Muhammad Ali vs. Willi Besmanoff

Muhammad Ali 193 lbs beat Willi Besmanoff 205 lbs by TKO at 1:55 in round 7 of 10

• Date: 1961-11-29
• Location: Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
• Referee: Don Asbury

Clay, in almost constant motion, scored a technical knockout over Besmanoff at 1:55 of the seventh round of their scheduled 10-round heavyweight bout.

Besmanoff, who outweighed his opponent by better than 12 pounds, said Clay has an unorthodox style and is plenty fast, but "he's not anything compared to the big boys."

Clay, at 19, vows he will wear the heavyweight crown before he is 21. And his speed is the asset in which he has the greatest confidence.

"Guys just can't see it. They underestimate my ability," he said after the fight.

Clay opened the bout by bewildering Besmanoff with a volley of punches. None did much damage, but he kept up the barrage round by round, opening up cuts around Besmanoff's eye in the fourth and finally dropping the New York bowling alley operator twice in the seventh.

After Besmanoff was decked the second time, Referee Don Asbury stopped it.

Besmanoff, who weighed in at 205¼, appeared sluggish, throwing a few heavy blows, but with little or no effect. And he knew it.

"I was too slow. I didn't throw enough punches," he said.

The victory for Clay was his 10th in as many fights since he became a professional last November. Besmanoff, 29, who had a seven-month layoff before this fight, now has a record of 43-26-6.

Newspaper Article

"Clay looking to big time" By Bob Cooper, Associated Press, November 30, 1961