Jimmy Young (boxer)

Jimmy Young (November 14, 1948 – February 20, 2005) was an American professional boxer who had his greatest success at heavyweight during the mid 1970s, most notably when he beat George Foreman in 1977 and lost the year beforehand a disputed 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.

Professional career

Early fights

Inexperienced in only his 11th professional fight, Young was matched against contender Earnie Shavers, who had a 42-2 record at the time and suffered his first KO loss. Young had tried trading blows and was caught early on by one of the division's hardest punchers.^[1] Shavers was infamous for his overwhelming early attacks. They would fight again, however.

After this Young learnt fast and went undefeated for three years which included a win over contender Ron Lyle and a controversial draw in a re-match with Earnie Shavers (many observers scored the bout for Young).^[2] It would not be the last time Young lost a decision in a big fight. He had worked better on defense against this known devastating hitter. It was still enough to earn him a title fight with Heavyweight Champion of the World Muhammad Ali.

The Young–Ali fight

Young made his name globally and with the public when he fought Muhammad Ali in Landover, Maryland in April 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), 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. He retreated whenever possible, and often kept his head ducked very low to avoid serious blows when Ali would fight from the inside.

On several occasions when Ali was inside and Young had his back to the ropes, Young would intentionally put his head or upper body out of the ring to compel the referee to separate the fighters. To some, Young's was a brilliant strategy of neutralizing his opponent's strengths and forcing the bout to be fought on his own terms, exposing Ali's inability to fight a counterpuncher. To others, it seemed cowardly as he forced a stoppage to the fight every time Ali held the advantage.

The referee did at one point during the fight initiate a count due to Jimmy Young being outside the ropes. The fight went the full 15 rounds with a controversial one-sided unanimous decision going to Ali. Referee Tom Kelly scored it 72-65; judges Larry Barrett and Terry Moore had it 70-68 and 71-64, respectively.^[3]

Ken Norton (a rival of Ali) who was commentating at ringside had the fight even on his own scorecard. Lester Bromberg (former Ring magazine editor) called the decision a "travesty". New York Daily News reporter Dick Young said: "[Ali won] by 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." As the fight was televised, many viewers called to the network to complain about the decision. Even Ali's ever loyal trainer Angelo Dundee went on record as saying this was the champion's "worst fight". Afterwards, many started calling on Ali to retire.^[4] Some claimed that Young's performance should have earned him a rematch. The WBC for one agreed this and set about organising it in 1977 as below.

Rematch Lyle and then George Foreman

In November 1976 Young in a rematch again clearly beat heralded contender Ron Lyle by using clever defense and fast offensive styles. On one judge's card winning 11 of all 12 rounds.

In March 1977, Young then fought George Foreman in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Foreman was on his own 5-0-0 comeback after losing the title to Muhammad Ali in "The Rumble in the Jungle", including victories over top contenders Ron Lyle and Joe Frazier.

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, which was punished by the referee by a point deduction. For the first half of the fight, Young used his somewhat unorthodox boxing skills and good defense to keep out of harms 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.^[5] 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'. But Young rallied, and landed a number of good punches of his own, as 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. Finally Young even managed a knockdown over Foreman in the last round, and earned a unanimous win by 12-round decision. The Ring named the Young-Foreman bout its 1977 "Fight of the Year". Jimmy Young joined Ali in being the only two men to ever beat a peak George Foreman in over 40 contests.

The Young–Norton eliminator fight

Now the number 2 contender, Young's next opponent in November 1977 was in a big mandatory world title eliminator against Ken Norton the number 1 contender – Jimmy had won five straight since his loss to Ali, including another clear unanimous decision over Ron Lyle.

Young lost the Norton match on a controversial split decision in which many observers watching in attendance felt Young should have been declared the winner in a clever fight from both boxers in Las Vegas. While Young boxed, cleverly drawing Norton onto useful sneak right hands, Norton himself pressed forward dangerously, always his best style, using a heavy two-handed attack pounding away to the ribs, then lobbing wicked head shots. The two had sparred when Ken trained for his second Ali match,^[6] and Norton had found shots thrown first to the head rarely landed so this gave him the tactic's idea.^[7] The fight was set at 15 rounds, unheard of for a non-title match but it was due to its importance as an eliminator (and later retro-designated as a WBC title match). It attracted big money and Ali himself was ringside. The winner of the fight, Norton, was later awarded the WBC championship belt as the mandatory title defence didn't materialise when Leon Spinks (who had taken the title from Ali in an upset win on February 15, 1978) chose a rematch against Ali instead of fighting Norton for the WBC-title.

