I have seen very little of 1970's Heavyweight Journeyman/fringe contender Jody Ballard. All I can recall seeing is a brief clip of his exhibition, in I think 1975 with George Foreman. An exhibition according to Gil Clancey was really a 'real' fight by the way.
I think his fight against Jimmy Young was also on TV. I have always thought that Ballard was one of those fighters that spent more time working as a sparring partner for the big names than concentrating on his own Boxing career? I am right on this assumption?
Also I seem to remember that Ballard worked as a sparring partner for Larry Holmes in the run up to the Ali fight and that Ballard in one of the last sparring sessions before the fight cut Holmes above the eye. To avoid the fight being delayed by this they covered the cut with some makeup. Anyone else remember this?
My boxing career began at the age of 23 in the amateur field for Rev. Ray Martin's PABA Third Ward, in Houston, Texas. I won the Golden Gloves in 1973. I then met Bill Watkins, the father of lightweight contender Termite Watkins. I began my professional career in 1974. Bill Watkins was my manager. My trainer at the time was Al Potato PieBolden, a former boxer. In 1975, I was a sparring partner for the Light-heavyweight Champion of the World Bob Foster. After winning my fisrt 19 pro bouts (19-0, 17 KO's), Ring Magazine rated me "Prospect of the Year" in 1975. In 1976, after beating Rodney Bobbick, who was managed by Angelo Dundee, I became ranked #8 in the world. In 1977, in Hawaii, I fought Pedro Lovell, a heavyweight contender. It was during this time that I met Don King. He introduced me to Larry Holmes, who became my sparring partner. Don King bought my contract and became my promoter, and Richard Giachetti became my manager and trainer. In 1978, I was a sparring partner for Muhammad Ali. During this time, I also fought George Foreman, Jimmy Young and Mike Weaver. When Larry Holmes became heavyweight champion in 1978, I became one of his sparring partner. I often fought on the same card. Also, in 1978, I fought the number one contender for the heavyweight division, Jimmy Young. During the years from 1978 to 1982, in addition to regular boxing bouts, I sparred with George Foreman, Saad Muhamed, Mustafa Muhamed, Ron Lyle and Michael Dokes. In 1984, I became a boxing manager and trainer.
In George Foreman's autobiography BY GEORGE, he mentions the exhibition with Jody Ballard which was held at the Concord Resort in the Catskills in November 1975, to benifit the U.S Olympics Boxing team.
Foreman says he boxed him with anger in his punches thinking about Muhammad Ali and everyone else who ever slighted him.
Ballard was from Houston and was a Foreman fan,but Big George didnt care,he just wanted to pound him.
Unfortunately, I only got to see a couple of Jodie's fights back in the day. Beginning with Ballard's bout vs top contender Jimmy Young on a NIGHT OF THE HEAVYWEIGHTS card on either CBS or NBC in September of '77, which was basically headlined by a pair of tune-up contests for Young & Kenny Norton in prep for their November WBC final eliminator.
With Young seemingly having the easier task of the two as he outboxed & outworked Jodie over the course of their brisk 10 round affair. While Norton was matched with the top ten fringe contender from Italy in awkward southpaw Lorenzo Zanon.
Zanon made things interesting for Norton until Kenny caught up to him with his power punches in round five, taking him out in the process. While Ballard was durable enough to extend Young the full ten round limit route to a L10.
Those two headliners were supported by another pair of good heavyweight contests in Larry Holmes brutalizing the previously once-beaten top 20 heavy Fred "Young Sanford" Houpe in seven rounds while longtime perennial contender Ron Lyle was very lucky to get a split nod over previously unbeaten contender Stan Ward in a very close contest.
Back to Ballard, it was clear that had he had the proper push & handling that he could have been a legit contender as he was a well schooled, skilled heavy with quick hands. Following his loss to Young, Jodie dropped a disputed 10 round split nod to Alfredo Evangelista. Which netted Evangelista a second shot at a world heavyweight title.
My only other look at Ballard was his rather brutal exhibition loss to George Foreman, which was definitely NOT the usual clowning, going through the motions affairs most exhibitions are complete with headgear & big gloves. Ballard's match with Foreman was an actual fight for all intents & purposes in which Foreman bombed poor Ballard out in two short rounds.
Foreman-Ballard was indeed a real fight... How it became listed as an exhibition is something I've always wondered about every time I heard Ballard's name mentioned... Ballard was never going to go anywhere. He didn't have a lot of power. He didn't have a lot of skill. He was a competent boxer who could give anyone a few good rounds
Kalan wrote:Foreman-Ballard was indeed a real fight... How it became listed as an exhibition is something I've always wondered about every time I heard Ballard's name mentioned... Ballard was never going to go anywhere. He didn't have a lot of power. He didn't have a lot of skill. He was a competent boxer who could give anyone a few good rounds
Gil Clancy liked to call a real fight an exhibition to take the pressure off his fighter after his fighter had a long layoff. Clancy had Cooney fight an "exhibition" before Foreman-Cooney. Opponent's name escapes me now. Wade?
Kalan wrote:Foreman-Ballard was indeed a real fight... How it became listed as an exhibition is something I've always wondered about every time I heard Ballard's name mentioned... Ballard was never going to go anywhere. He didn't have a lot of power. He didn't have a lot of skill. He was a competent boxer who could give anyone a few good rounds
Good ol' Kalan my friend. Always dismissing fighters ( especially those over 200 lbs ) if they're not big punchers. What are we going to do about you mate?
Seriously, though, I believe that Ballard was made of better stuff that you give him credit for. No, he wasn't a big banger, but he wasn't a complete power puff either & had he been moved with more care taken toward his career success rather than his opponents, I think he's have been a top 20 heavy rather than merely a capable journeyman.
