I'm a sucker for a good boxing tournament and have loved the recent Super Six series tournaments that we have had the last few years. We all know what happened in 67' when Ellis ended up beating Quarry to win the tournament but what if the draws were different? What matchup's intrigue you the most? Example what if Quarry would have faced Martin in the opening round? I believe Quarry would have won but on paper that is an excellent fight. Martin was a very heavy handed dude and would certainly have connected against the counterpunching Quarry at somepoint. Classic Boxer puncher vs Counterpuncher. If the 67' tournament is not your thing feel free to post about any other pro tournament. In the 2001 Don King middleweight tournament, what if the underated tall southpaw Keith Holmes would have faced Tito in the first round? Could his length, Southpaw jab and Movement trouble the hard hitting Trinidad?
In the August 6, 1967 edition of the New York Times, they report on the WBA tournament. The World Boxing Association ratings entering the tournament were: 1. Karl Mildenberger 2. Joe Frazier (who declined to participate) 3. Oscar Bonavena 4. Ernie Terrell 5. Thad Spencer 6. Floyd Patterson 7. Jerry Quarry 8. Jimmy Ellis 9. Leotis Martin Since Joe Frazier passed on competing, Martin was added. Otherwise, he'd have been out. And there is no reason for the matchups the WBA did stage. In tournaments today, the highest seeds go against the lowest seeds so, if there are no upsets, you get a #1 vs. #2 in the finals. The WBA put the #1 guy against the next highest opponent, in Bonavena, and put the lowest seeds against each other (Ellis-Martin). If you want to look at different matchups, and the tournament matched them according to high and low seeds, you would've seen: First Round #1 Karl Mildenberger vs. #9 Leotis Martin #3. Oscar Bonavena vs. #8 Jimmy Ellis #4 Ernie Terrell vs. #7 Jerry Quarry #5 Thad Spencer vs. #6 Floyd Patterson Then the winner of: * Mildenberger-Martin would've faced the Spencer-Patterson winner * Bonavena-Ellis winner would've faced the Terrell-Quarry winner The winner meet in the finals. So, Ellis and Quarry never would've met in the finals. If they'd won their opening bouts, they'd have fought in the semifinals. Or, if Joe Frazier HAD competed in the WBA tournament, the 'high seed vs low seed' matchups would've looked like this: #1 Karl Mildenberger vs. #8 Jimmy Ellis #2 Joe Frazier vs. #7 Jerry Quarry #3 Oscar Bonavena vs. #6 Floyd Patterson #4 Ernie Terrell vs. #5 Thad Spencer The winner of: * Mildenberger-Ellis winner would've faced the Terrell-Spencer winner. (So maybe Ellis-Spencer) * The Frazier-Quarry winner would've faced the Bonavena-Patterson winner. (Maybe Frazier-Patterson) The winners meet in the finals. Had Frazier participated, maybe we'd have seen Frazier-Patterson. And, Karl Mildenberger may have done well if he fought Ellis in the opening bout and Thad Spencer in the semis. He may have gotten to the finals, where Frazier sat waiting.
Thanks for posting! Very interesting, I did not know what the rankings were going in to the tournament. Kind of funny that Ellis and Quarry were towards the bottom yet were the two most successful in the tournament.
Yeah, in nearly every bout, the lower seed won. Bonavena upset Mildenberger. Spencer upset Terrell. Quarry upset Patterson. Quarry upset Spencer. Ellis upset Bonavena. Ellis upset Quarry. Maybe Frazier would've been upset if he'd entered?
Had Frazier entered the tournament the WBA arranged the fights the same way they actually did, with the higher seed fighting the guy right below him in the opening round, we'd have seen: #1 Mildenberger vs. #2 Frazier #3 Bonanvena vs. #4 Terrell #5 Spencer vs. #6 Patterson #7 Quarry vs. #8 Ellis (so they would've fought first instead of in the finals) Then it would've been: * Mildenberger-Frazier winner vs the Quarry-Ellis winner (so likely Frazier-Ellis in the semis) * Bonavena-Terrell winner vs. the Spencer-Patterson winner (no idea who wins these) And Frazier in the finals against either Bonavena, Terrell, Spencer or Patterson. Pretty crazy.
Had Quarry lost in the opening bout of the tournament against Ellis, I think Jerry Quarry would've been viewed a lot differently today. A loss to Machen in '66. A draw with Patterson (and no follow-up win). A loss to Ellis in the opening bout of the tourney in '67. No title fight with Frazier in '69. Maybe it's Quarry who fights Liston in Vegas in '69 instead of Martin? Maybe Sonny cuts him up.
I definitely like Frazier to come out on top. Spencer vs Patterson looks like a really intriguing fight. Both were really small heavyweights, Patterson had the footwork and speed but I like Spencer's power a lot. I would lean toward Floyd by UD but would not be surprised if Spencer caught him. I know this wasn't a fight in the tournament but I would kill to see the Martin vs Spencer fight. Supposedly it was one of the better heavyweight fights from the era. Spencer was never the same after getting stopped by Martin.
Quarry vs Liston would have been interesting. Liston really busted Martin up before running out of gas and getting busted up by Martin's right hand. Martin had a crushing straight right hand.
Leotis Martin "Does Frazier Fear This Man?" https://boxrec.com/media/images//thumb/4/49/BIMag.6910.JPG/300px-BIMag.6910.JPG
Leotis Martin vs. Thad Spencer https://c8.alamy.com/comp/GCBW3W/bo...n-v-thad-spencer-royal-albert-hall-GCBW3W.jpg https://media.gettyimages.com/photo...er-at-the-royal-picture-id912465928?s=612x612 https://media.gettyimages.com/photo...from-san-thad-picture-id805942450?s=2048x2048 https://media.gettyimages.com/photo...he-royal-albert-picture-id912465836?s=612x612 Ernie Terrell, Leotis Martin, Thad Spencer and Jimmy Ellis trying on gloves. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71z6I62ry4L._SX425_.jpg https://www.josportsinc.com/item_images/1530460480.jpg
Wow! You made my day. Thanks again for posting. I have to admit, I really don't know a ton about Spencer and Martin but I am interested in learning more about them. I just watched Martin vs Liston the other day and am going to watch Spencer vs Terrell tonight.
I can't believe Frazier didn't want to participate, I would have picked him to beat all of them: 1. Terrell by decision 2. Martin vs. TKO 3. Mildenberger by TKO 4. Patterson by SD 5. Bonavena vs. SD 6. Quarry vs. TKO/ RTD 7. Spencer by TKO 8. Ellis by SD Some good matchups didn't happen among these eight, though. Ellis vs. Terrell, I really have no clue who takes it. Quarry and Bonavena. Total war. Patterson vs. Terrell and Martin; Terrell beats Floyd by decision, Martin gets stopped. Patterson vs. Mildenberger might have been interesting, there'd probably be like six knockdowns.
