BoxRec

Bonus-Cleveland Williams vs Frankie Daniels pre-fight newspaper article.
Archie Moore and Angelo Dundee comment on Cleve Williams physique.
November.3.1957

http://www.news.google.com/newspapers?i ... 1312847&dq

-Flashback-June.22. 1954

In Miami Beach Florida ,a 20 year old Cleve Williams agrees to take on knock out artist 30 year old Bob Satterfield with just 4 days notice.
Both have 26 knockouts in their record coming into this fight.
Williams 31-0-0(26 KOs)
Satterfield 33-16-2(26 KOs)

http://www.news.google.com/newspapers?i ... ,974546&dq

Link to ring action photo-Satterfield vs. Williams.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1954-Press-Phot ... 51a397da5b

Here is an earlier pre-fight newspaper article from
The Miami News, June.19.1954.
(check out the great early posed photo of Cleve Williams
on the upper left of newspaper article page).

http://www.news.google.com/newspapers?i ... 5036534&dq

The Miami News June.21.1954
pre-fight newspaper article.

http://www.news.google.com/newspapers?i ... 2,86464&dq

June.22.1954 Miami Beach Florida
crowd attendance-3,218
(gate reciepts $ 7,501)
referee Cy Gottfried
Bob Satterfield, age 30 yrs,ht 6 ft 2",weight 183 lbs,reach(?)
Cleveland Williams ,age 20 yrs,height ,6 ft 4",weight 215 lbs,reach 80-83"
(scroll to lower right of article to see Williams on the canvas.)

http://www.news.google.com/newspapers?i ... 1495440&dq

Newspaper article-October.16.1957

-Cleveland Williams Knocks Out Holman-

"Houston,Tex-AP-Cleveland Williams of Houston,208,
stretched Johnny Holman,205,up on his toes with a
whistling left uppercut,then crossed a booming right
for a seventh round knockout Tuesday Night.
The Chicago Heavyweight was on the floor a
full three minutes before being revived.
It was Williams 37th victory in 39 professional fights,
his 23rd by knock out"


http://www.news.google.com/newspapers?i ... 3685345&dq

Sonny Liston remembers his first fight with Cleveland Williams in 1959.


"That was the night I really found out about myself".
Liston would say years later.
"If I had one weak spot anywhere,in my body,my chin,or my heart,
it would've showed up with all that whuppin' he put on me in the first round.
But I was never really hurt bad,no matter how it looked.
I knew what was goin' on even before I sat down,
I was thinkin' to myself,
"This cat's gotta put it to me like that for nine more rounds to win this fight ,and I dont think he can do it".
(quoted in book Deviland Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches,page 126)

-Bumped by Popular demand-

Sonny Liston vs Cleveland Williams I
15.April.1959 Miami Beach,Florida.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXo7Ryg3lpQ

just a note,I was trying to track down a newspaper interview
with Cleveland Williams by Mark Seal that was published
in a Dallas newspaper around 1989-1990,
when I came across another article from 1994
that mentions one of his opponents
Sonny Moore aka SD Policeman had died in late March 1994
following a lengthy illness.I mentioned it too also in the boxing records inquireies dept here.

For the rest of his life Sonny Liston claimed the first fight
with Cleveland Williams was his toughest.
"Cleveland Williams was the hardest puncher I've fought.
"No one wants to fight him.
He can punch as hard as I can but he can't take it like I can"

In 1965 Liston again spoke of Williams,
Liston lauded Williams as having the hardest right hand in the game'
"He tagged me harder then any man ever has"

When Liston became champ in 1963 whomever it was who wanted to challenge him for the title he wanted them to fight Cleveland Williams first,including Ingemar Johansson and Cassius Clay.

Here is a link to an interesting short interview with
Cleveland Williams for the Miami News in March.8.1963.
In it ,Williams remembers his first fight with Sonny Liston and some of the other big punchers
that he had faced earlier in his career.

"I had heard very little about Liston before I fought him the first time....really didn't know who he was"
"Remember he'd been fighting mostly in the Midwest and not against as
well known fellows as I had met"

"When he went into the ropes I thought he might be trying to trick me...playing possum
...so I didn't press him.
I wasn't going to take a chance"
"Then in the third round I became careless and it was all over"

"I think Bob Satterfield,who I fought here in 1954 and Johnny Holman,both were better punchers then Liston".

