Jimmy Ellis vs Leotis Martin - Full Highlights

Jimmy Ellis 194 lbs beat Leotis Martin 192 lbs by TKO at 1:43 in round 9 of 12 Date: 1967-08-05 Location: Astrodome, Houston, Texas, USA Referee: Ernie Taylor Ellis vs. Martin was part of the World Boxing Association’s eight-man tournament to crown a successor to Muhammad Ali, who was stripped of his title by the WBA when he refused Army induction. The tournament also included Karl Mildenberger, Oscar Bonavena, Ernie Terrell, Thad Spencer, Floyd Patterson and Jerry Quarry. Martin was in the tournament only because Joe Frazier, ranked No. 2 by the WBA, chose not to take part. Instead, Frazier fought Buster Mathis for the vacant NYSAC World Heavyweight Championship. Ellis was ahead on all three official scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Referee Ernie Taylor had it 77-74, Judge Chris Johnson 78-75 and Judge Jimmy Webb 78-72. The Associated Press had Ellis ahead 79-72. Following Ellis’ win over Martin, Thad Spencer defeated Ernie Terrell by a 12-round unanimous decision. A crowd of 13,946 produced a gate of $92,560. Ellis’ purse was $50,000, and Martin’s was $22,500. Ellis vs. Martin and Spencer vs. Terrell aired on ABC-TV’s Wide World of Sports. From The Associated Press: Thad Spencer decisioned Ernie Terrell and Jimmy Ellis beat Leotis Martin on a bloody technical knockout Saturday and won their way into the semifinals of the heavyweight boxing elimination tournament. Ellis battered Martin’s face into a bloody mask in the opener. He tore into Martin and opened a cut in the third round. After that, the blood flowed freely until referee Ernie Taylor finally stopped the bout at 1:43 of the ninth. Martin’s face was streaming with blood as he was led to his corner. Ellis opened fast and had Martin in difficulty in the early moments of the fight. He repeatedly tried to put his opponent away but Marin hung on and kept fighting back. Ellis weighed 194½ pounds, and Martin 192. Ellis hit Martin with nine hard rights and steaming left hooks in the first round and drove him around the ring. But only once did Martin even stagger and was landing some left hooks to the body at the finish. Ellis got a light cut over the left eye in the second round—the only round Martin won—but it had stopped bleeding by the third when Ellis tore into his smaller foe. Martin took so much punishment even Ellis’ corner was calling for the referee to get a doctor to study the wounds. Martin rallied slightly in the fourth, landing a right to the chin and a left hook to the head while Ellis, who seemed to have slowed down some, was content with left jabs. But there was no doubt left after that as Ellis battered at the bleeding and swollen mouth. The blood even got in Ellis’ hair.