Boxing in the 1960s

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During the 1960s, boxing, like mostly everything else around the world, went through changing times. Boxers from the old guard of boxing gave way to a new movement filled with youth, controversy and enthusiasm.

The decade of the 1960s is best remembered by the insurgence of a young boxer named Cassius Clay, who would, in his own words shock the world, declare himself against war, and change his name to Muhammad Ali. Many sociologists, observers and critics now view Ali as a reflection of the changing society of that decade.

In the lower weights, there was much action too and world champions were active fighting each other. The Middleweights in particular had some famous fights, with Emile Griffith, Nino Benvenuti and Dick Tiger, among others, engaging in world championship fights. The Lightweights were also busy, with champions like Joe Brown, Carlos Ortiz and Ismael Laguna. The first world champions from Venezuela and Thailand, among other countries, were crowned during the 1960s, and the WBA and WBC started competing against each other, after the WBA changed its name from the National Boxing Association in 1962 and a group of people split from the WBA in 1963 to form the WBC.

A new division was created in the Jr. Middleweights, where a high school teacher, Freddie Little, was crowned world champion. Fights were seen on color television for the first time, and one of the most famous tragedies, Benny Kid Paret's, was also shown live on TV.

Contents

[edit] List of fights by year

[edit] 1960

[edit] 1961

  • March 4- Sugar Ray Robinson's last world title attempt, as he and Gene Fullmer close their rivalry with Fullmer retaining the National Boxing Association's world Middleweight title with a fifteen round unanimous decision at Las Vegas.
  • March 13- Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson finish their trilogy of fights, with Patterson retaining the world Heavyweight title with a sixth round knockout in Miami Beach.
  • April 1- Emile Griffith becomes world champion for the first time, and begins his trilogy of fights with Benny Kid Paret, defeating the Cuban boxer by a thirteenth round knockout to win the world's Welterweight title, Miami.
  • September 30- In their second of three bouts, Benny Paret regains the world Welterweight title with a fifteen round split decision win over Emile Griffith, Madison Square Garden, New York.
  • October 21- Duilio Loi retains his world Jr. Welterweight title with a fifteen round draw against Eddie Perkins. Referee Nello Barrovecchio decides to entertain the fight goers by bending down, picking some coins that had been thrown by the fight fans into the ring, and then bowing to the fans during round eight of the bout, in Milan, Italy.
  • December 9- NBA world Middleweight champion Gene Fullmer retains the crown with a tenth round knockout of world Welterweight champion Benny Paret in Las Vegas.

[edit] 1962

[edit] 1963

  • February 23- Dick Tiger retains his world Middleweight title with a fifteen round draw (tie) against former world champion Gene Fullmer in their Las Vegas rematch.
  • March 13- Cassius Clay defeats Doug Jones by a close (scores of 96-95, 96-95 and 99-92) but unanimous decision, Madison Square Garden, New York.
  • March 21- A world title double header in Los Angeles: Luis Rodriguez wins the world Welterweight title by defeating Emile Griffith with a fifteen round decision. Then, the double header turns tragic when Sugar Ramos takes the world Featherweight title away from Davey Moore, who would later die of the injuries suffered in the bout.
  • March 25- Davey Moore dies in Los Angeles. His death led to Pope John XXIII's describing of boxing as barbaric, and to Bob Dylan's song Who killed Davey Moore?.
  • June 1- Willie Pastrano wins the world Light-Heavyweight title with a fifteen round decision over Harold Johnson, Las Vegas.
  • June 8- Emile Griffith recovers the world Welterweight title by defeating Luis Rodriguez with a fifteen round decision in New York.
  • June 18- Cassius Clay suffers a knockdown at the end of round four at the hands of Henry Cooper, and then, he rips off his glove in the corner before round five, making trainer Angelo Dundee go to the locker room to get a new glove, and giving him time to recover. He then knocks Cooper out in round five, London.
  • July 22- Sonny Liston again defeats Floyd Patterson by a knockout in the first round, this time retaining the world Heavyweight title, Las Vegas.
  • August 10- Gene Fullmer's last fight, as he gets knocked out in eight rounds by world Middleweight champion Dick Tiger in Ibadan, Nigeria. To Fullmer's surprise, about 1,000 of Tiger's fans greet him outside the stadium after the fight, to applaud him and express admiration.
  • December 7- Joey Giardello becomes world Middleweight champion with a fifteen round decision win over Dick Tiger, Atlantic City.
  • December 20- Rubin Carter produces one of Emile Griffith's two knockout defeats, knocking out the world Welterweight champion in round one of a non-title bout, Pittsburgh.

[edit] 1964

[edit] 1965

[edit] 1966

[edit] 1967

  • January 23- In a rematch of their 1966 title fight, Emile Griffith again retains the world's Middleweight title with a fifteen round decision over Joey Archer, New York City.
  • February 5- In another rematch of a 1966 world title fight, Dick Tiger retains his world Light-Heavyweight title with a fifteen round split decision over former world champion Jose Torres. Most of the public at the fight is dissatisfied with the decision and a large scale riot forms after the verdict is announced: chairs, bottles and other objects were thrown into the ring, at New York.
  • February 6- Muhammad Ali unifies his WBC world Heavyweight title with the WBA one, defeating the WBA's world champion Ernie Terrell by a fifteen round unanimous decision in Houston's Astrodome. Ali kept asking Terrell What's my name? throughout the contest (Terrell insisted on calling him Cassius Clay before the bout).
  • March 22- Muhammad Ali retains his world Heavyweight title with a seventh round knockout of Zora Folley in what would be his last fight in three years, at New York.
  • April 17- Nino Benvenuti wins the world Middleweight title, defeating Emile Griffith by a fifteen round unanimous decision, at New York.
  • April 30- Asian-American former Marine Paul Fujii wins the world Jr. Welterweight title, knocking out Sandro Lopopolo in the second round, Tokyo, Japan.
  • July 1- In a rematch of their scandalous Mexico City, Mexico fight, Carlos Ortiz once again knocks out Sugar Ramos, this time in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in round five, to retain the world Lightweight title.
  • August 18- Carlos Ortiz retains his world Lightweight title in his rubber match with former world champion Ismael Laguna, by a fifteen round unanimous decision, Shea Stadium, New York.
  • September 29- Emile Griffith recovers the world Middleweight title, with a fifteen round majority decision over Nino Benvenuti in their New York rematch.
  • December 14- In the first world title fight in history between two Japanese fighters, Hiroshi Kobayashi, with only 11 knockout wins in fifty seven previous bouts, drops defending world Jr. Lightweight champion Yoshiaki Numata four times before knocking him out in twelve rounds to win the world title, Tokyo.

[edit] 1968

[edit] 1969


Boxing History

Boxing in the 1920s | Boxing in the 1930s | Boxing in the 1940s | Boxing in the 1950s | Boxing in the 1960s | Boxing in the 1970s | Boxing in the 1980s | Boxing in the 1990s | Boxing in the 2000s |