Jimmy Young takes a dive?

dagosd2000 · Post by **dagosd2000** » 08 Sep 2007, 01:48

I was around 22 when I saw Jimmy Young fight a local heavyweight from San Diego named Clay Hodges. Hodges had about 4 fights and was undefeated. The Colisium in San Diego had a pretty good card every Tuesday night and the local paper was building Hodges up as a promising contender. He was an ex Marine in San Diego so people were keeping an eye on him. Truthfully,he was awful. Slow and awkward with no punch. I was waiting for someone to come along and knock him out. Jimmy Young was to fight him. This was way before Young had his big fights with Ali and Foreman. It was a 4 or 6 rounder. Young was brought out from Philly and everyone thought he was a stiff. Well in the first round Young has Hodges down twice. I'm sitting close to ringside with a buddy and says" I told you he was a bum". Two old guys in suits sitting in front of us turn around after the first round and say" I got twenty bucks Hodges wins the fight". I jumped all over that offer. Well for the rest of the fight Young didn't throw another punch and just clinched. I'm screeming at Young to hit him but he's in a trance. The bell rings for the the end of the last round and I start reaching for my wallet. The told old timers in the suits turn around and say laughing"Hold on to your money son we knew Hodges was going to win". A few weeks later Hodges fights up in Los Angeles and is knocked out easy. That's the anyone heard of him.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 08 Sep 2007, 12:12

Interesting story. They were both novice professional at the time so who knows, these things happen. But as far as I know Clay Hodges had a more extensive amateur career than Jimmy Young and was a two time Golden Gloves champion including a victory over a young George Foreman. Jimmy Young learnt his trade as he went along and didn't flourish untill a few years later.

The show.
http://www.boxrec.com/show_display.php?show_id=18033

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 09 Sep 2007, 10:28

Seems a bit out of order accusing Young of taking a dive, he was a novice pro losing an early fight... it happens.

harrygreb · Post by **harrygreb** » 09 Sep 2007, 16:42

scandalous!! boxers not trying their hardest? taking money to deliberately lose a decision? i'm going to write to the prime minister about this.

BoxBuzz · Post by **BoxBuzz** » 09 Sep 2007, 17:15

Decagon wrote:
silkov wrote:Seems a bit out of order accusing Young of taking a dive, he was a novice pro losing an early fight... it happens.
If the dialogue he had with that one guy is legitimate, it's a very interesting story.

IF

enrique · Post by **enrique** » 10 Sep 2007, 14:40

I think Hodges beat Foreman twice. He was an excellent amateur and played Jess Willard in the Dempsey miniseries with Treat Williams.

I don't think it was a dive. Hodges was a very good prospect and had national amateur titles.

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 10 Sep 2007, 17:09

Decagon wrote:
silkov wrote:Seems a bit out of order accusing Young of taking a dive, he was a novice pro losing an early fight... it happens.
If the dialogue he had with that one guy is legitimate, it's a very interesting story.

I met a guy once who said he'd helped God make the world, should I take his word for it as well???.... 8)

granberry · Post by **granberry** » 10 Sep 2007, 17:29

dagosd2000 wrote:Well for the rest of the fight Young didn't throw another punch and just clinched. I'm screaming at Young to hit him but he's in a trance.

Thanks for the description of that fight.

That rings true.

Look at Young in the second round of his "fight" with Norton.
He staggers Norton with the first real punch he throws in the fight.

Then he MOVES AWAY from Norton and doesn't throw another punch for the rest of the round. He does that later in the same fight.

Young had Lyle falling all over the place after about 4 rounds of their 2nd fight. Then he eases up and it goes 12 rounds.

Look at the 14th round of the Young-Ali fight. Young hurts Ali with a right hand after suckering Ali to follow him into a corner.

Ali is clearly hurt and moves away to cover up on the ropes all the way across the ring and doesn't throw a punch of his own for another 20 seconds (a clear indication he was hurt).
What does Young do just after he hurts Ali with the short, accurate right hand? He throws a ridiculous right hand way out to the side, 2 and 1/2 feet from Ali's head. (Just after throwing a perfect accurate right hand? No thank you). He let Ali get off the hook repeatedly in that fight.

Young did what he was told. He had a very hard time getting fights and worked as a sparring partner for years.

Blinky Palermo was often in the gym where Young trained.
I was the only one who wasn't in on the Norton semi effort by Young.

See my comments on Georgie Benton (another Philly fighter) and Holly Mims on another thread here.

RazorKO · Post by **RazorKO** » 20 Sep 2007, 18:59

Young was a great fighter who was thrown in with the best too soon.
I still feel he deserved the win over Shavers in their rematch.

granberry · Post by **granberry** » 26 Sep 2007, 17:55

RazorKO wrote:Young was a great fighter who was thrown in with the best too soon.
I still feel he deserved the win over Shavers in their rematch.

Shavers did too.

Shavers jumped for joy when the draw decision was announced.

I was sitting ten feet away.

The left side of Shavers' face was swollen out like a spaceman's.

Jimmy Young takes a dive?

Jimmy Young takes a dive?

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