Jimmy Young: the greatest underachiever in hw history?

[BoztheMadman]

Jimmy Young is the very definition of the word underachiever. Though he had more than enough talent to become a world champion, he never did, but not due to his own fault. He was robbed in both of his title fights, most notably against Muhammad Ali. He however still beat several outstanding heavyweights, most notably Big George Foreman. Unfortunately, he didn't know when to quit and fought too long past his prime, ending up with 19 losses. He was also considered to be erratic in his performances, which is another reason why he lost so many fights.

 

Jimmy Young was born on 16 November 1948 in Philadelphia. He started boxing professionally in October 1969. Standing 6'2 he was a pretty standard-sized heavyweight of that time and had very fast hands as well as outstanding boxing skills but was not a very hard puncher. He had a rocky start, losing 3 of his first 10 fights, all on points. In 1973 he experienced his first loss by knockout when he faced Earnie Shavers and was stopped in 3 rounds in Spectrum, Philadelphia. Things picked up from there and in 1974 he faced the Venezuelan puncher Jose Luis Garcia, who had previously stopped Ken Norton and decisioned him in front of his own crowd in Caracas, Venezuela. Later that year he had a rematch against Shavers and was down in the 4th round but this time he weathered the storm and came back strong in the next round, hurting Shavers and dominating the rest of the 10-round fight, but somehow it was only enough for a draw. Most of the people present agreed that Young should have been awarded the decision. In his next fight he decisioned the 30-1 puncher Ron Lyle and then the former-George Foreman challenger Jose Roman before landing a shot at the world title against Muhammad Ali on 30 April 1976. Young ducked outside the ring ropes six times when he got pressed by Ali and the last time the referee scored it a knockdown. Otherwise, after a strong Ali start in the first four rounds, Young began outboxing him and making him miss. He closed strongly in the last three rounds but still the decision went to the champion and with mostly lopsided scores, drawing boos from the crowd. Ali made an excuse for his poor performance by saying he had eaten too much icecream and pies before the fight and not being in shape. Young would never get a rematch, for Ali knew deep down inside that, at 34 years of age, he couldn't do any better.

 

In November Young again faced Lyle and this time the fight went 12 rounds and Young won with a lopsided score, two of the judges giving him 11 rounds. The crude Lyle was simply outclassed by the brilliant boxer from Philadelphia. Then his shining moment came on 17 March 1977 in San Juan, Puerto Rico: Young took on George Foreman at Coliseo San Clemente. Despite getting hurt badly by a Foreman left hook in the 7th, Young went on to become the third and the last man to knock Foreman down in the 12th and the last round, punctuating a brilliant performance where he outboxed Foreman clearly, especially in the second half. Foreman used some dirty tactics, pushing and hitting on a break and almost breaking Young's left arm in one of the clinches, which cost him a point. Young stated about that left hook he took in the 7th: "George didn't know it, but while I may have been standing, I was out cold. He could have pushed me over with his little finger. How I survived that round I don't know". All this made his performance even more impressive. Young won with the scores of 118-111, 116-112 and 115-114. It would be Foreman's last fight until his comeback ten years later.

 

On 5th November that year, he fought Ken Norton in an eliminator for the WBC title: Norton staggered Young with a body-head combination in the third round and kept coming at him for the first nine rounds but Young also kept coming back with punches of his own and then became more agressive, taking command for the next five rounds. In round 14, Ali who was seated in the front row, leaped to his feet and shouted "I don't want to fight Norton again. Beat him Young, beat him!" Before the start of round 15, Norton's trainer told him he needed to win that round. Norton came out aggressively and won the last round. The judge Raymond Balderou scored six rounds even and the judge Jim Rondeau called five even. In the end, both gave it to Norton with the score of 147-143 while the judge Art Lurie gave it to Young with 144-142. The unofficial Associated Press card read 143-142 for Norton. Still, many in the audience and many who have scored the fight since gave it to Young.

 

Next, he had two fights against the future IBF cruiserweight champion, the up and coming Ossie Ocasio of Puerto Rico and lost both on points, due to poor conditioning. Then he stopped Wendell Bailey by TKO 3 and then faced a young Michael Dokes and lost to him by a 10 round decision. He then went to England to outpoint the British and Commonwealth champion John Lewis Gardner in another 10-rounder. In 1980 he faced the gigantic puncher Gerry Cooney and though he fared better than Ken Norton, he was stopped after four rounds due to a bad cut over his left eye. The match was even before that. In his next fight he surprised by stopping the 25-0 Gordon Racette in 10 rounds and in 1981 he beat the puncher Jeff Sims by a split decision. That year he was named the comeback fighter of the year by The Ring. In 1982 he faced the great amateur Greg Page and lost to him by a rather close 12-round decision. Young's prime was now over and after losing his next five fights, to Tony Tubbs and Tony Tucker among others, he beat Rocky Sekorski twice on points but lost 3 more fights before retiring finally in 1988 at almost 40. His record was 34(11)-19-2. After his boxing career, he had legal, financial and drug problems. He died in on 20 February 2005 from heart attack, aged 56. In 1998, he was named the 37th best heavyweight of all time by The Ring magazine. He has not been inducted into either world or international boxing hall of fame yet.

Edited August 18, 2014 by BoztheMadman

[robsnell]

Re: Jimmy Young: the greatest underachiever in hw history?

 

another very well written article, I think you are very skilled

[BoztheMadman]

Re: Jimmy Young: the greatest underachiever in hw history?

 

another very well written article, I think you are very skilled

Thank you very much.

[selij]

Re: Jimmy Young: the greatest underachiever in hw history?

 

Didnt know he ever did any boxing......................

 

http://radiosoundsfamiliar.com/resources/Radio_Luxembourg/jimmy%20young.jpg

[Claus Holmen]

Re: Jimmy Young: the greatest underachiever in hw history?

 

Thanks for the article. He was an underachiever. So close to becoming a sensational world heavyweight champion. Sure, he won but lost the decision. Ali hardly hit him with one clean punch. But his negative approach lost him the fight.