Heavyweights Universe. From 60's and forward.

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New fighters debuting in 1971:

Ron Lyle
Sam N'Gata
Mike Schutte, first real african fighter.
Fonomaru Sekona
Reno Zurik, first australian fighter

[Gunsmoke]

What happened to Thad Spencer?

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Thad Spencer retired in April 1968 with a record of 36-10-2 (18), he was never in the top 10..

[mikehoudini]

Originally Posted by aaaaaaaaa

Is he a 1 or 0 in 2.5?

Mel is a 0, but thank God there are many others who are as well!

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1971 awards


Fighter of the year nominees:

Muhammad Ali 3-0-0 (2)

Muhammad Ali started of the year by beating his mandatory WBA and WBC challenger Oscar Bonavena by a TKO 15. Then he went on to outbox Henry Clark to win a UD 15. Then he took his WBO mandatory challenger Buster Mathis and stopped him impressively in five.

Results: TKO 15 win against Oscar Bonavena, UD 15 win against Henry Clark and KO 5 win against Buster Mathis.

Full record: 42-1-0 (34)

Leotis Martin 2-0-0 (1)

Leotis Martin won the NABF title and became IBF mandatory challenger by defeating Buster Mathis in a close UD 15. That got him a title shot against frightening Joe Frazier who was IBF champion at the time. He upset the world by stopping him in the 6th round after a true fighters effort. Even when he got pounded he fought back and it at times was a fight that looked like one could get killed. But when he landed terryfying punches against a defenseless Joe Frazier the fight was stopped.

Results: UD 15 win against Buster Mathis and TKO 6 win against Joe Frazier.

Full record: 31-7-1 (18)

Al Jones 3-0-0

Al Jones starting out the year by winning an UD 10 against up and coming Billy Walker. Then moved on to win a close split decision against Mac Foster. He ended the year by impressively and clearly beating former IBF champ Jerry Quarry for the NABF title over 12 rounds.

Results: UD 10 win against Billy Walker, SD 10 win against Mac Foster and MD 12 win against Jerry Quarry

Full record: 27-3-0 (5)

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Prospect of the year nominees:

George Foreman 8-0-0 (8)

George had an impressive year with a very high level of activity as he had impressive wins against Roger Russell, Bobby Halpern, Jack Bodell and Billy Walker to put on his resume. Most impressive might have been his 1st round stoppage of Billy Walker who at the time were 36-8-1 (30).

Results:
TKO 2 Heriberto Ruiz
KO 1 Viatcheslav Tupolev
TKO 6 Olo Potaka
TKO 4 Roger Russell
KO 1 Bobby Halpern
TKO 1 Eric Saint-Louis
KO 6 Jack Bodell
KO 1 Billy Walker

Full record: 17-0-0 (17)

Earnie Shavers 7-0-0 (6)

Earnie continued racking up his impressive record with wins against top competition. Piermario Baruzzi who was the only fighter to go the distance with him, is a fighter few would stop. He had and has only been stopped once. Against George Foreman. Earnie was the second ever fighter to send him down though as only Foreman had done that before.

Results:
KO 1 Jay Silverstone
KO 3 Mecki Friedrich
KO 5 Dietmar Fassbinder
UD 10 Piermario Baruzzi
TKO 7 Domenico Adolfi
KO 8 Del Phillips
KO 8 Jack O'Halloran.

Full record: 16-0-0 (14)

Jimmy Young 5-0-0 (3)

Jimmy started of the year with a very very impressive win. A TKO 4 against Joe Bugner. Sincen then he has not been very active with only five fights this hole year. He breached the undefeated record of Larry Duncan by an easy UD 8.

Results:
TKO 4 Joe Bugner
UD 8 Klaas Goosens
UD 8 Larry Duncan
TKO 8 Jesper Witzke
TKO 1 Lobus Obsut

Full record: 13-0-0 (6)

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Fight of the year nominees:

Muhammad Ali TKO 15 Oscar Bonavena Heavyweights Universe. From 60's and forward.

Joe Frazier TKO 7 Jerry Quarry
Heavyweights Universe. From 60's and forward.

Leotis Martin TKO 6 Joe Frazier
Heavyweights Universe. From 60's and forward.

