Nice little Jimmy Young article.

I agree ,without the cut he would have gone rounds ,he was never wobbled but he was out jabbed which doesn't bode well for him if the fight went into the later rounds.
Gil Clancy doing the commentary said Young was in shape at 223lbs ,only1.5 lbs lighter than ****ey.
Young was 209 for Ali,210,5 for Lyle ,and 213 for Foreman imo he was carrying 10lbs of surplus for a make or break cross roads fight,I question his commitment to the game, I don't think he had what it takes to be champ his record is littered with close fights he could have won had he shown a bit more hustle.

 

he had what it took, he just wasn't awarded the decisions. Its funny how comfortable he looked in there, when you think of holmes in there with ****ey, Looked like Holmes was fighting for his life, and Jimmy looked like ,well, comfortable. Its a shame he got cut, that can happen to anybody, anytime

 

You have to ask why wasn't he awarded the decisions?
That's my point,you don't get wins leaning out of the ring.
What was he doing coming in at 223lbs in a make or break fight?

I think Holmes was more comfortable in there with ****ey than Young was.

 

he lost some decisions because some judges aren't that impressed with a defensive genius. Ali would have got a decision leaning out of the ring, it would magically thought of as brilliant

 

oh yea, red alert is correct. I didn't say it to take away from Larry, he was great. love him. I just meant the two different looks, Young so relaxed, right in front of Gerry, and Larry, on the move, more intense.

 

And that's what I loved so much about Jimmy....his being relaxed...the same vibe as Nicolino Locche....Jimmy was a heavyweight Locche in many ways.

 

I just don't think he had a champions mentality.
I saw him make a ****** out of our British Champion John L Gardner, taking an easy decision ,and dropping him along the way.

 

Holmes had that streak of ruthlessness that you need to get to the top ,he wanted to beat C**ney up, all the BS before with C**ney on the cover of SI and getting purse parity ,with the champ p*ssed him off.

 

Plenty of defensive geniuses have won close decisions including Pep ,Locche ,Byrd,Loughran
etc.
Ali was there for the taking that night but Young didn't have it in him to take the bull by the horns and wrench the title from his hands ,it was there on a plate, but he couldn't bring himself to take it .
I can't think of another challenger who in the same position would have let such a prize go unpicked.

That's my take on Jimmy Young ,a nearly man who had no one to blame but himself for how his career unfolded.

 

Holmes dominated C**ney, Young never dominated anyone in his entire career.