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Lloyd Marshall


BoztheMadman
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One of the best light heavyweights in history, Lloyd Marshall was also one of the most underrated fighters in his time who never got a chance to flourish for real, partly because he lacked strong connections. He fought from 1936 to 1951 and was a fine puncher with good boxing skills as well, who defeated guys like Ezzard Charles, Joey Maxim, Freddie Mills, Jake LaMotta, Holman Williams, Charley Burley, Anton Christoforidis, Teddy Yarosz, Ken Overlin and Lou Brouillard. A who's who of fighters from that era, in other words. This is his story.

 

Born June 4 1914 in Madison County, Georgia, Marshall moved to Cleveland and took up boxing at 17. He had over 200 amateur bouts, losing in the 1934 national semi-finals to Fred Apostoli and in the 1935 national finals to Dave Clark. He turned pro on September 11 1936, managed by former fighter Johnny Papke, at first fighting as a middleweight. He lost his first fight on points to Al LaBoa in a 6-rounder, but won his 9 next fights, the last one being by TKO 8 against the same man. He then fought the seasoned and crafty Henry "Swede" Berglund on November 12 1937 in Sacramento and drew against him after 8 rounds. A month later, he lost on points to Johnny "Bandit" Romero after flooring him in the first round and getting floored once in the tenth and the last. They had a rematch on July 21 next year and this time Marshall decked Romero six times and was decked once but the fight went the distance and he won it on points this time. On September 1, he fought the future world middleweight champion Ken Overlin and managed to get the best of him on points after dominating the second half of the ten-round fight. It wasn't until February 22 next year that he again experienced defeat, this time against the smaller but hard-punching Ceferino Garcia, another future world champ. Marshall was 5'10 and Garcia 5'7, but Garcia put him down twice in the third, once in the fourth and once in the tenth and final round to win by decision. They had a rematch on March 17, but this time the fight was stopped in the fifth due to cuts over Marshall's eyes, after he had built up a slight lead. He fought dirty in this bout, resulting in himself getting cut due to a headbutt. In the next fight, he faced Babe Risko and again the fight was stopped due to a cut after five rounds, but this time it was in Marshall's favor. Risko had been down once before that.

 

He steadily improved and in his next fights he decisioned very crafty Teddy Yarosz and Lou Brouillard, one of the best Canadian boxers ever, also getting knocked down once against Brouillard. He again faced Yarosz October 21 1940, but the fight had a controversial outcome as it seems Marshall didn't try and lost to Yarosz on points. Both fighters were suspended indefinitely from fighting in the state of Pennsylvania, as the fight was in Pittsburgh. The fight was at light heavyweight, even though Marshall came in at only 3 pounds over the middleweight limit. His power howeved proved to hold up at the new division and he knocked out Ralph DeJohn, brother of Mike, in 6 rounds. He also stopped the contender Newsboy Milich twice, by TKO 7 and KO 3. After dropping a decision to the 59-3 Eddie Booker, he faced the legendary Charley Burley on December 11 1942, in Hollywood. Burley was down briefly twice and though the official result in the end was a split decision for Marshall, everyone agreed Marshall was the clear winner. But his greatest triumph was yet to come. On March 31 next year, at the Cleveland Arena, he faced the young Ezzard "Cincinnati Cobra" Charles, who was 30-3-1. Charles had lost to Ken Overlin and Jimmy Bivins and hadn't been stopped yet. Marshall produced an incredible display when he knocked him down eight times before the fight ended early in the eight round. However, shortly after the fight it was discovered Charles had fought with a hip injury, which explained his poor performance. Marshall then decisioned the former world champion, the Greek-born Anton Christoforidis, before fighting Jimmy Bivins on June 8 in Cleveland, for the "duration" light heavy championship; Marshall opened with a fast pace and won the first three rounds before Bivins won the next three. Then in the seventh, Marshall connected with a right to the head to put Bivins, the naturally bigger man, down. Bivins got up and started scoring in the next three rounds with hard left hooks and rights to the body, before he put Marshall down in rounds 9 and 12 and finally put him out of the game in the 13th with a hard right to the cheekbone and follow up left hooks.

 

Marshall wasted no time moping and was back in the ring already the next month. In January next year he won that duration title by UD10 against Nate Bolden. He then went back down to 160 for a fight against the great brawler Jake LaMotta on April 21; Marshall easily outboxed LaMotta and staggered him in the fifth round and according to reports, LaMotta only managed to win the last round. He also decisioned Holman Williams, who had 134 bouts before that, with 118 wins. He also knocked Williams down in the seventh, but then dropped a close majority decision to him in the rematch. He also beat Joey Maxim, dropping him twice and winning by a UD10, which was a very impressive achievement, considering the fact Maxim became a world champion 5 years later and a hall of famer. The Old Mongoose however, was a different tale: Archie Moore managed to get the decision against him in their first fight on May 21 1945 in Baltimore, despite getting floored three times. He staged a rally and staggered Marshall in the tenth and last round to win by UD. In the rematch only a month later, Marshall received his worst beating and was stopped in the tenth round after getting knocked down three times. Next year, he again ran into a bad streak and was first knocked out in 9 rounds by massive-punching Oakland Billy Smith and then by Ezzard Charles himself in 6 rounds, with a right to the midsection. He now seemed washed up but managed to pull off another important victory over Freddie Mills, whom he knocked out in 5 rounds in Harringay, England, June 3 1947.

 

That proved to be his final great triumph and he was knocked out in 2 by Charles in their rubbermatch, before he ended his career disappointingly, fighting too far past his prime and getting stopped four more times and losing 9 more times in total before finally retiring in 1951, after 15 years in the ring and 37 years of age. His record is 70 (36), 25 and 4. Despite not having that high knockout percentage, Marshall was a natural puncher and had power in both hands, but always fought top fighters and so didn't end up with too many knockout wins. Lloyd Marshall died August 4 1997 (although his death date varies), at 83. Posthumously, he was inducted into the IBHOF in 2010. He has defeated nine world champions.

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