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January, 1970

Notable fights (records are post fight)

Sam N'Gata 1-0-0 (1) KO 5 Bikenibeu Puapua 1-7-2

Ron Stander 12-1-1 (4) UD 8 Del Phillips 10-5-0 (1)

Jimmy Young 14-0-0 (7) TKO 6 Earvin Eackhardt 9-15-3 (2)

Rudi Lubbers 8-0-0 (1) UD 8 Sililo Tuigamala 9-7-0 (2)

Ted Gullick 9-0-1 (9) TKO 6 James J. Beattie 35-14-2 (29)

Ken Norton 21-1-0 (19) TKO 3 Roger Escude 14-14-5 (3)

Billy Walker 36-9-2 (30) D 10 Billy Daniels 29-12-2 (10)

Bernard Thebault 21-9-1 (11) KO 6 Hans Jørgen Jacobsen 20-6-0 (19)

Henry Clark 30-7-1 (6) UD 10 Chuck Wepner 25-12-1 (9)

Mel Turnbow 21-12-2 (4) UD 10 Raimo Nisula 15-6-1 (7)
Another win for him

Two world fights coming up, including an IBF title bout..

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Fight night

1971-01-15

Philadelphia Stadium, Philadelphia, PA

Co Feature

Joe Frazier 26-3-0 (25) v Boone Kirkman 17-1-0 (11), 10 rounds

Joe looks to rebound from his stunning TKO 6 loss to Leotis Martin (who will fight George Chuvalo later tonight) in July last year. Boone Kirkman is not expected to do anything for Joe, for whom a win probably will mean another shot against Muhammad Ali who recently stated that he wants a fourth fight with Smokin'.

A fun fact: Joe Frazier has never fought more than 8 rounds in a fight.

Both show up in top shape.

1st: Boone Kirkman fights gamely back but is overwhelmed. 19-8

2nd: A huge pounding from Frazier that shakes Kirkman several times. 21-0

3rd: Very close round as Kirkman lands sharp punches without hurting Frazier. 9-9

4th: Frazier is not as good as expected here as he has much trouble with Boone Kirkman. 7-11

5th: Frazier hurts Kirkman and from there on, Frazier just throws punches as Kirkman defends himself. 22-5

6th: Boone Kirkman is much better than expected here, even though he loses the round. 17-13

7th: Kirkman is winning the round until he is hurt and punished. 18-9

8th: If the fight goes past this round that's the longest Joe will have ever fought. Joe does seem like he wants this over with as he sends Boone Kirkman down for the count. That's it, once again the fight is over inside eight in a Joe Frazier fight.

Joe Frazier KO 8 Boone Kirkman

Joe Frazier did win but had more trouble than anticipated as he moves to 27-3-0 (26) while Boone Kirkman moves to 17-2-0 (11) but proved that he has the potential to become a top contender someday.

Main Event

Leotis Martin 31-7-1 (18) v George Chuvalo 36-9-0 (27), 15 rounds for the IBF championship.

Leotis makes his first defence since winning the belt in the stunning 6th round TKO against Joe Frazier. George Chuvalo became Leotis Martins mandatory by stopping tough german Manfred Markgraf in the 10th round. The two fighter has fought twice before. In the first fight George Chuvalo lost a stupid 4th round disqualification. In their rematch Leotis won a 12th round Unanimous decision.

Both are in top shape.

1st: What a fantastic first round. Leotis starts out better but halfway through Chuvalo comes back nicely with some good shots. Towards the end Martin hurts Chuvalo and almost finishes him. 28-7

I hope that was a sign of things to come.

