I've been researching Elmer Ray(one of the best contenders not to win the title, at one point ran up a 50-fight winning streak and beat both Charles and Walcott shortly before they became champions), and on this site I notice it has his date of birth, but not a date of death as it usually does with deceased boxers. However, he was born in March of 1910, meaning he's 95 years old if he's still alive. Of course I'm sure you don't immediately catch it and record it every time someone dies.
Anyway, does anyone know if he's still alive or not?
Is Elmer Ray still alive?
re
Have no idea and I don't recall ever seeing his name listed in any Ring, or or other magazines from the 50s up to today telling of his death, which is something that I would have taken a note of, but he is certainly a fighter that little research has been done on and I would be very, very interested in any early research that turns up! There was some cat on here a few years ago that was passing around a bogus record for Ray. His record is missing many early bouts!
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Marciano Frazier
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 326
- Joined: 29 Jul 2003, 13:13
Yes, it's very hard to find info on this guy. He was highly avoided and most of the top guys were scared to death of him, in a time when black heavyweights(like Ray) generally didn't get a lot of opportunities, which left him relegated to fighting various other black heavyweights for the most part(former colored champ Walker, Haynes, Thompson, Walcott, Charles, etc.). Never got a lot of press, particularly because of the unfortunate time he beat Walcott and Charles- right before they burst into worldwide fame and became household names, as opposed to afterwards, but he was in the top two contenders for over two years and never got a shot.barry wrote:Have no idea and I don't recall ever seeing his name listed in any Ring, or or other magazines from the 50s up to today telling of his death, which is something that I would have taken a note of, but he is certainly a fighter that little research has been done on and I would be very, very interested in any early research that turns up! There was some cat on here a few years ago that was passing around a bogus record for Ray. His record is missing many early bouts!
Boxrec lists him as having won his first nine fights, all by knockout, before losing one, but I've read that he actually lost his first pro fight and then won 15 in a row, all by knockout. I've also read that he scored 73 knockouts in his career, which would fit with the fact newspapers reported him as having his 11th consecutive knockout against Freddie Hudson, while boxrec only lists it as his 8th, and boxrec lists him as having 70 knockouts, meaning he probably has three more unrecorded knockouts during his enormous knockout streak in the mid-40s, which would indicate he actually won 53 fights in a row, with 47 knockouts, over the course of just 3 1/2 years, including wins over Jersey Joe Walcott and Lee Savold.
However, these numbers are conflicting when taken with each other and the rest of his known record, meaning that one or both of those reports, probably the first one, if you made me guess, is wrong. Ah well.I understand that Ray's best punch was his left hook, but he had a good right hand as well, and not only that, but he possessed good combination punching, defensive skills, and a sound left jab, his main flaw being a shaky chin. I have a photo of him here. He's one intimidating guy by appearances, with a Sonny Liston-esque glower, and with the way he was racking up knockout after knockout, I can see why most of the contenders(and some say even Joe Louis) avoided him. The one time one of the major white heavyweight contenders, Lee Savold, got in the ring with him, Ray annihilated him in two rounds, and their careers clearly reflect that he was easily the superior fighter of the two, but interestingly, Savold received far more press than Ray ever did. I think Ray is a very interesting fighter and one of the most overlooked top heavyweight fighters in history, especially considering his apparent ability. I know Gene Tunney held him in high regard.
So then, is he still alive, anyone?
re
I'm pretty sure that Elmer Ray may have had up in the neighborhood of 50 to 100+ unrecord bouts from his early years and possibly well over 100 career knockouts but I don't have the resources to check many of the southern newspapers that would have information about him. Supposedly, his early years were spent in and around Texas, Florida and if I'm not mistaken I've also read North Carolina as well, but Louisiana, Texas and Florida papers would be anyones best bet to began on his early career!