I found this footage posted four months ago. Up to that point I was dismayed believing it's nowhere to be found. Was it just me failing to find the whole fight? Fantastic to finally see Jimmy deck Ringo. This content is protected
I’ve never seen this before. Great find! I get the impression some people think of Ellis as more of a cautious cutie, a slick boxer, and while he certainly had boxing skills he had more than a bit of the gunslinger in him. He’s the clear aggressor in this from the start and has Ringo backing up and trying to avoid the shootout. Ellis was winging punches with bad intentions. This is a pretty big win and strong performance for Ellis. In 1967-68 he beat Leotis Martin, Bonavena, Quarry and Floyd Patterson in succession. That’s a helluva run, especially for a former middleweight.
He had the minerals to do it and that’s who he was. I don’t think he really backed down from anyone, although in some fights he certainly used his boxing skills more than in others. His gunslinger mentality is one of the things I like most about him.
Very fast starter with fantastic right hand. One of my favorite "underrated" heavyweights I can't quite place in the top 5, but love nonetheless.
Ellis is a good boxer, maybe a Doug Jones type? Good at all ranges and well schooled. Bonavena was tough, strong, but lacked fundamentals/technique. Ellis backed Bonavena up from early in the fight, whenever a taller guy can make a shorter one back up, it's usually going to be an easy fight for the taller guy. It mostly was for Ellis, he hit Bonavena with clean hard punches throughout the fight but for the most part Bonavena took them (Ellis probably had sore hands). For all that Bonavena lacked in boxing skill, his strength, toughness, and endurance made him a tough fight for anybody. Watching Bonavena get as far as he did always makes me think about how good he might have been if he had grown up in a NYC or Philly gym in the 50s/60s. If he had been taught (and he listened/learned) to go forward, to move his head, to throw short punches and keep his feet under him, if he bent his knees and got low, rather than leaning back and trying to straighten himself, etc., he might not have lost to anybody.
Yeah, it made him even more interesting than Ali in my opinion. I really liked him coming out hot and heavy against heavier hitters like Martin, Bonavena, and Shavers, and Bugner too as well. And I really believe he could have won the Quarry fight in a much more decisive, exciting fashion if he had tried to bomb Quarry out, whose defense would not have been sufficient in that fight.
Agreed Pat! - very aggressive guy, I think it might’ve started as being a bigger middleweight the mentality might not have left him like it did with Micheal Moorer as he climbed in weight.
