Jimmy Young (November 14, 1948 – February 20, 2005) was an American heavyweight

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 ...

. 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 George Edward Foreman (born January 10, 1949) is an American former professional boxer, entrepreneur, minister and author. In boxing, he was nicknamed "Big George" and competed between 1967 and 1997. He is a two-time world heavyweight champio ...

in 1977 and losing a unanimous decision against

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

in 1976. Young fought many significant fighters of his era, including twice outpointing

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. Kno ...

and losing only by a split decision to then-number one contender

Ken Norton Kenneth Howard Norton Sr. (August 9, 1943 – September 18, 2013) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1967 to 1981, and held the WBC world heavyweight championship in 1978. He is best known for his fights with Muhammad Ali, i ...

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 Earnie Dee Shaver (August 31, 1944 – September 1, 2022), best known as Earnie Shavers, was an American professional boxer who competed between 1969 and 1995. A two-time world heavyweight championship challenger, he is known as one of the harde ...

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 went undefeated for the next three years, including a win over contender

and a controversial draw in a re-match with Earnie Shavers with many observers scoring the bout for Young. The improved outcome for Young was largely due to improvements made to his defense since his last fight with the devastating hitter. Despite Young's inability to earn a victory over Shavers, it was still enough to earn him a title fight with the Heavyweight Champion of the World,

The Young–Ali fight

Young achieved widespread public recognition when he fought

at the Capital Center in

Landover, Maryland Landover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 25,998. Landover is contained between Sheriff Road and Central Avenue to the so ...

on April 30, 1976, for the world heavyweight title, although boxing circles had already noted his ability. Ali weighed in at 230 pounds, the highest for any of his fights up to that point (he would weigh 236.25 pounds in his fight against

Trevor Berbick Trevor Berbick (1 August 1954 – 28 October 2006) was a Jamaican professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 2000. He won the WBC heavyweight title in 1986 by defeating Pinklon Thomas, then lost it in his first defense in the same year to M ...

), and was consequently slow and immobile throughout the bout. Seven years younger and 21 pounds lighter, Young adopted a strategy of fighting aggressively from a distance, landing numerous light blows while dodging and parrying Ali's counterpunches, and using his body blows, which had little power behind them but were effective at scoring points. At close quarters, Young would turn passive. In addition to retreating whenever possible, Young often kept his head ducked very low in order to deter Ali from landing blows at his head and risk censure from the referee for " rabbit punching". On several occasions when Ali was inside and Young had his back to the ropes, Young intentionally put his head or upper body out of the ring beyond the ropes to compel the referee to step in and separate the fighters. As a novel boxing tactic this divided opinion between its being a way of neutralizing Ali's game, to its being seen as an unsportsmanlike way of causing tactical stoppages every time Ali possessed an advantage. At one point during the bout the referee did initiate a count due to Young's being outside the ropes. The fight went the full 15 rounds resulting in a controversial one-sided unanimous decision in favor of Ali. Referee Tom Kelly scored it 72–65; judges Larry Barrett and Terry Moore had it 70–68 and 71–64, respectively.

, (a rival of Ali) who was commentating at ringside, had the fight even on his own scorecard. Former ''Ring'' editor Lester Bromberg called the decision a "travesty". New York ''Daily News'' reporter Dick Young said: " li wonby the grace of three hero-worshipping fight officials. I believe many people, the voting officials among them, refuse to believe what they see when one of their super-heroes doesn't function as expected." After the match's televised broadcast, many viewers called to the network to complain about the decision, and Ali's career trainer

Angelo Dundee Angelo is an Italian masculine given name and surname meaning "angel", or "messenger". People People with the given name *Angelo Accattino (born 1966), Italian prelate of the Catholic Church *Angelo Acciaioli (bishop) (1298–1357), Italian Rom ...

went on record as saying this was Ali's "worst fight". After the match there were calls on Ali to retire from the sport from quarters of the sport's media.

Rematch with Lyle and then George Foreman

Young defeated Lyle in a November 1976 rematch by using clever defense and a fast offensive style. He was able to dominate the older fighter, with one judge's scorecard having Young winning 11 of 12 rounds. In March 1977, Young then fought

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

. Foreman was on a five bout win streak since losing the title to Muhammad Ali in "

The Rumble in the Jungle George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali, billed as ''The Rumble in the Jungle'', was a heavyweight championship boxing match on October 30, 1974, at the 20th of May Stadium (now the Stade Tata Raphaël) in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of t ...

", earning victories over top contenders Ron Lyle and

Joe Frazier Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011), nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. He was known for his strength, durability, formidable left hand, and relentless pressure fi ...

