BoxRec

if memory serves leotis died in 1995 just as i was getting into boxing.

what were the circumstances of his death, dying so young? what did he do in his years after boxing, being retired early after he KO'd liston? thats some 25 or 26 yrs to fill.

interesting titbit: when leotis turned pro, he was one of the 3 sparring partners for who? sonny liston, before his rematch with floyd patterson!

btw- they say his 1968 9th rd KO of thad spencer in london was the greatest fight of all time.

Leotis Martin died of a stroke in Philadelphia, November 20, 1995.

LEOTIS MARTIN: HOW DID HE DIE?
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if memory serves leotis died in 1995.

what were the circumstances of his death, dying so young? what did he do in his years after boxing, being retired early after he KO'd liston? thats some 25 or 26 yrs to fill.

interesting titbit: when leotis turned pro, he was one of the 3 sparring partners for who? sonny liston, before his rematch with floyd patterson!

btw- they say his 1968 9th rd KO of thad spencer in london was the greatest fight of all time.




GorDoom
Editor-in Chief
(1/24/03 6:52:36 pm)
Reply Re: LEOTIS MARTIN: HOW DID HE DIE?
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btw- they say his 1968 9th rd KO of thad spencer in london was the greatest fight of all time.


Who is "they"?


Jeri Curl aka Overhand Right
Registered User
(1/25/03 7:42:41 am)
Reply | Edit
Re: LEOTIS MARTIN: HOW DID HE DIE?
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THE PEOPLE WHO SAW IT GORDOOM.

Belly
Unregistered User
(1/26/03 4:14:15 pm)
Reply Leotis Martin
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Jeri, I'm pretty sure Leotis Martin died of a stroke or heart attack.

rocky111
Unregistered User
(1/28/03 8:16:51 pm)
Reply for Chuck H
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Chuck H, let me say what a lucky thing for fans like me to be able to communicate with you and hear what you have to say bout Philly boxing. Its a great boxing heritage.
Id like to ask a question you might have the answer to about Leotis Martin.
I saw Martin fight many times and I considered him the most dangerous guy in the 70's to NEVER FIGHT EITHER ALI OR FRAZIER. Why didnt this happen? I saw the guy fight a very dangerous guy named Al Lewis twice in incredable heavyweight fights. Martin was dead game, had a iron chin, hit hard with combinations and had a great jab and stamina. When he beat Liston he beat a shot guy, but Sonny was still dangerous and packed a wallop as well as his usual powerful jab. Leotis showed so much skill and heart in jabbing with Liston and standing up to him. I loved this guy as a fighter. His punches had so much sting and snap! I had heard based on his sparring sessions that he might have done too well with Joe Frazier, that Yank Durham didnt want his great fighter to fight Martin if he didnt have too. Any light you can shed on this?

Alan Sugar
Unregistered User
(1/28/03 11:20:58 pm)
Reply Leotis Martin
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This was a baaaad man.

He was one of those Philly killers who was always dangerous. He did not have much muscle to him but was devastating. He was in the mold of a Holly Mims kind of build, but dropped the monsters hard.

I made it a point to see him fight in person.

He died around the mid 90's in his mid 50's.

His ko of Sonny Banks, who had a great build and dropped a young Cassius Clay resulted in the death of Banks.

Leotis beat tough and tall Roger Russell, beat Al Blue Lewis, tough Blue got robbed when he fought Bonavena, after knocking Oscar down a few times only to get robbed. Leotis beat Blue I think twice.

Leotis ko'd Thad Spencer, who I have a film of somewhere, crossing a right hand over and dropping Terrell in the WBA Tournament. I think I have the Martin VS Ellis fight too, Where Jimmy's hustle busted up Leotis' lip and was the writing on the wall after that.
Jimmy Ellis used the same hustle on Leotis he used on Persol and it worked.

Leotis fought and ko'd in 5 , I think a guy I boxed with quite a bit in Mooksie's gym in Newark, a seaonsed pro who we all respected in the gym, Lt. Hvy, Curtis Bruce.
Bruce was a nice man , polite and respectful to all us young fighters. He helped me a lot with a left hook over the top on the turn.

Leotis stopped a guy who I thought was a killer puncher but fizzled out from not staying in shape but I remember his awesome ko's in the Garden, Pan American Games winner, the tough hard punching Lee Carr.

Leotis beat the veteran Billy Daniels, who beat Doug Jones in an upset win. Leotis lost to Bonavena, but did beat like Rocky says, a still dangerous Liston, and Liston's left hook caused a detached retina, which promulgated Martin's retirement.

Best,
Ron

rocky111
Unregistered User
(1/28/03 11:39:09 pm)
Reply to Alan Sugar about Leotis Martin
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Ronnie thanks for that info on Leotis Martin. Coming from you I feel good about seeing those things in Martin, finding out you saw them too! Guess I have a pretty good eye! When you say a guy is BAD he must be BAD! But seriously Ron, Martin had like you say, not any developed muscle tone to speak of, besides that of a average heavyweight. Yet his punches snapped and crackled from ringside where I saw him fight. I always thought his LACK of being muscle bound gave him that snap and crackle in his punches, as the big muscled guys didnt have that, being so tight and all. At that time I didnt believe in lifting for fighters. Could you comment on Martin's punching this way and that hard with his build being not developed like that, and do you believe weight lifting in the proper way would have made this great puncher a BETTER puncher.
Getting back to this fine heavyweight, I guess Ron he would truly be one to whom life was not fair. His was a very tough break.

