The Myth Of “What’s My Name:” RIP, ERNIE TERRELL

Published

9 years ago

December 22, 2014

On February 7, 1967, WBA heavyweight title holder Ernie Terrell (39-4) fought world champion Muhammad Ali (27-0) at the Hoston Astrodome, known as the “Eighth Wonder of the World” back then.

Terrell, like former WBA champ Jimmy Ellis, is the other contender from the 1960s who became a title holder during the era due to Ali being stripped of the WBA belt twice, between 1964 and 1967.

The main reason Terrell became relevant was because after Ali beat reigning champ Sonny Liston for the undisputed title in early 1964, the WBA stripped Ali of their belt because he signed to give Liston an immediate rematch in violation of the WBA’s rule against return title bouts. So in March of 1965, two months before Ali would meet Liston in a rematch, Terrell won a 15 round unanimous decision over top contender Eddie Machen in Chicago to win the vacant WBA title. Terrell successfully defended the title twice, against George Chuvalo and Doug Jones, and by early 1967 Ali and Terrell together pretty much cleaned out the division and were the last two standing.

Ernie Terrell was a pretty unique guy. He played the guitar and led a singing group called “The Heavyweights,” which also featured his sister Jean.

In 1970, Jean became the lead voice of The Supremes after the departure of Diana Ross.

Terrell also knew Ali as Cassius Clay from their amateur boxing days and for a short time Ernie was trained by Angelo Dundee, who was Ali’s head trainer. In fact Dundee often joked that the reason why Terrell didn’t have much of a right hand was because he wore it out playing the guitar.

Not much stood out about Terrell as a fighter other than his height, 6’6” and 82 inch reach. He had a long left jab that he used offensively and defensively and that was usually enough to get him by most of the other ranked contenders of the era. Ernie wasn’t much of a puncher but he had enough pop to keep his opponents from taking their liberties with him, even Ali. He also took a really good shot and was a tough minded and confident fighter, something that aided him for the 15-rounds he spent in the ring with Ali.

With Terrell’s passing at age 75 last week, much has been written about his title bout against Ali 47 years ago. The fight is most noted for Ali yelling at Terrell “what’s my name?” during the eighth round of the bout. At the time the name Muhammad Ali wasn’t as accepted then as it became a few years later. In fact many writers and periodicals referred to Ali as Cassius Clay instead of his adopted Muslim name Muhammad Ali until the late 1960s.

Terrell knew Ali as Cassius Clay and referred to him as such in the lead up to their fight. He even went as far as to write a song using the name “Cassius Clay” and then sang it on the Hollywood Squares show that aired on February 4th 1967, three days before the fight. In one line of the song Terrell sings “ain’t it a shame you changed your name – I’ll change your features too.” Before that Ali and Terrell got into a scuffle at ABC studios in New York during an interview with Howard Cosell. When Terrell kept referring to Ali as Cassius Clay, Muhammad called Ernie an “Uncle Tom” and the physical altercation ensued. Ali promised that Terrell would call him by his Muslim name during the fight.

On November 23, 2009 Terrell gave an interview to Michael Falgoust of USA Today and spoke about the title fight with Muhammad Ali.

What do you remember from that experience?

What he did was grab me around the neck and started poking his thumb in my eye until he broke a vein in my eye. One eye was following him around and the eye he broke the vein in was standing in one spot. It just messed the fight up. I’m not making no excuse. I’m just telling you what happened. If that doesn’t happen, I just go ahead in and beat him. If that don’t happen, I think I just go in and beat him. It changed my style.

You both had animosity toward each other before the fight, and a scuffle on national TV during a faceoff in front of Howard Cosell.

I had no animosity. I understood it’s a fight. What he say, all that don’t count. That was his way of promoting a fight.

Would you still call him Clay, or Muhammad Ali?

If I was going to fight him, then I would call him Clay. If he don’t like it, so? I did it on purpose. We were fighting. What was I supposed to do, give him Christmas gifts?

As most boxing fans know, and if you don’t..the Ali-Terrell bout wasn’t much of a contest. Ali probably won no less than 13 of the 15 rounds they fought and there’s a good case he won every round except the second. Ali did whatever he wanted against Ernie and whenever he wanted to do it. Ali looked incredible during patches of the bout, Terrell clearly had no answer for Ali’s speed (you can actually see it register on his face), and by the fourth round both guys reverted to pretty much what you’d expect of each of them.

The thought of many today, especially those who never saw the fight, is that Ali carried Terrell and that’s why it went the distance thus Ali earning an overwhelming unanimous decision. Sure, Ali clearly handled and got the better of Ernie. As fighters they were on different levels. Ali circled and hit Terrell at will with blistering combinations and even went to his body more than normal. In the seventh round he really opened up and had Terrell visibly shook, but he couldn’t finish him. In the eighth round Ali started yelling “what’s my name” after each succession of punches, with no response from Terrell.

