It's tough waking up everyday

I had a flash back to our Basil Fawlty discussion reading this, Pug.

 

Haha - you started it, no you did when you invaded Poland! Classic.

 

Waking up every morning is far better than the alternative.

 

Imagine how I feel, knowing that the first 24 rounds of Jeffries-Sharkey 2 will likely never be recovered

 

Seeing more of that era would be nice as a general thing, I'd really like to watch a complete 20 rounder.

 

I wouldn't call Lyle articulate. Usually people who are articulate don't say "You know what I mean?" after every sentence or paragraph. Lyle had that annoying habit. As for being respectful, I would agree, adding that if he thought you might be helpful to him he would be especially respectful and friendly. But first you had to allay his suspicious nature. He was volatile and complicated; you knew from his history that he harbored a lot of fear and rage. You had to be careful with him. He killed two people many years apart. The second killing, of a former trainer, was especially disturbing because you never knew whether or not to believe his story and it took a skillful and tricky trial lawyer to get an acquittal. At the end of his life he tried to do good by teaching at-risk youths how to box.

 

What is the story on Ron Lyle’s 2nd murder? I only know that he wouldn’t comment on it in the book about him.

 

That Larry Holmes fellow sure is lucky! Lyle would have had him leaving on his shield!

 

I read he shot someone but it was ruled self defense.

 

Here are the facts outlined in an appeal filed by the prosecution with the Colorado Appeals Court:

On New Year's Eve, 1977, Ron Lyle was at home in Lakewood, a Denver suburb, along with two of his brothers and one sister and her children. They were downstairs celebrating when the doorbell rang. One of the brothers climbed the stairs and opened the door. Standing there was Vernon "Rip" Clark, a fellow inmate and friend from Lyle's prison years. He had worked for Lyle briefly as a trainer but Lyle had fired him six months before. This was two years after Lyle had fought Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight title and one year after he lost a famous slugfest to George Foreman. Lyle was now 37, at the start of his career slide.

When Lyle's brother informed him that Rip was in the house Lyle emerged from his bedroom. The brother returned downstairs leaving the two men alone. The relatives downstairs heard loud voices above.
Clark demanded money he claimed Lyle had failed to pay him for his training work. Lyle refused to pay him and then a single pistol shot was heard and Clark fell to the floor. The brothers raced upstairs to find Lyle standing over the victim, holding a gun, saying "I shot him."

Lyle tried unsuccessfully to call his lawyer. Precious minutes passed. One can imagine a panicked Lyle trying to decide what to do. Finally he telephoned his neighbor, a Lakewood cop, and told him he had shot the man. The neighbor rushed over, leaned over Clark, looked for signs of life. He observed that Clark's skin was colder than he expected. The coroner's investigation later concluded that Clark lay dead for at least 15 minutes before the neighbor arrived and that the shot had been fired into the victim's face from a distance of two to three feet. Nobody had called an ambulance. Police arriving at the scene found no signs of a struggle. They did find an empty holster in Lyle's bedroom.

Lyle was arrested and charged with first-degree and second-degree murder. Before the trial the first-degree charge was dropped. Lyle's defense lawyer, Walter Gerash, was the most celebrated trial lawyer in Colorado. He was known for winning acquittals for dubious clients including an ex-cop who killed four security guards in a bank holdup. In dramatic fashion Gerash somehow convinced the jury that the 5-foot-7-inch victim attacked the 6-foot-3 inch, 220-pound heavyweight and that Lyle shot him in self-defense.

 

I may be misremembering,not a rare occurrence at my age,but I believe Klompton has the Lyle v Bonavena fight?

 

I dont know. He claimed that he had the fight and showed some screendumps to prove it. He could be right, but the screendumps he showed was from a short five minutes highlight showing. A lot of collectors have that, but the full fight would be interesting to see.

 

Interesting.

Just IMO, I would still say he was reasonably articulate absolute and particularly so in relative terms as compared to other boxers.

But I hear you on repeat phrasings - I worked with someone otherwise articulate who always followed whatever they said with “Do you know what I mean?” - I nearly throttled them on a few occasions. Lol.

Excellent details re the 2nd murder charge which ultimately Lyle got off based on the claim of self defence.

Based on the details you have provided one might’ve guessed that Ronnie was more likely staring down the barrel of a conviction for murder in some degree.