The slide; Ocasio twice

Demoralised at having lost another close decision, Young went on a gradual downward spiral. In June 1978 You're only as good as your last fight, boxing's old saying seemed to apply. Poor conditioning, an increasing problem, let him be outpointed by prospect Ossie Ocasio. Whilst better in a direct rematch, early 1979, Ocasio again showing talent edged the win and went on to fight the world champion Larry Holmes.

Later career

He won a short 3 round brutal battle with unranked Wendell Bailey, flashes of old form. But other matches of note; Young was stopped 'on cuts' to new heavyweight contender Gerry Cooney after 4 rounds in an about evens match. He'd also lost on points to another rising prospect and future heavyweight champion Michael Dokes. In the 1979 Dokes match Young had scaled 229 lbs,around 15lbs overweight, it was a near career heaviest and he was simply way out of shape untrained.

But slimmed down again he later in the same year December 1979 outpointed British champion John L. Gardner effectively, even decking Gardiner in the 10th. That and the Marvin Stinson and Jeff Sims matches were probably his last notable wins.

Biography

Young's biography was published in 1979, Jimmy Young, Heavyweight Challenger by Edward Dolan and Richard Lyttle, Doubleday pub, ISBN 0-385-14097-5.

Comeback chance

Young began a comeback, going 5-0-0 including a TKO over previously unbeaten Gordon Racette. In 1982, 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 and Tony Tubbs. He continued fighting with mixed results until 1988.

Later years and death

After his boxing career, Young had financial, drug, and legal problems. During a court hearing on a drug possession charge, it was argued by his Philadelphia public defender that Young had symptoms of chronic traumatic brain injury (due to the sport).^[8] At a boxing celebrity event, Ring magazine noted Young was helped about by family.

Young died on February 20, 2005 of a heart attack, after six days in the hospital, aged only 56.