. The Young–Foreman fight was somewhat steady until the sixth round. The early rounds were punctuated by complaints from Young and his corner about the use of elbows by Foreman, who was punished by the referee with a point deduction. For the first half of the fight, Young used his somewhat unorthodox boxing skills and good defense to keep out of harm's way, while using his punching speed to counter. In the sixth round he became somewhat more aggressive himself and landed a number of clean punches on Foreman. Eleven seconds into the seventh round, Foreman caught Young with a left-handed body punch, and immediately followed with a powerful swinging left hand to the head. Young reeled and turned away and seemed about to go down, while Foreman tried to pursue his advantage, but somehow Young survived to the end of the round. In his after-match comments on TV, he described it as "desperation". After the near knockdown Young rallied, and landed a number of good punches of his own. As the fight progressed Foreman's eyes became puffy and his punches lost their menace. For the rest of the contest, Foreman continued to move forward, trying to cut off the ring and looking for the big knock out, while taking punches from the elusive Young. In the final round Young managed a knockdown over Foreman, and earned a unanimous win by 12-round decision. '' The Ring'' named the Young–Foreman bout its 1977 "

Fight of the Year Fight of the Year is an award given to the boxing match considered to be the best fight that year. It is awarded by a variety of different institutions. It may refer to: * ''The Ring'' magazine Fight of the Year – awarded by ''The Ring'' magazi ...

". Young joined Ali as one of only two men to beat Foreman before his first retirement in 1977.

The Young–Norton eliminator fight

Now the number two contender, Young's next fight was a mandatory world title eliminator against

, the number 1 contender. Young had won five straight since his loss to Ali. Young lost the Norton match that occurred in November 1977 at

Caesar's Palace Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio (resort), Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, Nevada, in a controversial split decision. Many observers watching in attendance felt Young should have been declared the winner. While Young boxed cleverly, drawing Norton onto sneak right hand punches, Norton himself pressed forward dangerously, always his best style. The two had sparred when Norton trained for his second Ali match. Norton had found shots thrown first to the head rarely landed so he used a heavy two-handed attack pounding away to the ribs, then lobbing powerful head shots. The fight was set at 15 rounds. Although this was unusual for a non-title match, the format was adopted due to the bout's importance as an eliminator. Due to the importance of the fight, which was later retro-designated as a WBC title match, a large crowd gathered to watch the bout including then world champion Muhammad Ali. Although the winner of the fight was supposed to go on to fight for the heavyweight championship,

Leon Spinks Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

, who had won the championship from Muhammad Ali in an upset win on February 15, 1978, chose a rematch against Ali instead of fighting Norton for the WBC title. As a result, Norton was awarded the WBC championship belt

Later career

Demoralised at having lost another close decision, Young went into a gradual downward spiral. In June 1978 poor conditioning, an increasing problem, led to Young being outpointed by prospect Ossie Ocasio. While better in a direct rematch, in January 1979, Ocasio again earned the win and went on to fight the world champion

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 "Eas ...

. Young won a short three-round brutal battle with unranked Wendell Bailey, showing flashes of old form. But in other matches of note Young fared poorly. He was stopped due to cuts by new heavyweight contender

Gerry Cooney Gerald Arthur Cooney (born August 24, 1956) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1990, and challenged twice for world heavyweight titles in 1982 and 1987 (for the WBC and lineal title in 1982 and 1987, and for the ...

after four rounds in a fight where he was dominated. He also lost on points to another rising prospect and future heavyweight champion

Michael Dokes Michael Marshall Dokes (August 10, 1958 – August 11, 2012) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 1997, and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1982 to 1983. As an amateur he won a silver medal in the heavyweight division ...

. In the 1979 match with Dokes Young was out of shape due to lack of training and weighed 229 lbs., nearly the heaviest he had weighed throughout his career and around 15 lbs. heavier than his ideal fighting weight. However Young was able to slim down for his fight against British champion John L. Gardner, occurring in December 1979. Young outpointed Gardner, knocking him down in the 10th round. The triumph over Gardner as well as wins against Marvin Stinson and Jeff Sims were probably his last notable wins. Starting in 1981 Young appeared to be making a comeback, winning five in a row, including a TKO over previously unbeaten Gordon Racette. In 1982 however, Young's comeback was cut short when he was defeated on points by future champion Greg Page. He became a "trial horse" for emerging contenders, dropping decisions to more future champions in

Tony Tucker Tony Craig Tucker (born December 27, 1958) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1998. He won the IBF heavyweight title in 1987, and was the shortest-reigning world heavyweight champion at just 64 days. In an inte ...

and

Tony Tubbs Tony Tubbs (born February 15, 1958) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2006, and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1985 to 1986. Amateur career As an amateur, Tony Tubbs competed in 253 bouts, compiling a reco ...