2nd: Chuvalo can't find the range and Leotis wins a clear round as he seems to be taking the role as the boxer in this bout. 16-2

3rd: Martin starts out better and it looks like he hurt Chuvalo. Then Martin becomes wild and gets caught flush and is hurt himself. Towards the end both fighters are well and are firing shots. 11-11

4th: Chuvalo punishes Martin for the most part of the round, but toward the end Martin recovers and looks good landing nicely. 8-15

5th: Not much is happening as both land equally but both fail to load up on their shots. 5-6

6th: Martin is boxing well right until he is hurt by Chuvalo and then it turns to a slugfest for the last 20 seconds. 10-8

7th: Leotis wins by boxing smoothly. 13-6

8th: Chuvalo opens a cut under Martins left eye. Back and forth action with both getting hurt in turn. 13-16

9th: Smooth round from Leotis. 9-0

10th: Chuvalo hurts Martin to win the round. 3-13

11th: Martin hurts and then punishes Chuvalo who is looking like he is tiring out, but Chuvalo is a fighter who can take masses of punishment. 23-1

12th: Martin starts and ends best to win the round. 16-8

13th: Chuvalo wins an important round for him as he just seems to be landing a little cleaner and harder. 8-10

With two rounds to go i have it: 124-123 for Leotis Martin

14th: Chuvalo wins a close round as Martin starts covering up. 6-10

15th: The round is just too close to call. Chuvalo is the agressor but Martin is landing just a little bit more. 7-7

I have it 143-143

Scorecards:
144-143 Leotis Martin
144-143 George Chuvalo
144-143 for the winner by split decision.... and STILL IBF heavyweight champion of the woooorld Leotis Martin!

This fight desperately needs a rematch. I mean, just look at the scorecards and see how close they are.

Leotis Martin keeps his IBF belt and moves to 32-7-1 (18) while George Chuvalo moves to 36-10-1 (27).

[mh2365]

Wouldn't the score you posted be a draw?

[btown32]

Originally Posted by aaaaaaaaa

Scorecards:
144-143 Leotis Martin
144-143 George Chuvalo
144-144 for the winner by split decision.... and STILL IBF heavyweight champion of the woooorld Leotis Martin!

This fight desperately needs a rematch. I mean, just look at the scorecards for a second.

Leotis Martin keeps his IBF belt and moves to 32-7-1 (18) while George Chuvalo moves to 36-10-1 (27).

If I were Chuvalo's manager and promoter I would definitely demand an immediate rematch because of the discrepencies in the scorecards. The IBF will have to examine the results and will have to give Chuvalo a rematch based on the error on the decision. Maybe the fight should be declared a NC.

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It was supposed to be 144-143, my mistake..

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After defeating Boone Kirkman, Joe Frazier has been declared mandatory WBA, WBC and WBO challenger. This means that for Muhammad Ali to keep his belts he has to fight him before April this year.

A few days later Muhammad Ali announced that he will fight Joe Frazier in April for the fourth time of their brutal rivalry. The first one ended as a dissapointment as Joe Frazier got stopped early due to a cut. In the second one Joe Frazier stunned the world by stopping Muhammad in the third round. Their last bout is the most memorable though. Ali was down once and Frazier once before the eight round. Joe Frazier was ahead on the scorecards when Ali gave him a brutal amount of punishment and send him down for the full count.

A few days after the Leotis Martin-George Chuvalo, IBF mandated a rematch calling the split decision win for Leotis slighly controversial. Leotis and George didn't complain as they signed for a May rematch fight.

Buster Mathis has signed to rebound from his 5th round KO loss against Muhammad Ali, by fighting Puerto Rican, Pedro Agosto in May.

Jurgen Blin has announced that he will defend his EBU championship against fellow german Gerhard Zech in March. Gerhard Zech has lost his two last fights.

The ring top 10:
Muhammad Ali
Leotis Martin
Joe Frazier
Al Jones
George Chuvalo
Jerry Quarry
Buster Mathis
Gregorio Peralta
Oscar Bonavena
Dave Zyglewicz

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February, 1971

Notable fights (records are post fight)

Mike Boswell 5-0-0 (4) KO 5 Les Chavis 12-20-4 (3)

Piermario Baruzzi 11-2-0 (9) UD 8 Roger Escude 14-15-5 (3)

Gene Innocent 19-2-0 (11) KO 7 Olo Potaka 10-6-2

Jeff Merritt 16-2-0 (12) KO 1 Arne Knudsen 9-26-1 (3)

Mani Vaka 15-1-1 (11) KO 6 Parker Pressley 21-23-4 (13)

Rudi Lubbers 9-0-0 (1) MD 8 David Mills 5-3-2

Terry Daniels 7-1-0 (3) KO 1 Sven Goran Hakanson 3-6-2

Franco DePiccoli 37-10-0 (31) KO 2 Giuseppe Ros 18-6-0 (7)

Dante Cane 26-5-0 (21) TKO 3 Jose Roman 19-6-0 (4)

George Foreman 18-0-0 (18) TKO 1 Carl Gizzi 30-8-2 (15)

Two world fights coming up, including a NABF title fight..

