefighter from Massachusetts who held the World Middleweight Championship. Early life Pender was born in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Wi ...

. Fullmer and Pender never met to settle their claims to the middleweight title, and Pender eventually retired. Meanwhile, Fullmer fought and turned back the challenges of many top contenders, such as Basilio, Ellsworth "Spider" Webb, Florentino Fernández, and

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

champion Benny "Kid" Paret. He narrowly escaped being dethroned when he was held to 15-round draws by Robinson and future titleholder

Joey Giardello Carmine Orlando Tilelli (July 16, 1930 – September 4, 2008) was an American boxer who was the world middleweight champion from 1963 to 1965,. He adopted the name Joey Giardello (the name of a cousin's friend) in order to join the U.S. Army whil ...

. The draw against Robinson was widely criticised by almost every ringside observer, who had Robinson winning 11-4 or 10-5 in rounds. In their final meeting, a title bout in 1961, Fullmer beat Robinson by unanimous decision.

Losing the title

Fullmer finally lost the middleweight title to

Dick Tiger Dick Tiger (born Richard Ihetu; August 14, 1929 – December 14, 1971) was a Nigerian-born professional boxer who held the undisputed middleweight and light-heavyweight championships. Tiger emigrated to Liverpool, England to pursue his b ...

on October 23, 1962 in a unanimous decision. They fought a rematch on February 23, 1963, which resulted in a draw. Fullmer's attempts to regain the middleweight crown finally ended when he was TKOed in seven rounds by Tiger on August 10, 1963. Fullmer's final record included 55 wins (24 by KO), 6 losses, and 3 draws.

Professional boxing record

Personal life

Fullmer graduated from Jordan High School and worked at

Kennecott Copper Mine The Bingham Canyon Mine, more commonly known as Kennecott Copper Mine among locals, is an open-pit mining operation extracting a large porphyry copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, in the Oquirrh Mountains. The mine is the largest m ...

for several years, he also served in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. He married Dolores Holt on October 13, 1955 in the

Salt Lake Temple The Salt Lake Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At , it is the largest Latter-day Saint temple by floor area. Dedicated in 1893, it is the sixth temple ...

. They raised 2 daughters and 2 sons. Fullmer had two younger brothers who boxed:

Don Fullmer Don Fullmer (February 21, 1939 – January 28, 2012) was an American professional boxer and a brother of the former world middleweight champion Gene Fullmer. Eight years younger than his more famous brother, Don followed Gene into the gym in Wes ...

(February 21, 1939 - January 28, 2012), who twice challenged for the World Middleweight Title, and Jay Fullmer (March 9, 1937 - April 22, 2015), who boxed as a lightweight. Fullmer was a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church), and his living the tenets of his religion, especially the

Word of Wisdom The "Word of Wisdom" is the common name of an 1833 section of the Doctrine and Covenants, a book considered by many churches within the Latter Day Saint movement to be a sacred text. The section defines beliefs regarding certain drugs, nutritious ...

, was heavily covered in the press. It was also frequently mentioned that he was a father and that he paid

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...

on his boxing winnings. Fullmer appeared in a cameo role in the 1968 film '' The Devil's Brigade'' as a Montana bartender. Fullmer is featured on the cover of the album ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

'' by

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...

. On January 21, 1962, Fullmer appeared on

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

but not as a mystery guest. His line was that he was a

mink Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...

rancher. His fight with

appears prominently in the music video for the

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

song 'American Valhalla'. On April 27, 2015, five days after younger brother Jay's death, Gene died at the age of 83 in his home surrounded by friends and family.

Filmography

*'' The Devil's Brigade'' (1968) - The Bartender

References

External links

History of Gene Fullmer and Marvin Jensen
West Jordan History Pages
Biography and Fight-by-Fight Record
International Boxing Hall of Fame
Fullmer Brothers Boxing website

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fullmer, Gene 1931 births 2015 deaths Middleweight boxers International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Boxers from Utah People from West Jordan, Utah Latter Day Saints from Utah American male boxers