Jimmy Young

I don't know about Young being "robbed". He had a style that made his opponents look bad and the fights close. If he had been given all the close decisions he was in, people would call him a Sven Ottke. :good

I do think he was very good, close to great. I have no idea what happened to him after the Norton fight.

 

Him getting the decisions against Ali, Shavers, and Norton wouldn't be stretching it at all though. They were all ugly but the general consensus is that Young won them.

 

He lost to the upcoming youngbloods of the division, probably lost a little of desire after Norton.

 

He was down in the Shavers fight and supposedly took quite a beating in the early rounds until coming back well in the late rounds. I believe there's actually film of this but I have never seen it.

The Ali fight was ugly. I think most boxing experts score it for Young but I'm not sure if Young would have been given a huge amount of credit even if he had won. Yes it's Ali but it was a very overweight and aging version of him, and it was a very dull fight in which Young used some questionable tactics.

I think most do score the Norton-Young fight for Norton. I'm going to have to watch it again.

 

Tell me how it goes. I myself have never seen it but from what I've heard from most people it was a close one that Young edged.

 

I have always liked Young. He was incredibly sneaky, much like Chris Byrd. Beat some of the big names of his day. Very hard to hit cleanly. Not the hardest puncher but could hold his own and had fast hands.

Too bad he got jobbed as often as he did.

 

OK Lets put his losses in perspective.
Young lost a split dec to a 34 year old Norton .Young was 28.I thought Norton won it.
Young lost a decision to a 34 year old Ali ,Young was 27.Close fight, Ali was 230lbs, fat and undertrained .Young spent half the night with his upper body outside the ropes ,he did not come to TAKE the title, he came to STEAL it and paid the price , his negative tactics turned the judges off, the fight was a stinker.Young was 27 years old in his prime against a 34 year old fading disinterested ,out of shape champ , he had only himself to blame if he didnt get the dec imo.
Young beat a 35 year old Ron Lyle ,Young was 27, out boxing Lyle was not a miraculous acheivement, imo ,especially as he was 35.

Young beat a George Foreman ,who had had his confidence shattered by his ko loss to Ali.
Foreman pursued Young and according to Young, George had him out on his feet at one point ,"all he had to do was touch me with his little finger and I would have gone".
Foreman ,tired from his efforts of chasing Young and suffered heat prostration, he was put down ,when the momentum of missing a shot carried him in to the path of a Young counter ,he was up quick and resumed chasing Young.
No arguments about dodgy decisions when Young was beaten twice in succesion by an 11 and 12 fight Ossie Ocasio.
Or when he was decisioned by Dokes in 79,[Young was only 31].
When Greg Page shut him out in 82 Young was still only 34.
To sum up after a while you have to stop making excuses for Young's bad luck, if you are of Championship calibre ,you make your own luck YOUNG DIDNT AND HE WASNT.

Young was too often negative, and involved in spoiling ,boring fights, if he had some fire in his belly ,after his first couple of close decision losses ,he would have made sure he upped his work rate,but he didnt have the fire ,and never did.
A comparison.Marvin Hagler fought a passive fight against Antuofermo the first time and had to settle for a draw, he didnt do it again.

 

There really is some truth in this. I do like Young's smartness and slickness in the ring, though. No often you see something like that in the HW division. He had great footwork and sense of distance.

One thing that has gone curiosly unnoted is how the Young camp worked over the ref before the Foreman fight. They made such a big deal out of him faving to be wise to Foreman's shoving and pushing, that the ref said nothing about all the clinching and holding Young did, but instead penalised Foreman for trying to shrug him off.

 

Agreed.

Also, as much as people like to say he was "robbed" against Ali, he was also given a gift when the ref declined to penalize or DQ him for repeatedly sticking his body through the ropes, which was about as flagrant a foul as you could get; so that logic really works both ways.

 

I agree with the post for the most part although I believe the Ocasio and Page fights were fairly close.

Not impressed by Young's late career record, he seemed to turn into a journeyman, but he was a very durable one. Aside from a cut stoppage against Cooney, none of the men he fought knocked him out.

 

I think that proves my point really ,he lapsed into the path of least resistance .A Champion would bite the bullet and WIN leaving no argument.
Young was too passive ,he didnt have a Champion's mentality ,who ever had a better opportunity to win a title than he did against Ali ?.
Young was in his prime at 27 at his optimum weight ,Ali was 34 and 18lbs over his,yet Young ,after making Ali look awkward and clumsy ,spent half the night with his head outside the ropes.
Young was a good fighter but NEVER a great one.

 

He was penalized for that, in effect. He got himself hung up on the ropes at one point, and received an eight count, so Ali was credited with an official knockdown. Beyond that, this tactic certainly hurt him on the scorecards.

I had Ali the clear winner on aggression. Young himself was the clear winner on aggression against Foreman, repeatedly beating George to the punch with his double jab on the retreat, and body punching. If he had boxed Ali like that, he might have actually lifted the title.

 

That wasn't Young's style. I do agree with much of what you're saying but just because the fight was boring doesn't mean he didn't deserve the decisions.