For the remainder of the fight Muhammad pot-shotted Terrell at will. Every so often he would go in and try to finish him and end the fight, but every time he was on the verge of really seizing control, Terrell would fire back with all he had and Ali would let up. The process would repeat itself with Ali always sensing that he wasn’t going to get the stoppage and resorted back to boxing and picking Terrell apart.

In summation, Terrell took a good shot and Ali wasn’t a great finisher when he had to work for it. When Ali really opened up and the opponent was no more than bewildered, he’d back off and make it look as if he could end it whenever he wanted but chose not to. He’d rather go rounds and make it look as if he was playing with his opponent instead of working hard for the stoppage unless it came to him.

No, Ernie Terrell wasn’t a great fighter, but he fought everybody and he was fearless. And yes, he legitimately went the distance with Muhammad Ali in what was Ali’s eighth successful title defense. And it wasn’t because Ali carried him. It was because when Ali tried to stop Terrell and knock him out he just couldn’t, so he settled for dominating the fight, which he did. But don’t ever believe the reason Terrell went 15 rounds with Ali is because Muhammad allowed him to or carried him just to punish him for constantly calling him Clay….accept the reality that there wasn’t anything Ali could do to shorten the fight after he had his fun for the first eight or nine rounds.

Ali did vs. Terrell what he often did when he fought a guy he was beating easily but couldn’t knock him out: periodically he’d turn up the heat to see whether a.) The guy had changed his mind about quitting or b.) He could con the referee into stopping it. If those things didn’t work, he’d go back to what he was doing. Larry Holmes did the same thing.

It’s a myth that Muhammad Ali carried Ernie Terrell for 15-rounds. And from the TSS family, rest in peace, Ernie.

Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com

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Frank Lotierzo

Ramon Cardenas Channels Micky Ward and KOs Eduardo Ramirez on ProBox

Published

1 day ago

April 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Ramon-Cardenas-Channels-Micky-Ward-and-KOs-Eduardo-Ramirez-on-ProBox

The Wednesday night bi-monthly series of fights on the ProBox TV platform is the best deal in boxing; the livestream is free with no strings attached! Tonight’s episode was headlined by a super bantamweight match between San Antonio’s Ramon Cardenas and Eduardo Ramirez who brought a caravan of rooters from his hometown in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.

Cardenas, coached by Joel Diaz, entered the contest ranked #4 by the WBA. He was expected to handle Ramirez with little difficulty, but this was a close, tactical fight through eight frames when lightning struck in the form of a left hook to the liver from Cardenas. Ramirez went down on one knee and wasn’t able to beat the count. It was as if Cardenas summoned the ghost of Micky Ward who had a penchant for terminating fights with the same punch that arrived out of the blue.

The official time was 1:37 of round nine. Cardenas improved to 25-1 with his14th win inside the distance. Ramirez, who was stopped in the opening round by Nick “Wrecking” Ball in London in his lone previous fight outside Mexico, falls to 23-3-3.

Co-Feature

In an upset, Tijuana super welterweight Damian Sosa won a split decision over previously undefeated Marques Valle, a local area fighter who was stepping up in class in his first 10-round go. Sosa was the aggressor, repeatedly backing his taller opponent into the ropes where Valle was unable to get good leverage behind his punches.

The 25-year-old Valle, managed by the influential David McWater, was the house fighter. This was his 10^th appearance in this building. He brought a 10-0 (7) record and was hoping to emulate the success of his younger brother Dominic Valle who scored a second-round stoppage of his opponent in this ring two weeks ago, improving to 9-0. But Sosa, who brought a 24-2 record, proved to be a bridge too high.

The judges had it 97-93 and 96-94 for the Tijuana invader and a disgraceful 98-92 for the house fighter.

Also

In a fight whose abrupt ending would be echoed by the main event, 34-year-old SoCal featherweight Ronny Rios, now training in Las Vegas, returned to the ring after a 22-month hiatus and scored a fifth-round stoppage over Nicolas Polanco of the Dominican Republic.

A three-punch combo climaxed by a left hook to the liver took the breath out of Polanco who slumped to his knees and was counted out. A two-time world title challenger, Rios advanced to 34-4 (17 KOs). Polanco, 34, declined to 21-6-1. The official time was 0:54 of round five.

—

The next ProBox show (Wednesday, May 8) will have an international cast with fighters from Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom. In the main event, Liverpool’s Robbie Davies Jr will make his U.S. debut against the California-based Kazakh Sergey Lipinets.

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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock

Published

3 days ago

April 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Haney-Garcia-Redux-with-the-Focus-on-Harvey-Dock

Saturday’s skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated – the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort – but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.

Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.

The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadn’t previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haney’s second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter – watching at home – as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.

In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. “At the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,” said Garcia. “He could have stopped that fight.”

Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the “under,” undoubtedly felt the same way.

The internet lit up with comments assailing Dock’s competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.

Stephen A. Smith, reputedly America’s highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: “This referee is absolutely terrible….Unreal! Horrible officiating,” tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.

Harvey Dock

Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jersey’s Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.

A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.

Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dock’s 364^th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they weren’t even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.