"Big name fighters aren't always your toughest opponents.I think the worst beating I ever took was from a fellow named Curly Lee.Few fight fans ever recognize his name"
(Williams also talks about a few other things in this newspaper article,
including his prediction for the upcoming Liston-Patterson rematch .
"Liston is too powerful.....too much man").


http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qJ ... 2903480&dq

Sonny Liston vrs Cleveland Williams II
(Sam Houston Coliseum,March.21.1960 Houston Texas)

This is an interesting fight as far as how it was shown.
It was an experiment that was shown live via-closed circuit but to just two other cities in Texas.
San Antonio and Dallas which featured it as a main attraction on two live fight cards.
(blacked out in Houston)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO6gqaQ5uC4

In San Antonio at the Muncipal Auditorium,the live fight main event was lightweight champion Joe Brown vs Ray Portilla.
and in Dallas at the Memorial Auditorium the live fight card shown before the closed-circuit fight
(on 3 screens) was
Roy Harris vs Henry Hall and Sonny Moore vs Buddy Turman.

Brutu wrote:Sonny Liston vrs Cleveland Williams II
(Sam Houston Coliseum,March.21.1960 Houston Texas)

This is an interesting fight as far as how it was shown.
It was an experiment that was shown live via-closed circuit but to just two other cities in Texas.
San Antonio and Dallas which featured it as a main attraction on two live fight cards.
(blacked out in Houston)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO6gqaQ5uC4

In San Antonio at the Muncipal Auditorium,the live fight main event was lightweight champion Joe Brown vs Ray Portilla.
and in Dallas at the Memorial Auditorium the live fight card shown before the closed-circuit fight
(on 3 screens) was
Roy Harris vs Henry Hall and Sonny Moore vs Buddy Turman.

Ring card girls were not nearly as attractive back then . . .

Sonny Liston remembers April.15.1959.Miami Beach.
-The Moment of Truth-

"The bout that really meant more than any other to me happened in Miami Beach in 1959.
when I fought Cleveland Williams for the first time"
"He's a good puncher.
He caught me with a combination left and right that knocked me back
into the ropes.
"I guess they were the best punches anybody ever hit me.
"I took them and came back to knock him out in three rounds
"Right then, I knew I was the best fighter in the world".

Sonny Liston, The Miami News February.12.1963

http://www.news.google.com/newspapers?n ... 76,4249658

I grew up in Houston. After the City Auditoriam burned down, the fights at the SHC downtown were memorable. I think it was Joe Brown who was Light-heavy champion. The BIG CAT was the big name in town. It was a thrill to see him enter the SHC arena,, shadow boxing to warm up, to break a sweat in view of everyone. It was a tradition we all anticipated and applauded. During a pre-lim when the Big Cat hit the floor and began his ritual warmup, the WHOOPS and applause of anticipation began. Get this fight over. We came to see the BIG CAT.
I recall one in particular, Ernie Banks I think. Had been down, and again, and as the BIG CAT came on, took a knee. The fight game called such an act cowardice. We called it survival. It had not been so long since Emile Griffith took out Kid Paret in MSG on national TV. No one wanted to see a repeat. No one wanted to be the victim. Blood sport. I do not know if Banks fought again. I recall when Ali turned in fear from Larry Holmes, and the fight was later stopped I think. We see what toll it took on Ali.)

Others wanted to challenge the Big CAT. Even from within the A&B stable owned by Bud Adams (Oilers and TITANS owner) and Hugh Benbow. A white south paw, Todd Herring. No chance when they got into the ring. I heard that Todd wound up in TDC for stabbing a man in a bar fight. For a long time Perry could not get a fight for the Big CAT. Patterson did not want to fight him. Liston did not want t fight him. He had to fight lesser knowns, train. stay out of trouble (hard for a black man in racist white Harris County) and bide his time.

What happened to the Big Cat was a shame, being in position to sign against Ali who was fighting once a month against seeming all comers, before going to Europe for the same deal. To let himself get in a situation to be picked up by HCSD; and then to be shot at point blank range while in custody of Harris County Sherrif Deputy, being transported to TOMBALL? WHY TOMBALL of all places?

