RSSJimmy Ellis
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Jimmy Ellis
It’s too bad that the cruiserweight division was not around in the 60’s and 70’s. Many fine boxers scaled under 190 pounds and gave creditable performances against bigger men. Doug Jones is an example as he came close to upsetting Cassius Clay in 1963. Doug had lost in 1962 to Harold Johnson for the light heavyweight title. In 1965, he lost to Ernie Terrell for WBA Heavyweight crown. Back then there was no middle ground. If you weighed over
175 pounds, you fought heavyweights, period.
Bob Foster, who was one of the greatest light heavyweights of all time, had trouble moving up to heavyweight. Jones, Terrell, and Zora Foley soundly beat him in heavyweight bouts. After winning the light heavyweight crown in 1968, he failed in attempts to beat Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali. How would he have fared at 190 pounds?
I’m sure if you took all the top boxers who weighed between 175 pounds and 190 pounds since 1960; most experts would rate Holyfield number one. How would a 190-pound Holyfield have coped with Floyd Patterson’s hand speed?