On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.

Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few “premature stoppages” were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.

With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dock’s Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)

Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.

The Haney-Garcia fight wasn’t Harvey Dock’s best hour, I’ll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.

—

While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on “X” that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.

Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.

FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie “Blazing Saddles,” described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricio’s late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.

Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaiman’s rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.

Haney’s mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.

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In a Shocker, Ryan Garcia Confounds the Experts and Upsets Devin Haney

Published

5 days ago

April 21, 2024

David A. Avila

In-a-Shocker-Ryan-Garcia-Confounds-the-Experts-and-Upsets-Devin-Haney

Its good to be crazy. Like a fox.

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia knocked down WBC super lightweight titlist Devin Haney three times to remind everyone of his fighting abilities in winning by majority decision on Saturday.

“I just knew what I could do,” Garcia said.

Fans will not forget the lanky kid from Victorville, California now.

Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) fooled everyone in playing crazy weeks before the fight, then showed shocking power to hand Haney (30-1, 15 KOs) his first loss as a professional at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Haney’s WBC super lightweight title was not at stake for Garcia because he weighed three pounds over the limit.

After Garcia seemingly acting out of control on social media, Haney’s guard must have slipped in the first round during the first few seconds as Garcia connected with that hellish left hook and Haney, with a look of shock in his eyes, almost went down. He barely survived the first round.

“He caught me with it,” said Haney.

During the next few rounds, Haney proceeded to advance toward Garcia seemingly fully aware of the lethal left hook. He used feints and rights to score with a busier approach as Garcia seemed cocked and ready to counter with a left hook.

In the fourth round it seemed Haney was confident he had regained control of the fight, but every time he opened up with more than a two-punch combination Garcia reminded him whose hands were faster and more dangerous.

Though Garcia seldom jabbed he seemed bent on looking for the right moment to unleash his deadly left hook. And every time the Southern California fighter opened up with a combination he scored and Haney dare not exchange.

A few times Haney smiled as if signifying he escaped.

In the seventh round Haney looked to punish Garcia’s body and instead was met with a three-punch combination included a left hook to the chin and down went Haney slumped on the ground. He managed to beat the count and as soon as Garcia came within reach Haney wrapped his arms around him with a python grip. Despite the warnings by referee Harvey Dock, the fallen fighter would not release and Garcia impatiently fired a weak punch during the break. The referee deducted a point from Garcia though he could have deducted a point from Haney for not obeying his instructions to release his hold. Haney actually went down three times in the round but only one was counted by the referee.

From that point on Haney was very cautious but still looking to win by decision.

Though Garcia kept using a shoulder-roll defense that left his body exposed, he would retaliate with three and four punch combinations that usually Haney could defend against other fighters.. But Garcia’s blazing combinations were too fast to defend.

In the 10^th round Haney looked to attack and was countered by Garcia’s right and a blinding left hook to the chin and another two blows that sent the former undisputed lightweight champion to the floor again.

It didn’t look good for Haney to survive.

Garcia walked into the 11^th round still composed and never out-of-control He dared Haney to exchange and when within striking distance Garcia unleashed another lightning combination and down went Haney again with a defeated look.

Both fighters had fought each other as amateurs six times so there were no surprises between them. But Garcia’s power and speed were superior and that was the difference in a professional fight.

In the final round both were cautious with Garcia’s combination punching proving too dangerous for Haney to open up. Garcia celebrated early as the round ended confident of victory.

After 12 rounds Garcia was seen the victor by majority decision 112-112, 114-110, 115-109.

“You really thought I was crazy,” Garcia told the interviewer and the crowd. “You guys hated on me.”

Other Bouts

Arnold Barboza (30-0) won a curious split decision victory over United Kingdom’s Sean McComb (18-2) in a 10-round super lightweight fight. McComb’s long reach and busy southpaw style gave Barboza trouble. But he managed to win the fight though the crowd was not pleased.

Bektemir Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs) defeated France’s Pierre Dibombe (22-1-1) by technical decision after eight rounds due to a cut on his eye from an accidental head butt. It was a very competitive super middleweight fight.

Costa Rica’s David Jimenez (16-1, 11 KOs) outworked John “Scrappy Ramirez (13-1, 9 KOs) in a 12-round scrap to upset the Los Angeles based fighter. After a few close rounds Jimenez simply bullied his way inside and forced Ramirez against the ropes and unloaded his guns.

After 12 rounds two judges saw it 117-111 and 116-114 all for Jimenez.

“I’m a hard-working man from Cartago I come from nothing,” said Jimenez. “My corner told me I had to work inside.”

Charles Conwell (19-0, 14 KOs) stepped on the gas early with vicious body shots and uppercuts and blasted through the resilient Nathaniel Gallimore (22-8-1, 17 KOs) for several rounds. After a brutal fifth and sixth round the referee halted the one-side beating in favor of Conwell who was fighting for the first time under the Golden Boy banner.

Another winner was Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-5) by decision over Vaughn Alexander (18-11-1) in a super middleweight match.

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