James Albert "Jimmy" Ellis (born February 24, 1940) is a
boxerBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
from
Louisville, KentuckyLouisville is Kentucky's largest city and county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's estimated population as of 2008 was 713,877 , with a population of 1,244,696 in the Louisville...
. He held the
WBAThe World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title, at the professional level. It is also the most major title out of the four. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...
HeavyweightHeavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Organization, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...
title from 1968 to 1970.
As an amateur, he was trained by Joe Elsby Martin, Sr., at Louisville's Columbia Gym. He turned professional, as a
middleweightMiddleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1867...
, in 1961. Early in his career, he was trained and managed by
Bud BrunerBud Bruner was a boxing manager, trainer, and gym proprietor from Louisville, Kentucky.Bruner's participation in boxing began in the 1930s...
. With Bruner, he compiled a record of 15-5 (5 KOs), and was ranked #10 in the world as a middleweight.
In 1965,
Angelo DundeeAngelo Dundee is an American boxing cornerman. He is best known for his work with Muhammad Ali, and has worked with 15 world boxing champions, including Sugar Ray Leonard, Jose Napoles, George Foreman, Jimmy Ellis, Carmen Basilio and Luis Rodriguez.-Professional career:Born in Philadelphia, Dundee...
became his trainer and manager.
James Albert "Jimmy" Ellis (born February 24, 1940) is a
boxerBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
from
Louisville, KentuckyLouisville is Kentucky's largest city and county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's estimated population as of 2008 was 713,877 , with a population of 1,244,696 in the Louisville...
. He held the
WBAThe World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title, at the professional level. It is also the most major title out of the four. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...
HeavyweightHeavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Organization, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...
title from 1968 to 1970.
As an amateur, he was trained by Joe Elsby Martin, Sr., at Louisville's Columbia Gym. He turned professional, as a
middleweightMiddleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1867...
, in 1961. Early in his career, he was trained and managed by
Bud BrunerBud Bruner was a boxing manager, trainer, and gym proprietor from Louisville, Kentucky.Bruner's participation in boxing began in the 1930s...
. With Bruner, he compiled a record of 15-5 (5 KOs), and was ranked #10 in the world as a middleweight.
In 1965,
Angelo DundeeAngelo Dundee is an American boxing cornerman. He is best known for his work with Muhammad Ali, and has worked with 15 world boxing champions, including Sugar Ray Leonard, Jose Napoles, George Foreman, Jimmy Ellis, Carmen Basilio and Luis Rodriguez.-Professional career:Born in Philadelphia, Dundee...
became his trainer and manager. Dundee was also the trainer of Muhammad Ali, whom Ellis defeated when the two were young amateurs in Louisville. Ellis not being happy with the way his boxing career was going had written a letter to Dundee asking for his help after seeing what he had done with Muhammad Ali.
By 1966, Ellis was fighting as a heavyweight. When Ali was stripped of the world title for refusing to enter the military, one of the sanctioning bodies, the
World Boxing AssociationThe World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title, at the professional level. It is also the most major title out of the four. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...
, staged an 8-man tournament that featured most of the top heavyweight contenders. Ellis reached the finals by stopping
Leotis MartinLeotis Martin was an American boxer best known for his victory over former heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. This was Liston's only defeat in his comeback campaign after losing his heavyweight title to Ali and the rematch. Martin was a good puncher and a fairly skilled heavyweight who fought...
in nine rounds, and easily winning a decision over
Oscar BonavenaOscar Natalio "Ringo" Bonavena was a heavyweight professional boxer with a career record of 58 wins, 9 losses and 1 draw...
. He then captured the vacant title by defeating
Jerry Quarry"Irish" Jerry Quarry , nicknamed “The Bellflower Bomber,” was an American heavyweight boxer.- Overview :...
on April 27, 1968 in Oakland,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
.
In his only successful title defense, Ellis defeated
Floyd PattersonFloyd Patterson was an American 2-time world heavyweight boxing champion. At 21, Patterson was then the youngest man to win the world heavyweight championship and, later, the first to regain it...
via a controversial 15-round decision on September 14, 1968 in
Stockholm' is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag , and the official residence of the Swedish Monarch as well as the prime minister. The Monarch resides at Drottningholm Palace outside of Stockholm since 1980 and uses the Royal Palace of...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
. On February 16, 1970, Ellis fought
Joe FrazierJoseph "Billy" Frazier, known as Smokin' Joe , is an Olympic and World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, active mostly from the later 1960s to the mid 1970s....
, who was recognized as World Heavyweight Champion by the
New York State Athletic CommissionThe New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, including licensure and supervision of promoters, boxers, professional wrestlers, kickboxers, mixed martial arts...
, and who had not participated in the WBA tournament, to unify the world title. The undefeated Frazier knocked Ellis down twice in the fourth round, and Dundee stopped the fight before the start of the fifth round. It was the first knockout loss for Ellis.
After winning his next three fights, with Angelo Dundee in his corner, Ellis fought Ali on July 26, 1971 in the Houston Astrodome, and was stopped in round twelve; it was the only fight in Ali's career in which Dundee was not his cornerman. After a string of losses to contenders Earnie Shavers and Ron Lyle, Ellis fought a rematch with Frazier in March, 1975, and was stopped after the ninth round. His last fight was on May 6, 1975, which he won by a knockout in the first round. He retired with a record of 40-12-1 (24 KOs).
Despite suffering from
dementia pugilisticaDementia pugilistica , also called chronic traumatic encephalopathy , chronic boxer’s encephalopathy, traumatic boxer’s encephalopathy, boxer's dementia, and punch-drunk syndrome , is a neurological disorder which may affect career boxers, wrestlers, mixed martial artists, and football players who...
, he remained active in the
LouisvilleLouisville is Kentucky's largest city and county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's estimated population as of 2008 was 713,877 , with a population of 1,244,696 in the Louisville...
community, working with youth groups, senior citizens and young aspiring fighters. His son, Jeff, played football at The Ohio State University in the late 1980's.