. He continued fighting with mixed results until 1988, when he retired at the age of 39.

Later life

After his boxing career, Young had financial, drug, and legal problems. During a court hearing on a drug possession charge, his Philadelphia public defender argued that Young had symptoms of chronic

traumatic brain injury A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity (ranging from mild traumatic brain injury TBI/concussionto severe traumatic b ...

due to his time in the ring. At a boxing celebrity event, ''The Ring'' noted that Young apparently needed to be helped about by his family. He was reported as being afflicted with

dementia pugilistica Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets worse o ...

in his last years.

Death

Young died at

Hahnemann University Hospital Hahnemann University Hospital was a tertiary care center in Center City Philadelphia. It was the teaching hospital of Drexel University College of Medicine. Established in 1885, it was for most of its history the main teaching hospital associate ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, at the age of 56 from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on February 20, 2005. He was interred at Mount Peace Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Publications

* ''Jimmy Young, Heavyweight Challenger'' (1979), a biography by E. Dolan and R. LyttlePub. Doubleday

Professional boxing record

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" , - ! !Result !Record !Opponent !Type !Round, time !Date !Location !Notes , - , 57 , Win , 35–19–2
, align=left, Carl Porter , TKO , 2 (6) , Sep 22, 1990 , align=left, , , - , 56 , Win , 34–19–2
, align=left, Frank Lux , TKO , 10 (10) , Aug 13, 1988 , align=left, , , - , 55 , Loss , 33–19–2
, align=left, Tim Anderson , SD , 10 , Jun 4, 1988 , align=left, , , - , 54 , Win , 33–18–2
, align=left, Rick Kellar , UD , 10 , Apr 9, 1988 , align=left, , , - , 53 , style="background:#ddd;", NC , 32–18–2
, align=left, Mike Jameson , NC , 2 (10) , Aug 9, 1987 , align=left, , align=left, , - , 52 , Loss , 32–18–2 , align=left, Eddie Richardson , SD , 10 , Jan 7, 1987 , align=left, , , - , 51 , Loss , 32–17–2 , align=left, Chuck Gardner , PTS , 8 , Oct 15, 1986 , align=left, , , - , 50 , Win , 32–16–2 , align=left, Rocky Sekorski , MD , 10 , Mar 12, 1986 , align=left, , , - , 49 , Win , 31–16–2 , align=left, Rocky Sekorski , UD , 10 , Jan 20, 1986 , align=left, , , - , 48 , Loss , 30–16–2 , align=left, Tony Fulilangi , PTS , 10 , Nov 1, 1985 , align=left, , , - , 47 , Loss , 30–15–2 , align=left,

, UD , 10 , Sep 22, 1984 , align=left, , , - , 46 , Loss , 30–14–2 , align=left,

, UD , 10 , Apr 10, 1983 , align=left, , , - , 45 , Loss , 30–13–2 , align=left, Philipp Brown , PTS , 10 , Aug 29, 1982 , align=left, , , - , 44 , Loss , 30–12–2 , align=left, Pat Cuillo , PTS , 10 , Jul 13, 1982 , align=left, , , - , 43 , Loss , 30–11–2 , align=left, Greg Page , UD , 12 , May 2, 1982 , align=left, , align=left, , - , 42 , Win , 30–10–2 , align=left, Tommy Thomas , UD , 10 , Nov 6, 1981 , align=left, , , - , 41 , Win , 29–10–2 , align=left, Tom Fischer , PTS , 10 , Sep 26, 1981 , align=left, , , - , 40 , Win , 28–10–2 , align=left, Jeff Sims , SD , 10 , Jul 10, 1981 , align=left, , , - , 39 , Win , 27–10–2 , align=left, Marvin Stinson , UD , 10 , Jun 30, 1981 , align=left, , , - , 38 , Win , 26–10–2 , align=left, Gordon Racette , TKO , 10 (10) , Apr 10, 1981 , align=left, , , - , 37 , Loss , 25–10–2 , align=left,

, RTD , 4 (10) , May 25, 1980 , align=left, , , - , 36 , Win , 25-9-2 , align=left, Don Halpin , TKO , 2 (10) , Mar 8, 1980 , align=left, , , - , 35 , Win , 24–9–2 , align=left, John L.Gardner , PTS , 10 , Dec 4, 1979 , align=left, , , - , 34 , Loss , 23–9–2 , align=left,