Perry told us a surgeon told him that the BC's phenomenal abdominal structure (the depth and density of his abs) had saved his life.
The 357 bullet was contained within the muscle wall, and did not reach a vital organ. Not the stomach nor liver nor kidney nor spleen nor colon. His abs were inches thicker than the normal man, or even the normal highly conditioned athlete. Doubt it? Shoot a 357 into a watermelon or cantelope at point blank range, or even a side of beef, and see what it does. Yet the bullet did not exit his abs, nor his body. Perhaps the hand of God preserving his life.

To survive the wound was a miracle.
To live to fight again at any level makes him a legend in my mind. But I am biased. I worked out for two summers under Perry Payne at A&B. My Dad and Perry had grown up together, hauling ice up tenement steps together for Pat McKenzie in the 30's for residential ice boxes before people had refrigerators. Perry taught me the fundamentals.
I saw the Big Cat in the gym, along with Karl Zurheide who lived in the gym (almost), Dave Zyglewicz who had come from New York State, Mark Tessman and a host of others who came from around the country as Adams was trying to find and market a champion. Houston was a boxing town.

Houston, East and SE Texas had a longstanding tradition of boxing with Golden Gloves every spring.
Maurice "Termite" Watkins was an amateur of my era, built a stable in Galena Park (East Houston) I think.
Bubba Buscemi of Beaumont.
Hall of Famer Lucky Vascocu of Troup, and his son Bobby who I think was on the '72 Munich team.

Adams did not care about boxing. He cared about money. He discounted the Big Cat after the shooting.
I think it was R. E. "Bob" Smith of Houston, who took the Big Cat in after he was discharged. Took him to his rural Fort Bend County ranch. Let him work and rest and recover. Kept in touch with Perry. In time, the Cat wanted to get back into the gym. It was the best of what he had known. He had been so close. He wanted to try again.
Then came the fight.
Dad and I were in the Dome.
Something was amiss, though. The Big Cat entered the ring and sat on his stool in the corner. WHAT? No warmup? No WHOOP and APPLAUSE from the hometown crowd of tens of thousands? THIS was the first fight in the DOME, Judge Roy Hofheinz's dream and monument, and home to ADAMS' OILERS. AND the Big Cat sat, and Perry stood by in his traditional white sweater (think of a HS letterman's sweater). And they stood by and waited for ALI.
In comes ALI with Bundini Brown. And they are shucking and jiving and rhyming and rappin'. The circus has arrived. Angelo Dundee has ALI loaded from training and BROWN has him primed with the Nation of Islam ego trip of destiny.
Ali's skin is glistening from his warmup.
The Big Cat's is a dull brown. Has not yet broken a sweat, until the second or third round. He never had a chance. His heart and mind were not in it. What had happened?

Later, Perry told Dad and me that in the hour prior to his entry to the DOME arena, BUD ADAMS himself had walked into the dressing room to serve the Big CAT and Perry with papers, informing them of a pending lawsuit because they had not involved him in the dealings for this fight.

In the Big Cat's mind, all was lost. He could not win against Adams who was NOT his friend. Even if he won, he would still lose all he would gain. It deflated him. It broke his heart and spirit.

I do not know if he would ever have caught Ali. Ali was at the height of his prowess. He showed the ALI shuffle, and the 'double clutch shuffle' as a disarming tactic that would cause a boxer to hesitate. Then ALI would sting him, again and again. A 208# man hitting you over and over again, takes a toll. It took out the BIG CAT in the third.

But I wonder what MIGHT have been, had the BIG CAT been the BIG CAT on that fateful night. He had taken Big Ben's punches to take him out.

LATER we would see that ALI could take the punches of Smokin' Joe Frazier, who took out Dave Z.
So it probably would NOT have happened for lightning to strike through the Big CAT's hooks.

It just wasn't fair, what ADAMS did that night. It was not necessary to do it at that hour, or at all.
Except we are talking about Bud ADAMS. That is a whole other story in Houston's sports history.

FYI: Dad went to work for the City of Houston Parks Department as a painter. Who did he meet among the department work teams but Cleveland "Big Cat" Williams. Dad went to him in a private moment and asked, "Aren't you the BIG CAT?"
To which he replied, "Yeah, or what's left of him."
They each went to their assigned workplaces.
Dad never saw him again.

