The Vastly Underrated Jimmy Young: The Man Who Got “Robbed” When He Fought The Greatest

Slick, clever Philly boxer Jimmy Young made a career out of making even the great ones look bad. 50 years ago today, l Young challenged Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight crown, and to this day, plenty of people think Jimmy won the bout.

Born in Philadelphia on November 14, 1948, Young would begin trying his hand at boxing at the tender age of 14, primarily in an effort to be able to defend himself. A short amateur career saw Jimmy win the New Jersey Golden Gloves, but Young was in the mood to go pro. When he began punching for pay, Young was matched up with tough competition from the start. Often sparring the great Joe Frazier at his gym in Philly, Young was then thrown in with, in just his sixth pro bout, Roy “Tiger” Williams, with Young losing a four-round decision at The Blue Horizon.

Five fights later, 24-year-old Young was matched with 42-2 Earnie Shavers, and Young was taken out in three rounds. But then, thanks to more realistic matchmaking and Young’s maturity and experience, Jimmy went on a 12-fight streak, going 10-0-2. One of these draws came against Shavers in a rematch; Jimmy was hard done by. In his next fight after being robbed, Young beat Ron Lyle by unanimous decision, and he was a top contender. A little over a year later, Young challenged Ali, this being Jimmy’s most famous fight.

Young gave the 230-pound Ali nothing but fits, his bag of tricks too much for a listless, seemingly uninterested Ali. But Young’s odd habit of ducking his head out of the ropes when under fire, forcing the ref to temporarily halt the action, seemed to be the big thing the Ali writers focused on after the 15-round decision “The Greatest” was gifted with.

And, for the remainder of his days, Young hated being asked about his, shall we say, unique choice of tactics. Young moved on from the disappointment – into a return with Lyle, Jimmy repeating his win, and then to Puerto Rico and a fight with former champ George Foreman. If the Ali fight is the one Young is best known for, the Foreman fight runs it a close second.

Young survived a brutal seventh-round barrage from “Big George” before getting back to his slick boxing. Jimmy had an exhausted Foreman out on his feet in the 12th and final session, with a knockdown punctuating his upset points win. Once again, Young’s overall performance did not prove to be the big talking point afterward; Foreman’s well-documented life-changing religious experience in his dressing room did.

Young had one more big fight, this one in November 1977, against Ken Norton. After 15 rounds, Young seemed to have done enough. Instead, the split decision went Norton’s way, and Jimmy had lost the last chance he would ever have of becoming world champion. Stories say that, years after the fight, Norton told Jimmy he deserved the decision.

Young soon slipped into trial-horse mode. After dropping back-to-back decisions to fellow cutie Ossie Ocasio, Young lost to Michael Dokes, he defeated John L. Gardner, and he was stopped on one of the more horrific cuts ever seen by a young Gerry Cooney.

The end of Young’s career was nothing short of tragic, with the former world title challenger getting into drugs and alcohol in a big way, with Jimmy eventually, for some period of time, being homeless. He deserved so much better.

Young fought on until 1990, his last 14 fights going 5-7-1 with 1 no-contest. Jimmy retired with a record of 35-18-3(11) – 1 no-contest. Four of these defeats came when Young was way too green and inexperienced, while ten of them came when Jimmy was way past his best.

Young at his best was a superb boxer, a man blessed with a high ring IQ, a subtle defense, and no shortage of heart and guts. Young was, for a time, quite special, this during a very special heavyweight era.

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