Elmer Ray

Apparently, the Ring magazine rates Elmer Ray as it's number 44 best puncher of all time out of 100. I myself have never seen him on film, but his record and reputation certainly reflects that he was a legitimately good puncher. Ray had the misfortune of being thrown to the wolves very early on in his career. For example, in only his eighth pro fight, he was matched up against John Henry Lewis - a former lightheavyweight champion with over a hundred matches to his credit. Ray began his career with a mediocre start of 15-7-1. However, from the summer of 1940 to the spring of 1947, Ray compiled a winning streak of 65-1-0-52 - one of the best that I have seen from just about any heavyweight contender, or certainly most. In March of 1947, he was the #1 heavyweight contender in the world. He just defeated Joe Walcott, along with Lee Savold and some respectable journeyman and prospects. In my opinion, he should have been granted a title shot at Louis right then and there, but was made to give Jersey a rematch. The winner would be promised the shot at the title. Walcott took it via majority decision. Ray continued to pile on wins, extending his streak to 72-2, including a victory over Ezzard Charles. Again, he probably should have gotten the title shot, but gave Charles a rematch, and lost at the crucial moment.


I do not claim to be the world's foremost expert on African American fighters of the 1940's, but I'm guessing that Elmer Ray was probably a feared contender. Despite his winning streak, wins over rated opponents, and #1 ranking, Ray somehow managed to pass through the halls of time without ever making a mark. In a different era, minus the distraction of a world war, I suspect that other champions might have been stripped or at least criticized for not facing him..

I tried to find some photos of Ray on google, but only came up with the one below. If anyone asks me, he looked intimidating, and appeared to be in good shape as well.

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Elmer Ray is an interesting character.

Like Jersey Joe Walcott he spent much of his career as a short notice subsistance fighter because he could not get the same sort of financial backing as many of the white contenders.

Like Walcott he made his breakthrough in the war when promotors were increasingly forced to turn to black contenders.

Unlike Walcott his style was not suited for longevity, so you have a come forward puncher making his breakthrough onto the world scene in his mid 30s which was ancient by the standards of the day. Hard to say if we ever really saw the best of him.

A former aligator wrestler, he was verry physicaly intimidating, with a staredown not unlike Sonny Liston.

 

Agreed. Ray had a very intimidating facial impression, and was clearly a very well built specimen to boot. Under different circumstances, and with proper managment, Ray could have very conceivably been the Sonny Liston of his era.

 

I made a thread about Ray earlier this year that talked about him at length.

Not only was Ray a former alligator wrestler, he was also a veteran of the Southern Battle Royale circuit, a fight game in which 10 men would be put in the ring together and have a winner-take-all throwdown- Ray was known as "King of the Battle Royale" as a result of his winning over 60 of the contests.

Here is some relevant newspaper material with regards to the fear of Ray within his era:
"Elmer (Violent) Ray has the extraordinary distinction of being the only man Joe Louis wouldn't even meet in an exhibition. Louis boxed Dan Merritt of Cleveland instead, and stood watching as Ray, a crowding weaver and bobber with the speed of a swift middleweight, ironed out Claudio Villar, a Spaniard, in 29 seconds flat.”
"Arturo Godoy and Tami Mauriello rejected guarantees to square off with Ray at Madison square Garden, Lee Oma the Violent One's share of the swag in addition to his own. Joe Baksi and Lou Nova refused. Melio Bettina will have nothing to do with the Hastings Hammerer. Jimmy Bivins turned down the chance to march front and center with him in Los Angeles, where the terror recorded 19 knockouts in a row. The current Joe Walcott will have no truck with him in Baltimore... Currently he is drawing and at Miami's Negro ball yard, Dorsey Park, while putting the slug on such as Dan Merritt and Al Patterson, the latter a slatty character out of Pittsburgh. "It's better than wrestlingalligators and fighting nine guys at once," beams Violent Ray."
-The Coshocton Tribune, March 8, 1946

And here are some in-action shots of his fights with Walcott and Charles:

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In my opinion, Ray's exceptional record during his peak years and wins over two champions-to-be who were at or near their own peaks distinguish him as one of the best contenders in the history of the division never to win the title. He certainly has some impressive knockout numbers during those years at well; 50 wins in a row with 44 knockouts during 1944-1947, and a run of 17 consecutive knockouts in a year, all but one within five rounds, going into his 1946 clash with Walcott. If you're looking for his best knockouts, I'd say the Lee Savold fight ranks up there. Reportedly, Ray knocked Savold through the ropes early in the second round, before Savold climbed up at "six," only for Ray to deposit him flat on his face for the full count seconds later with a short right- and Savold hadn't been stopped in his last 40 fights and five years of fighting beforehand, either.
All of that said, there is legitimacy to the point that Ray didn't really deliver power-wise in his biggest fights, as he failed to come close to stopping Walcott, Charles or "Turkey" Thompson, who were the three best opponents he faced while at or near his prime.

 

Is there any film of him?

 

Bump great Stuff MF. MarcianoFrazier has posted a puncher of newspaper articles before, and based upon the stellar reputation the papers and louis camp gave Ray.....Elmer Ray was the one louis camp least wanted to face in a title fight.

 

This thread deserves a bump, maybe the best man to never get a HW title shot above WIlls and Langford?

Amazing run, the pictures of him shows he held 200lbs of ripped muscle mass with tree trunk legs, a real physical specimen and I can see him outmuscling 230-240lb men. Just look at the build of his legs and back, thats a very very strong man there. He'd be 230lbs and ripped today. He seems to have a great record and a bit of a KO artist but I wonder if he was a seek destroy type or had skills to match

Would love to hear more about him and wonder if there is any footage of him or if hes in the land of Harry Greb in that send.

 

Ray is one of the most intriguing characters out there. Was he a big puncher? He only really Ko'd one top guy. So was it is skills, stamina, or power that prevented him from scoring Ko's vs the ranked fighters?

I think Ray was a swing for the fences aggressive type who could hit hard, but lacked one or two punch outcome changing power.

Ray Ko'd droves of journeyman, but on the highest level appears to have been out maneuvered and out boxed. Apparently Charles was robbed ( a problem with 40's and 50's boxing ) of a victory when he meet Ray.

I wish there was film on Ray. My best guess on him based on news reads and style of fighting has the current conclusion.

Ray was an aggressive front runner type who started out fast, but slowed down a bit in the later rounds. It seems if Ray didn't get you early to mid rounds, the fight went the distance more often than not. I think he could hit, but I also think he wasn't the most durable guy out there. A real wild card in his era.

 

The Ring Magazine rated him as one of the top 50 best punchers of all time.

 

Interestingly enough, boxrec lists his date of birth as being March of 1910, with no death date. So I'm assuming this guy is still living and is 99 years old.

 

It would be amazing if Ray were still alive after all these years. I highly doubt he is. The best guess is 20 years after his boxing career ended, people forgot about him he became poor and faded into obscurity.

 

So Burley beat an arguably top20 HW Burley for P4P no1 of all time :yep