Was Jimmy Ellis chinny or not?

He collapsed in the 12th against Ali after hanging tough all the way. He took monster shots against an absolute prime Frazier. He got caught by one of Shavers best shots at the end of his own career. Ellis was a blown up middleweight. His chin was terrific and he was absurdly courageous.

 

You can classify him where his wins and loss place him. To me looking at it retrospectively, there are no surprises or inconsistencies in his record. He fits right in place above Bonavena, Chuvalo and Quarry, pretty even with a mature Patterson, and not as good as Ali or Frazier. I have a lot of respect for Ellis. I don't know of any fighter who got more out of his abilities. He was an overblown middleweight who did pretty good. He won a respectable tournament for a piece of the heavyweight title. He went as far as he could. That's how I classify him. I suppose you can quibble here and there, but the record speaks for itself.

 

I would never call Ellis chinny. I remember him fighting a peak Ron Lyle when he was clearly past his best and hanging tough for 12 rounds. Also, his second fight with Joe Frazier I do not remember him going down. The fight was stopped in the 9th from the thumping Joe was giving him, but again, he hung tough.

 

Ellis chinny ? No chance. Very tough and brave Ellis was. Only the very top, most powerful guys stopped Ellis.

 

Ellis was an excellent fighter, but after beating Patterson nothing went right for him, since fights weren’t panning out and he was also nursing injuries, which resulted in over a year of inactivity. Having Joe Frazier as your comeback fight after a lot of inactivity is a bad idea for anyone.

Another problem with Ellis was that other fighters could get under his skin like Shavers did. To prove prove Shavers and the fans wrong Ellis tried going toe to toe with Shavers, which didn’t end well.

 

Ellis was a skilled guy who lacked the power to keep bigger men and punchers off. Being stopped 4 time sin 53 fights vs quality competition is not bad at all. I still consider him a top 100 heavyweight, as he beat some good names. Medium level chin, suspect vs punchers.

 

A brave fighter who always gave his best. His chin was decent, I'd say.

I'm intrigued by his massive weight gain at a mature age. Steroids or did he just murder himself to make 160? At 6'1 he must have been skinny at that weight.

 

Shavers could be real clever. He called Ellis a "blown up middle weight" at the weigh in and he knew he had him when he reacted angrily. Shavers knew his chances would be much slimmer if Ellis boxed and moved.

Getting KO'd by a guy who hits as hard as shavers after letting yourself get worked up hardly puts you in the "chinny" category. There are very, very few boxers who would remain on their feet in that scenario. He did alright for himself and showed tons of heart. An overachiever.

There are guys the same height and taller than Ellis who can make that weight, both in mma and boxing. They tend to be on the lanky side though. I doubt he was on roids.

 

He had a sharp punch .. he dropped and badly rocked Bonavena twice in his victory ..

 

Most tall guys today making 160 sheds a lot, though. Jacobs stands just below 6 foot and he is about 180 lbs in the ring.

Both Hearns and Barkley were 6'1, though, and that was before the day-before weigh-in, I think. Especially Barkley looked massive at 160. Don't know how he did it.