I moved recently, And among my belongings, my treasures, is a poster of the BIG CAT about to fight Elmer Rush of San Francisco, in thse SHC. Another win on the way to ALI, and destiny. In the poster photo of the BIG CAT, rather than holding his hand in the typical peak a boo style a lot boxers used, he has his arms crossed across his torso, I supposed to hide that terrible scar.

Such a man. The BIG CAT.

I enjoyed that post.

Brutu wrote:Sonny Liston vrs Cleveland Williams II
(Sam Houston Coliseum,March.21.1960 Houston Texas)

This is an interesting fight as far as how it was shown.
It was an experiment that was shown live via-closed circuit but to just two other cities in Texas.
San Antonio and Dallas which featured it as a main attraction on two live fight cards.
(blacked out in Houston)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO6gqaQ5uC4

In San Antonio at the Muncipal Auditorium,the live fight main event was lightweight champion Joe Brown vs Ray Portilla.
and in Dallas at the Memorial Auditorium the live fight card shown before the closed-circuit fight
(on 3 screens) was
Roy Harris vs Henry Hall and Sonny Moore vs Buddy Turman.

Lightweight champion Joe Brown fought out of Houston, too. I erred saying LtHvyWt in my post.
We saw him fight at SHC in the early 60's.
He ran into trouble trying to train near Tomball, Tx in those days a big hangout for the KLAN.
They would have roughed him up had they ever caught up to him.

Ziggy.
Karl Zurheide.
Mark Tessman.
These three were the most notable to come from around the country to be sponsored at A&B (Adams and Benbow) operations in an upstairs gym on the north end of Travis Avenue in the early and mid-60's. Tessman and I think Zurheide also went to south Texas Jr college a few blocks away on Main, north of the Bayour. And then to U of Houston to earn degrees. The last time I saw Tessman fight I think it was at a DANCE CITY club affair on Airline in Houston in late 60's.
I heard Ziggy had returned to tend bar in upstate NY.


There was also the TEXAS Boxing GYM on Milam, across from the present theatre district. Charles Collins trained Lorenzo "BOOM BOOM" Trujillo and a number of others there. BOOM BOOM fought for a title I think. Charles and George Drushel, a teacher from my HS (Cy-Fair) put together a team from our school that went to Houston's Golden Gloves in 1966. I was running track and the coach would not let me box. The next year I trained with them and boxed anyhow. After HS I trained at Texas Boxing gym with Charles just for conditioning and I liked the contact. In 1971, I broke my left hand on a heavy bag. Put me out of the ring for a year or so until I hooked up Mike Riley at SFA in Nacogdoches, who trained under Lucky Vascocu or Troup, Tx. We fought in East Texas tournaments, armories, etc. I think Texas Boxing Hall of Fame inducted Lucky some years ago. Great man in and out of the ring.

I always kind of grieved for Mike Lanham, a sparring partner in and around A&B. He got lower level pre-lim fights to round out the cards with the Big Cat. But how many shots he took to get in one good one against the Big Cat. TOO MANY SHOTS. The last I heard he had gone to Florida. I hope he found another path. He was a gentle soul out of the ring.

This is so cool to read ... My Father was Tod Herring & fought Big Cat in the 60's. They remained friends until his death. Dad passed away in July 1991.


Coy

June.18.1966 Sam Houston Coliseum Houston Texas.
It was on the closed-circuit preliminary to Ernie Terrell vs Doug Jones main event.
Williams record going into the fight:64-5-1
Herring 26-5-0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXNxTq9K2EM

here it is
(scroll to the far lower right of article to see Cleveland Williams on the canvas knocked out.)
so imagine if it was the Rock who had landed his'Suzy Q"

http://www.news.google.com/newspapers?i ... 1495440&dq

Hello ,

I would love to see the Kinescope on the Curly Lee vs Cleveland Williams fight which from the boxing report sounded like a real "Donnybrook" the bout was a Pabst Blue Ribbon Wednesday night fight 10/14/1959.
To answer your question regarding additional films on Cleveland Williams his 2nd fight with Mac Foster on 11/18/1969 3RDS is a 9 minute silent film.

Sincerely Mikey Capp

just figured that I would bump this thread up again.

Caractacus wrote:just figured that I would bump this thread up again.

you mean since you started it under your old name?

Many of the links in this thread have since been removed by google.

someone add another fact please.