Leotis Martin was probably one of the most unheralded and underrated heavyweights fighters ever. Rumor has it that Joe Frazier's people did not want any parts of this dynamite puncher. Jimmy Ellis started his usual fast way and was able to do damage to Martin's eye (Leotis had to retire early due to damage to his eyes). The fight was stopped in favor of Ellis with Martin really starting to come on. Martin's most famous win was when he losing just about every round to an aging Liston before kayoing him with one explosive right hand punch. Who can forget Howard Cosell exclaiming: "That concludes the career of Charles Sonny Liston!" Cosell, who was often prone to hyperbole, was still partly right. Liston had one more fight against "The Bayonne Bleeder" Chuck Wepner. But the Martin loss effectively extinguished his faint hopes of securing one last title shot even if it did conclude his career as Cosell claimed at the time. Max Schmelling needs no introdution to the boxing experts on here. In an upset I'm picking Leotis Martin to upset the German and win a 7th round kayo.
BIG DEE HERE= Max Schmeling KO in 8 rds. Schmeling to fast. hit to hard, takes to good a punch, to good a boxer and just to damn smart for Leotis Martin to deal with.
Schmeling seemed to thrive against pressure fighters for some reason. He also tended to take care of business against anybody who was not quite as good as him. I suspect that he would win.
That's about it! Sardu mentions damage to martins eye in the Ellis fight ,he was actually tkod with a badly lacerated lip.I saw him in a tremendous fight with Thad Spencer here in the UK, Martin won ,it was named the fight of the year here.Schmeling would be too cagey and have too many tool for martin ,Mickey Walker said Max was a murderous short puncher .
Anything the Cruder Bonavena could do, and Thad Spencer Almost do, i Think Max can do better, Albeit against an Improved Martin, If Max "Saw Something" when viewing the young Joe Louis, i am sure he would Spot quite a few things when Viewing Leotis, Leotis, a Fine Fighter, but i dont think he takes it to the Max here.
You are absolutely sir I stand corrected. It was a bad cut to the inside of Martin's mouth that caused the Ellis fight to be stopped. Also, I examined Leotis' record and it was a fine one. He had to retire after the Liston fight due to a deatched retina. In retrospect though I think I got too excited and predicted an upset in a mythical fight with the formidable Schmelling. After reading these fine posts I will now change my previous pick and go with the Black Ulan - the great Max Schmelling by TKO in about 9 rounds.