, UD , 10 , Sep 28, 1979 , align=left, , , - , 33 , Win , 23–8–2 , align=left, Wendell Bailey , TKO , 3 (10) , Jun 22, 1979 , align=left, , , - , 32 , Loss , 22–8–2 , align=left, Ossie Ocasio , UD , 10 , Jan 27, 1979 , align=left, , , - , 31 , Loss , 22–7–2 , align=left, Ossie Ocasio , SD , 10 , Jun 9, 1978 , align=left, , , - , 30 , Loss , 22–6–2 , align=left,

, SD , 15 , Nov 5, 1977 , align=left, , , - , 29 , Win , 22–5–2 , align=left, Jody Ballard , UD , 10 , Sep 14, 1977 , align=left, , , - , 28 , Win , 21–5–2 , align=left,

, UD , 12 , Mar 17, 1977 , align=left, , , - , 27 , Win , 20–5–2 , align=left,

, UD , 12 , Nov 16, 1976 , align=left, , , - , 26 , Win , 19–5–2 , align=left, Mike Boswell , TKO , 4 (10) , Sep 12, 1976 , align=left, , , - , 25 , Win , 18–5–2 , align=left, Lou Rogan , TKO , 2 (10) , Sep 2, 1976 , align=left, , , - , 24 , Loss , 17–5–2 , align=left,

, UD , 15 , Apr 30, 1976 , align=left, , align=left, , - , 23 , Win , 17–4–2 , align=left, Jose Roman , PTS , 10 , Feb 20, 1976 , align=left, , , - , 22 , Win , 16–4–2 , align=left, Memphis Al Jones , TKO , 2 (10) , Nov 12, 1975 , align=left, , , - , 21 , Win , 15–4–2 , align=left, Bobby Lloyd , KO , 5 (10) , Aug 26, 1975 , align=left, , , - , 20 , Win , 14–4–2 , align=left,

, UD , 10 , Feb 12, 1975 , align=left, , , - , 19 , style="background:#abcdef;", Draw , 13–4–2 , align=left,

, PTS , 10 , Nov 26, 1974 , align=left, , , - , 18 , Win , 13–4–1 , align=left, Jose Luis Garcia , PTS , 10 , Jul 6, 1974 , align=left, , , - , 17 , Win , 12–4–1 , align=left, Les Stevens , PTS , 10 , Jan 22, 1974 , align=left, , , - , 16 , Win , 11–4–1 , align=left, John Jordan , UD , 6 , Mar 4, 1974 , align=left, , , - , 15 , Win , 10–4–1 , align=left, Richard Dunn , TKO , 8 (10) , Feb 18, 1974 , align=left, , , - , 14 , style="background:#abcdef;", Draw , 9–4–1 , align=left, Billy Aird , PTS , 8 , Oct 23, 1973 , align=left, , , - , 13 , Win , 9–4 , align=left, Mike Boswell , PTS , 6 , Aug 14, 1973 , align=left, , , - , 12 , Win , 8–4 , align=left, Obie English , PTS , 6 , Apr 23, 1973 , align=left, , , - , 11 , Loss , 7–4 , align=left,

, TKO , 3 (10) , Feb 19, 1973 , align=left, , , - , 10 , Loss , 7–3 , align=left,

Randy Neumann Randolph Neumann (born July 21, 1948), raised in Cliffside Park, New Jersey,Randy Neumann
, New Jersey Boxing ...

, PTS , 10 , Mar 10, 1972 , align=left, , , - , 9 , Win , 7–2 , align=left, Jasper Evans , PTS , 6 , Feb 12, 1972 , align=left, , , - , 8 , Win , 6–2 , align=left, Lou Hicks , PTS , 8 , Oct 26, 1971 , align=left, , , - , 7 , Win , 5–2 , align=left, Andy Geiger , KO , 1 (6) , Sep 27, 1971 , align=left, , , - , 6 , Loss , 4–2 , align=left, Roy Williams , PTS , 4 , Feb 22, 1971 , align=left, , , - , 5 , Win , 4–1 , align=left, Howard Darlington , PTS , 6 , Nov 24, 1970 , align=left, , , - , 4 , Win , 3–1 , align=left, Jimmy Gilmore , PTS , 4 , Jun 22, 1970 , align=left, , , - , 3 , Loss , 2–1 , align=left, Clay Hodges , UD , 6 , Apr 3, 1970 , align=left, , , - , 2 , Win , 2–0 , align=left, Johnny Gause , PTS , 6 , Dec 9, 1969 , align=left, , , - , 1 , Win , 1–0 , align=left, Jim Jones , TKO , 1 (4) , Oct 28, 1969 , align=left, , , -

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Jimmy 1948 births 2005 deaths Boxers from Philadelphia American male boxers Burials at Mount Peace Cemetery Heavyweight boxers Sportspeople with chronic traumatic encephalopathy