The Great Ron Lyle, His Bout With George Foreman Remembered For Sure
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Correspondent
Some cats have nine lives. Ron Lyle had three. The only one of 19 children to get in trouble with the law, Lyle was convicted of second degree murder in a gang fight and got 15-25 years imprisonment in Carson City Penitentiary in Nevada. Lyle was knifed in jail, and required 35 pints of blood to stay alive, and was pronounced dead on the table twice. In prison, Lyle excelled in baseball, basketball, football and boxing. On release from prison, Lyle boxed amateur out of Denver, Colorado for 14 months, compiling a 25-4 record with 17 knockouts.
Lyle went to 19-0 with 17 knockouts to start his professional career. Among the fighters he beat included Earnie Shavers, Vicente Rondon, Larry Middleton, Buster Mathis, Jose Luis Garcia, Joe Bugner, Scott LeDeux, Kevin Isaac and Oscar Bonavena. Lyle was ranked as high as fifth in the world in the heavyweight division. He fought Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight title in 1975 and was ahead on points when the bout was stopped in the eleventh round. Lyle lost twice to Jimmy Young, and lost to George Foreman. Ali and Young also beat Foreman, but it was Foreman’s slugfest with Lyle which made him famous in the ‘Fight of the Year’.
George Foreman versus Ron Lyle at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas
Full fight on YouTube, Commentary by Howard Cosell and Ken Norton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8AVcEyyMco
Both fighters were coming off a loss to Muhammad Ali in their previous fight. Foreman, having lost in the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’, had lost his confidence and fearsome reputation, and Lyle had no respect for him. The television bout disintegrated into a no defense slugfest, with Foreman swinging away and Lyle actively throwing counter punches. The second round was only two minutes long. The fighters boxed with eight ounce gloves. Foreman was hurt in the first round. Lyle was hurt in the second. Foreman kept looking at Gil Clancy in his corner.
The fourth round was voted the sixth most exciting round in boxing history by Ring Magazine in 2001. Both fighters forced the action and simply went for broke, providing the television public with the sort of graphic violence it wanted to see. Lyle imitated Ali and played possum on the ropes, while Foreman, baited in, was careful not to punch himself out like he did with Ali. Foreman was looking for the one big shot in round three, enabling Lyle to land counter right hands, his best weapon, to counter Foreman’s power. Lyle seemed to have the mental edge.
In round four, Lyle dropped Foreman, who got up. Foreman dropped Lyle, who got up. Lyle dropped Foreman, who got up after the bell ending the round. It was the most crazy television round ever seen. Both men were leaving themselves wide open.
Lyle had Foreman staggering around the ring in round five, when the ebb and flow suddenly changed. Lyle ran out of gas in his own corner, where Foreman finished him. “I would hardly call this an artistic affair,” remembered the late Howard Cosell on ABC TV. “One of the wildest most topsy turvy scraps we’ve ever seen.” Foreman remembered “I can always get up and win fights.” Both fighters went for broke, and only one emerged victorious. Even today, when critics look back, what a fight! “I was rusty, right now I’m getting George Foreman together, I never give up. Next time I fight, heart of a lion will be written on my robe,” stated George. “There’s no substitute for action in the ring. Whether you’re a boxer or a piano player, you’ve got to have action! That’s (was) a sure display of rust!” And so it was.
Ron Lyle finished his career 43-7-1. A Las Vegas security guard, he won four comeback bouts in Colorado over lesser opponents in 1995 at age 54 in the hopes of getting a rematch with Foreman, which did not occur. He died at age 70 in 2011 in Denver. What can be said for Ron Lyle is in his prime, he was an action bing bang boom heavyweight fighter, pure and simple. His decision loss to Jerry Quarry early in his professional career should be discounted, simply because Quarry had been banging them up for a long time when he and the still inexperienced Lyle crossed paths.
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