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Fight night

1971-02-03

American Airlines Arena, Miami, USA

Co-feature

Larry Middleton 27-2-0 (8) v Manfred Markgraf 23-4-1 (2), 10 rounds

Larry Middleton is the 5 to 2 favourite to beat the tough german, who doesn't, as his record suggest, has real punching power. He has a hard chin and a big heart and that has won many fights for him. He chose not to fight Larry Middleton instead of Jurgen Blin for the EBU title so he must have some believe that he can win this.

Larry does not look in shape as many consider him to be taking this too lightly. Manfred show up in top shape.

1st: Back and forth action as Markgrafs big aggresiveness is giving Middleton a lot of trouble. 14-17

2nd: Good round of boxing from Larry Middleton. 11-2

3rd: Same as 2nd. 9-2

4th: A close round that Larry wins by hitting harder and more accurate. 10-7

5th: A good round of action that is almost too close to call. 9-9

6th: More back and forth action as neither fighter is just standing there. Both want to land constantly. 11-10

7th: Middleton sends Markgraf down with an uppercut. Markgraf is up at the count of nine. Markgraf goes into a corner to protect himself. Middleton then lands a strong cross to send the obviously hurt german down again. Markgraf is quickly up this time as the bell rings. 27-4

8th: Both figters look tired as Middleton just seems faster and stronger at this point. 15-6

9th: Markgraf looks good until he gets hit and the last 20 seconds is all survival for the german. 11-8

Before the final round i have the score: 88-82 for Larry Middleton.

10th: Middleton fights it smart by covering up. 1-6

Scorecards are:

98-92
99-90
97-91
for the winner by unanimous decision -- Larry Middleton

Larry Middleton moves to 28-2-0 (8) while Manfred Markgraf moves to 23-5-1 (2)

Main event

Al Jones 27-3-0 (5) v Jerry Quarry 27-2-0 (22), 12 rounds for the NABF and USBA titles

The third fight between the two. Jerry Quarry cruised and won an easy fight in their first match up for the IBF title. Then in their last encounter for the NABF title Al Jones won by MD 12. Jerry is the 2 to 1 favourite though.

Both look in top shape.

1st: Jerry is the aggresor and Jones isn't too active but defends himself well. 5-10

2nd: Al Jones outboxes Jerry and even opens a cut from his forehead. 20-4

3rd: Al Jones gets hurt by Jerry and then comes back to hurt Jerry and win the round. 14-5

4th: Al Jones lands a solid hook right to the forehead of Jerry Quarry and the ref steps between to look at the cut. He stops the fight!

Al Jones TKO 4 Cuts Jerry Quarry

Bad ending in what i had expected to be a great fight.

Al Jones keeps his NABF and USBA belts as he moves to 28-3-0 (6) while Jerry Quarry moves to 27-3-0 (22) to lose the third in a row. Three fights ago he was the undefeated IBF champ.

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I just found this post i made a while ago, this could give you an idea of what was going on in the earlier years of the uni..

Next fight for these fighters?

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I've dropped the voting thing..

I'll announce the winners now instead:

Fighter of the year 1971:

Leotis Martin 2-0-0 (1)

Martins stunning 6th round TKO of Joe Frazier made the difference here as he beat the #2 at the time.

Prospect of the year:

George Foreman 8-0-0 (8)

Georges impressive knockout streak continues as he goes for the rankings. His 1st round knockout against Billy Walker made the difference.

Fight of the year:

Leotis Martin TKO 6 Joe Frazier

This fight won due to the constant action and fighting spirit of Leotis Martin. The fact that it was against Joe Frazier is what makes this more than a good knockout win.

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Jerry Quarry has stated that he will take a small break from boxing. 6 months to begin with, was what he said. Jerry Quarry was 27-0-0 and IBF champ before suddenly loosing three in a row. His loss to Joe Frazier was predictable but his two losses to Al Jones has made him take a break.