Professional boxing record

34 Wins (11 knockouts), 19 Losses, 2 Draws, 1 No Contest [9]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Win	34-19-2 1 NC	Frank Lux	TKO	10 (10)	13/08/1988	Saint Joseph, Missouri
Loss	33-19-2 1 NC	Tim Anderson	SD	10	04/06/1988	Lee County Civic Center, Fort Myers, Florida
Win	33-18-2 1 NC	Rick Kellar	UD	10	09/04/1988	Joplin, Missouri
NC	32-18-2 1 NC	Mike Jameson	NC	2 (?)	09/08/1987	São Paulo, Brazil	Referee decreed both fighters "faking".
Loss	32-18-2	Eddie Richardson	SD	10	07/01/1987	Community Center, Tucson, Arizona
Loss	32-17-2	Chuck Gardner	PTS	8	15/10/1986	Hamel, Minnesota
Win	32-16-2	Rocky Sekorski	MD	10	12/03/1986	Metropolitan Sports Center, Bloomington, Minnesota
Win	31-16-2	Rocky Sekorski	UD	10	20/01/1986	Marshall, Minnesota
Loss	30-16-2	Tony Fulilangi	PTS	10	01/11/1985	Phoenix, Arizona
Loss	30-15-2	Tony Tucker	UD	10	22/09/1984	Gerald R Ford Fieldhouse, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Loss	30-14-2	Tony Tubbs	UD	10	10/04/1983	Hilton Hotel, Pittsburgh
Loss	30-13-2	Philipp Brown	PTS	10	29/08/1982	Lake Charles, Louisiana
Loss	30-12-2	Pat Cuillo	PTS	10	13/07/1982	Tropicana Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Loss	30-11-2	Greg Page	UD	12	02/05/1982	Playboy Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey	For USBA heavyweight title.
Win	30-10-2	Tommy Thomas	UD	10	06/11/1981	Civic Arena, Pittsburgh
Win	29-10-2	Tom Fischer	PTS	10	26/09/1981	Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
Win	28-10-2	Jeff Sims	SD	10	10/07/1981	Auditorium, West Palm Beach, Florida
Win	27-10-2	Marvin Stinson	UD	10	30/06/1981	Sands Casino Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Win	26-10-2	Gordon Racette	TKO	10 (10)	10/04/1981	Frank Crane Arena, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
Loss	25-10-2	Gerry Cooney	TKO	4 (10)	25/05/1980	Convention Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey	A cut over Young's left eye, led to a stoppage at the end of 4th round.
Win	25-9-2	Don Halpin	TKO	2 (?)	08/03/1980	Great Gorge Resort, McAfee, New Jersey
Win	24-9-2	John Lewis Gardner	PTS	10	04/12/1979	Empire Pool, Wembley, London, England
Loss	23-9-2	Michael Dokes	UD	10	28/09/1979	Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
Win	23-8-2	Wendell Bailey	TKO	3 (10)	22/06/1979	Madison Square Garden, New York	Bailey was down once in the 3rd round.
Loss	22-8-2	Ossie Ocasio	UD	10	27/01/1979	Roberto Clemente Coliseum, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Loss	22-7-2	Ossie Ocasio	SD	10	09/06/1978	Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
Loss	22-6-2	Ken Norton	SD	15	05/11/1977	Caesars Palace, Las Vegas	WBC Heavyweight Title Eliminator. Shortly after this fight, Norton was awarded the WBC title as Leon Spinks chose to defend against Muhammad Ali instead of Norton, who was their #1 contender.
Win	22-5-2	Jody Ballard	UD	10	14/09/1977	Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
Win	21-5-2	George Foreman	UD	12	17/03/1977	Roberto Clemente Coliseum, San Juan, Puerto Rico	1977 Fight of the Year by The Ring magazine. Foreman was knocked down in round 12. After the loss Foreman left boxing for 10 years.
Win	20-5-2	Ron Lyle	UD	12	16/11/1976	Civic Auditorium, San Francisco
Win	19-5-2	Mike Boswell	TKO	4 (10)	11/09/1976	Utica Memorial Auditorium, Utica, New York
Win	18-5-2	Lou Rogan	TKO	2 (10)	02/09/1976	Arena, Philadelphia
Loss	17-5-2	Muhammad Ali	UD	15	30/04/1976	Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland	For WBC & WBA World heavyweight titles
Win	17-4-2	Jose Roman	PTS	10	20/02/1976	Roberto Clemente Coliseum, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico
Win	16-4-2	Memphis Al Jones	TKO	2 (10)	11/11/1975	Arena, Philadelphia
Win	15-4-2	Bobby Lloyd	KO	5 (10)	16/08/1975	Catholic Youth Center, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Win	14-4-2	Ron Lyle	UD	10	11/02/1975	International Center Arena, Honolulu
Draw	13-4-2	Earnie Shavers	PTS	10	26/11/1974	Capitol Center, Landover, Maryland
Win	13-4-1	Jose Luis Garcia	PTS	10	06/07/1974	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	12-4-1	Les Stevens	PTS	10	22/01/1974	World SC, Grosvenor House, Mayfair, London, England
Win	11-4-1	John Jordan	UD	6	04/03/1974	Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland
Win	10-4-1	Richard Dunn	TKO	8 (10)	18/02/1974	World Sporting Club, Mayfair, London, England
Draw	9-4-1	Billy Aird	PTS	8	22/10/1973	World Sporting Club, Mayfair, London, England
Win	9–4	Mike Boswell	PTS	6	14/08/1973	Convention Hall, Philadelphia
Win	8–4	Obie English	PTS	6	23/04/1973	Arena, Philadelphia
Loss	7–4	Earnie Shavers	TKO	1 (10)	19/02/1973	Spectrum, Philadelphia
Loss	7–3	Randy Neumann	PTS	10	10/03/1972	Madison Square Garden, New York
Win	7–2	Jasper Evans	PTS	6	11/02/1972	Madison Square Garden, New York
Win	6–2	Lou Hicks	PTS	8	26/10/1971	Blue Horizon, Philadelphia
Win	5–2	Andy Geiger	KO	1 (?)	27/09/1971	Blue Horizon, Philadelphia
Loss	4–2	Roy Williams	PTS	4	22/02/1971	Blue Horizon, Philadelphia
Win	4–1	Howard Darlington	PTS	6	24/11/1970	Blue Horizon, Philadelphia
Win	3–1	Jimmy Gilmore	PTS	4	22/06/1970	San Diego
Loss	2–1	Clay Hodges	UD	6	03/04/1970	Coliseum, San Diego
Win	2–0	Johnny Gause	PTS	6	09/12/1969	Blue Horizon, Philadelphia
Win	1–0	Jim Jones	KO	1 (4)	28/10/1969	Blue Horizon, Philadelphia

References

External links

• Professional boxing record for Jimmy Young from BoxRec
• Jimmy Young at Find a Grave