BoxRec

Regarding Canada's Gary Summerhays, who held the British Commonwealth light-heavyweight title in 1978-79, I always thought he was never knocked down during the first nine years of his career. That's the 1970-1979 period.

Of course, Gary got floored and stopped in five rounds by Lotte Mwale in 1979, in a bout held in Lusaka. But that was the first time he tasted canvas in his career. Or so I thought.

Now, though, I'm wondering if Vonzell Johnson knocked Gary down in their 1977 fight. That's because I found two photos online of Johnson knocking down a guy who looks a lot like Summerhays. Johnson won the fight on points.

Does anyone here have the details of this bout? Was there a knockdown?

The photos can be found here. Can anyone confirm if that Gary getting decked? See photos #7 and #8.

https://digital-collections.columbuslib ... /id/11940/

I had a long talk with Johnny Summerhays years ago- he was such a nice and interesting guy. I'll check the newspapers and try to answer your question.

Very little coverage in the newspapers other than a comment about Summerhays being unable to get inside on Johnson and using a duck and cover strategy.

goose 5 wrote: ↑29 Jul 2026, 19:31 Very little coverage in the newspapers other than a comment about Summerhays being unable to get inside on Johnson and using a duck and cover strategy.

Did you check those photos in the link I posted? They don't say who's the guy getting floored. I'm speculating that it's Gary Summerhays because of his face. But maybe it's someone else.

Another possibility is that the photo does indeed depict Summerhays, but that he slipped to the canvas, as opposed to being legitimately knocked down.

I also checked Ring Magazine's archives, but couldn't find a write-up of this fight.

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goose 5 wrote: ↑29 Jul 2026, 19:31 Very little coverage in the newspapers other than a comment about Summerhays being unable to get inside on Johnson and using a duck and cover strategy.

Summerhays excelled at using duck and cover techniques. And, when executing such maneuvers, he often countered with punches thrown from unusual angles.

These tactics are especially evident in Gary's bouts against Mike Rossman and Mike Spinks, both of which are on youtube.

I love his fight with Tony Mundine.