Larry Middleton stated that he want's a shot at Al Jones' NABF title. Al Jones had no comments.

The ring top 10:
Muhammad Ali
Leotis Martin
Joe Frazier
Al Jones
George Chuvalo
Buster Mathis
Gregorio Peralta
Oscar Bonavena
Jerry Quarry
Larry Middleton

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March, 1971

Notable fights (records are post-fight)

Fonomanu Sekona 1-0-0 (1) TKO 2 Aphonso Peixe 0-1-0

Ron Lyle 1-0-0 (1) KO 1 Les Chavis 12-21-4 (3)

Sam N'Gata 2-0-0 (1) UD 6 Henrik Sundin 13-34-2 (2)

Ron Stander 13-1-1 (4) UD 8 Bill Weinrich 20-25-5 (2)

Jeff Merritt 17-2-0 (13) TKO 5 Jay Silverstone 6-8-1 (3)

Ted Gullick 10-0-1 (9) UD 8 Dennis Avoth 15-5-1

Manfred Markgraf 24-5-1 (3) KO 5 Albert Westphal 41-12-2 (27) for the german championship

Al Lewis 25-1-2 (14) KO 3 Gene Innocent 19-3-0 (11)

Jose Roman 20-6-0 (5) KO 9 Jack Bodell 27-17-1 (21)

Mel Turnbow 22-12-2 (4) UD 10 Franco DePiccoli 37-11-0 (31)
What is going on with Mel Turnbow?

Boone Kirkman 18-2-0 (12) KO 6 Billy Walker 36-10-2 (30)

Ken Norton 22-1-0 (20) KO 6 Manuel Ramos 28-13-2 (14)

Two world fights coming up, including one EBU title fight

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1971-03-22

Gardens, Pittsburg, USA

Co-feature

Jurgen Blin 25-7-0 (6) v Gerhard Zech 35-10-0 (27), 12 rounds for the EBU championship

Jurgens first defence since winning the belt against Dante Cane by a split decision.

Both are in top shape, although Gerhard is said to be having problems with his manager.

Gerhard is cut in the 1st as Jurgen wins 15-0. In the 2nd Jurgen obviously goes for Gerhards cut and the fight is stopped when it worsens.

Jurgen Blin TKO 2 Cuts Gerhard Zech

Jurgen Blin keeps his EBU belt as he moves to 26-7-0 (7) while Gerhard Zech moves to 35-11-0 (27).

Main event

Dave Zyglewicz 28-4-0 (20) v Roger Russell 23-5-0 (2), 10 rounds

Dave is the 10 to 1 one favourite here. I wouldn't make him that big a favourite though as Russell just beat Mac Foster and showed that he can upset the big guys.

The two has actually fought once before, the result was a UD 8 win for Dave 'Ziggy'.

Both are in to shape.

1st: Dave easily wins and even hurts Russell in this first round. 12-3

2nd: Dave sends Russell down, but he is quickly up again. 15-4

3rd: Russell starts out getting the better of some big exchanges berore his nose starts to bleed. Dave then lands two good jabs and a strong cross to finish a great round better. 22-18

4th: Dave momentarily hurts Russell who tries to outbox 'Ziggy', but he can't get any breathing space. 13-9

5th: Ziggy hurts Russell and follows up with a big cross to send him down. Russell gets up but looks very hurt. Russell just survives. 25-4

6th: Dave is the aggressor and Russell just covers up. 10-2

7th: Nothing is happening until Russell opens up a cut above Ziggys left eye. Dave still wins the round with better punching though. 7-5

8th: Russell is hurt but towards the end comes back with some nice shots. 14-7

9th: Ziggy easily wins the round. 14-4

Before the last round i have the score: 90-79 for Dave Zyglewicz

10th: Ziggy reopens Russells cut and the ref stops the fight.

Dave Zyglewicz TKO 10 cuts Roger Russell.

Why are so many fights ending by cuts just at the moment?

Dave Zyglewicz moves to 29-4-0 (21) after a very good perfomance. Roger Russell showed heart as he moves to 23-6-0 (2)