Alan Sugar
Unregistered User
(1/29/03 7:22:55 am)
Reply Leotis Martin-Rocky111
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Rock, I wrote you a letter posting here in response which took me an hour, when I hit post it disappeared and I puunched my heavybag for 30 minutes I was so pissed off.

Everything I wrote, i will try to get back to you, because the certain and specific bodybuilding training melded individually for guys like Leotis Martin, Holly Mims and the aging Dick Tiger and even Emile Griffith would have helped them as their skills waned with time.

My way, no speed, snap, or magic would have been lost.

They had the skill training, but even Ray Robinson, Mims, who he fought, Martin, and Tiger were lacking and atrophied as time tapped them on the shoulder.

They could hve prolonged their winning ways if they eliminated the soft areas that appeared in their delt-pec tie ins, biceps, mid backs and obliques. Same with their chests going soft. Griffith needed more bicep development even though he was hard as stone.

There are punching techniques that tap into these areas that keep father time off of their waning careers in the latter stages..

But their old school die hard trainers refuse to metamorphasize with time. Floyd Patterson needed more bicep and tricep strength, my way no speed, snap or torque would be sacrficed.

The specific training techniques I should put on a tape for John Brown of ringside Products with a demonstration of power punching. If he is interested.

Stay well Rock,

your pal,
Ron

phlboxarc
Unregistered User
(1/29/03 10:02:32 am)
Reply more on Martin
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Rocky: Ron touched on much of Leotis' career highlights but I remember the Sonny Banks bout at the Arena was one of the most vicious ever in Philly. They took turns hurting each other with bombs the whole way and early in the 9th Banks had Martin down and badly hurt but Leotis came back and landed a terrific right to the jaw that ended it. (Martin 182 lbs., Banks 207).
Leotis,who was a real quiet gentleman kept a vigil at Banks bedside at Presbyterian hospital until Sonny died.
..Martin was managed by the legendary management team of Pinny Shafer and Pat Duffy who constantly challenged Joe Frazier to a bout, claiming that Leotis had messed up Joe in an old sparring session. Yank Durham never wanted the Martin fight because he thought it was too dangerous against an "unknown" opponent. (I can't remember Leotis ever saying anything negative about Joe, only the blustery Shafer).
But Leotis was an in and outer. A counterpuncher who would look great against an agressive foe but could stink out the joint with somebody like Roger Russell, who upset Leotis at the Arena and lost a disputed decision to him at the Spectrum.
One other big victory for Martin was his KO of Mildenberger in Germany.
I have never seen Leotis' fight with Liston (I was in the Mekong Delta all of '69), I have seen a brief 1 minute highlight of the KO though. Its ironic that Leotis' greatest victory was his last fight because of the eye injury.
Leotis Martin was a terrific fighter and a terrific person and deserved a better fate.
Chuck H.

rocky111
Unregistered User
(1/29/03 10:36:32 am)
Reply to ronnie lipton and chuck h
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Thanks to both of you for those detailed answers. Its tells me alot and what both of you say, I take to heart. You make such strong points Ron, because even Hatchetman Sheppard who could punch naturally with the hardest of all time, even at 78 years old, was kind of soft in his pecs and biceps, triceps, obliques, etc. Of course his shoulders, forearms, and his muscles build from punching were powerful, but I often noticed the rest. Joe Louis and Dempsey looked like that too, as they aged. You may be way ahead of present day training Ron. Yours may be the future especially if you can build those particular muscles without losing snap.
Chuck, I remember Sonny Banks well as he fought out of Detroit and Chicago. He sparred with buddies of mine and he hit a TON WITH HIS LEFT HOOK, as Muhammad Ali found out! I can imagine the shots Leotis took in that match as I saw him take the same types of shots from Blue Lewis who could knock down a house. Leotis I could see being boring against some guys as he was a dangerous counter puncher. (Imagine counterpunching Sonny Liston! You have to have a big heart to even try that!) But in a knockdown drag out war with guys tagging him, leaving themselves open for his counters, well this guy just might have been TOO dangerous for even Joe Frazier! God rest his soul, and I hope he went to a better reward than he got down here.
ps
Chuck, get that Liston bout. Its amazing what Martin does even with that old monster Charles Sonny Liston. I dont think very many guys in boxing at that time could have handled even THAT Sonny Liston.

timayres
Registered User
(1/31/03 9:20:04 pm)
Reply Martin-Liston
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That KO shot against Liston is very dramatic, and the fight is very interesting as a whole, with Liston bloodied and trying to turn it on at that point, which is when he got nailed.

Strange how ESPN Classic was always showing the black and white version when everybody trades the excellent quality color version of the same exact Cosell broadcast, same length and everything.

Great posts on Leotis Martin. Imagine what someone like him would do today! As mentioned, his fight in London with Thad Spencer is still talked about with awe in this country. To everyone's subsequent regret, it wasn't televised.