1967-1968 WBA Heavyweight Tournament

no Houston Astrodome 8/5/67, Spencer-Terrell, Ellis Martin doubleheder. than 9/16/67 Bonavena-Mildenberger. than 10/28/67 Quarry-Patterson, than 12/2/67 Ellis-Bonavena, 2/3/68 Quarry-Spencer, than finals 4/27/68 Ellis -Quarry.

I sure wished the'd not had the NYSAC Title fight Fraier-Buster Mathis that really mixed things up, and thats before Don King!

Took another 2 years to get it remotely right, and thats taking into fact Muhammad Ali was still around.

 

By the time Martin-Mildenberger happened they'd both been eliminated and the final of Ellis-Quarry was scheduled for three weeks later.

 

Henry Clark enterd top ten / decisioned Leotis Martin on they Oakland undercard of the WBA Finals Ellis vs Quarry.

Then Sonny Liston like 7/6/68 Dismantled fifth ranked WBA-Clark in 7 (6-0 IN ROUNDS) to get right back in the thick of things with only 3 career losse's (2 to Ali). its SAFE to say Liston should have had another shot at either title then.
Liston-Bonavena would have been a helluva 12 round Title eliminator.

 

WBA ELIMINATION TOURNAMENT

Quarter Finals
08/05/67.........Thad Spencer WU 12 Ernie Terrell
08/05/67.........Jimmy Ellis TKO 9 Leotis Martin
09/16//67........Oscar Bonavena WU 12 Karl Mildenberger
10/28/67.........Jerry Quarry WM 12 Floyd Patterson
Semi Finals
12/02/67.........Jimmy Ellis WU 12 Oscar Bonavena
02/03/68.........Jerry Quarry TKO 12 Thad Spencer
WBA Finals
04/27/68.........Jimmy Ellis WM 15 Jerry Quarry

 

So say # 2 Joe Frazier was in the fray, he would have had to been favored all 3 fights against anyone in the Tournamentl albeit Mildenberger was they outsets # 1 contender.

Teddy Brenner quipped "The Elimination tournament was a success it eliminated all 8 fighter's"

 

No it separated the World Titles. I've always liked them UNIFIED, The guys in the tournament fought for it , Ellis beat 5 ranked heavyweights in a row, Only Muhammad Ali seems to have accomplished that (maybe Holmes) and Ellis did it in a short amount of time. I understand, but not thrilled Ali's title was taken away, (Kids are getting their heads blown off in Viet Nam) and you know Ali, would not have seen any action, (Ali also was in the Army for a movie earlier). I would have rather seen no NYSAC Frazier-Mathis

and seen "Smokin Joe" in the tournament with the great eight (89 rounds in 7 championship level fights).

 

Except Liston wanted no part of anyone remotely threatening. Clark was about the lowest hanging fruit in the top ten being incredibly inconsistent and not able to punch his way out of a paper bag. After the Clark fight Liston ducked on three separate offers to fight Jerry Quarry in Las Vegas, LA, and Houston. Instead he chose to fight nobodies, sometimes more than once, before he finally got his head handed to him by Martin.

 

The only problem with that is that Joe had already fought his way to #1 so asking him to now take part in an elimination tournament when he had already done what is asked of a contender was unfair, especially when guys like Martin and Ellis are in the tournament. Martin had only briefly been ranked and Ellis had never beaten a ranked HW in his life.

 

Good points, Ellis was hot from Knocking out seventh Ranked Johnny Persol in the first round, neither Yank Durham nor frazier were thrilled aspect of Fighting fellow philadelphian Martin you are right, Still i'd rather they just had the 8 man or for that matter 16 man and get the thing over with, one title one Champion

What would be fair? beat Mathis now your the champ?
Mildenberger was the WBA number one contender, not Frazier.
maybe Bonavena should have been crowned the Champ?

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London was trying to get Corletti and Cooper in, Mexico Ramos, Canada's Chuvalo (although recent loss to Frazier). throw in Mathis, Clark, Blue Lewis,or Kirkman and Charles "Sonny " Liston.

 

Karl Mildenberger fought Oscar Bonavena, on Sept 16 1967, Oscar won a unanimous 12 round decision. Leotis Martin fought Jimmy Ellis on Aug 5 1967, Ellis by TKO 9. Karl did fight Leotis on April 5 1968, stopping Mildenberger in round 7, but both had already been eliminated from the WBA Tournament

 

Good Post.

 

PROBABLY SO
1 VS 16
2 VS 15
3 VS 14
4 VS 13
5 VS 12
6 VS 11
7 VS 10
8 VS 9
IS HOW I WOULD HAVE BRACKETED IT (No byes) maybe an entire year to finish (4 fights)