Anyone remember heavyweight Jeff Merritt?

Don King was real big on him in the early to mid 70s. he was real big in the boxing mags.:rasta

 

I recall him being one of Muhammad Ali's sparring partners. Big puncher.

 

His nickname was Candy Slim. I beleive he succumbed to another type of candy and went down hill rapidly.

 

He had a brief rise stopping Terrel and Stander but was beaten by 5 fight Stan Ward by KO. Jeff was 6"5 and had some power but came and went

 

I did not know that but I guess there are a lot of cases of that Candy abuse that is behind closed doors.....Coke or Herion

 

I read somewhere he beat feared heavy Roy Williams early on, and broke Earnie Shavers' jaw.

 

King had both Merritt & Shavers at one time....both big bombers.

 

Beat me to the Shaver's jaw breaking incident.

Supposedly Merrit was as heavy a puncher as the division had ever seen, couldn't keep it together though.

Stander managed to stop Shaver's in 70' I believe. Merrit stopped him in 73'.

*Shrugs*

 

He sparred aith Ali and he predicted big things for Jeff but I have a feeling drugs took control and he died in poverty. Boxing is really **** sometimes.

 

I can't be sure but I seem to recall reading somewhere that he did. I'd be happier if it weren't true; I just hate these kind of stories. Jeff had some good wins but if he was focused he might've been champ.

 

When Don King managed both Shavers and Merritt he had strict orders before Shavers fought Quarry, "Do not let Earnie spar with Jeff Merritt!" He heard that Archie Moore, who was the Don King trainer at the time was letting them spar, he gets in his car, speeds to the gym....too late. Shavers was walking out of the ring with his chin dangling. A broken jaw courtesy of the brutal Merritt left hook. End result: Quarry fight postponed and Moore immediately fired from the King camp.

Scartissue

 

Great info Scartissue! I read once that King wanted Shavers to keep working on his power, and Shavers later claimed this was a mistake as he should have spent more time on other skills.

 

I would definitely agree with Shavers on this, Mendoza. Power was natural with him, that was not going to change. Shavers needed to work on stamina above all. I remember when Gil Clancy took over Foreman in the mid '70s comeback after the Ali KO. Clancy was working on him before the Jimmy Young fight to avoid the heavy bag because his power was always going to be there. Clancy had him almost solely on the speed-bag. Foreman didn't like this and decided to bring in a "sub-trainer" we'll call him. He did nothing then but heavy bag work. Clancy, who was powerless to stop him, saw his muscles getting bigger and bigger and the fight was another Ali-Foreman, in the sense that a smart, cute fighter who had a good jaw and boxing skills wore out the big, slow banger. Again, like Shavers, worked on soley punching power rather than the areas which needed attention.

Scartissue