A Boxing Memory: Ron Lyle

A Boxing Memory: Ron Lyle

By the time he turned 20, Ron Lyle was convicted of second-degree murder. A premature death certificate was issued courtesy of a dispute involving knives with the locals while serving his time. Despite losing a reported 35 pints of blood, and Lyle saying he died twice on the operating table, he survived the knife attack. In an interview with Howard Cosell, Lyle said:

“They had to give me, like, 36 blood transfusions. I was on the operating table about 10 o’clock that morning, and I didn’t get off until about 5.30 that evening.”

Lyle learned to box during his near eight-year stay at Colorado State Penitentiary. Launching into a training regime that included 1,00 press-ups a day, Lyle had his first fight in 1964. He lost that but would claim he never lost another fight behind bars. His life would change forever. Boxing had found another lost soul.

After being released in 1969, a short-lived amateur career of twenty-nine fights that included fleeting dreams of the Olympic stage. Lyle knocked Duane Bobick unconscious for five minutes. Bobick went to Munich and the brilliant Cuban Teofilo Stevenson pretty much did what Lyle had done a year earlier. Lyle’s amateur career ended in 1971 and he turned pro soon after. He was 30 when the professional journey started. In another era, Lyle may well have become a world champion. But the 70s was no ordinary era. He fought Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight championship of the world and was involved in one of the greatest heavyweight fights of all time with George Foreman. But while those two fights form much of the Ron Lyle story, they don’t tell the whole story.

Born in 1941 in Dayton, Ohio Lyle was one of nineteen children. The family moved to Denver, Colorado in 1954. Lyle was involved in street gangs and that led to his incarceration for the murder of a rival gang member. Lyle said it wasn’t him who pulled the trigger. He didn’t convince those that mattered and he was sentenced to 15-20 years in his local penitentiary. Released in 1971, the clock was Lyle’s biggest opponent. At 30, Lyle was more than a late starter in the world of professional boxing.

But Lyle went nineteen fights unbeaten before Jerry Quarry beat him on points in 1973, but he wouldn’t lose again until Jimmy Young beat him over ten rounds two years later. The winning run included wins over the likes of Jimmy Ellis, Boone Kirkman, and Oscar Bonavena. But as boxing does so uniquely, it was the loser who would face Muhammad Ali in his very next fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. Lyle boxed well for ten rounds against an Ali who was slowly fading away after a long hard career that had taken away so much. And sadly, would take away even more because of the great man’s refusal to say goodbye. Lyle was leading on two of the scorecards, but Ali still had enough to find the punches he needed in the 11th round. The ending was conclusive and brutal. But it was another fight Ali didn’t need at that stage of his career. It didn’t end there.

The two fights after his experience with Ali cemented Lyle in heavyweight folklore. Lyle always had a crowd-pleasing style and he had a punch that had to be respected. One of the hardest-hitting punches in boxing history, Earnie Shavers claimed he had never been hit harder. Their slugfest four months after Lyle had lost to Ali is a forgotten classic. Lyle was down in the 2nd round. Dropped violently in a neutral corner. He got up. This wasn’t a fight about fancy footwork. In truth, there wasn’t any. Fancy or otherwise. Both swung from the hip punching as if their life depended on it. Maybe it did. Lyle soaked up plenty before face-planting Shavers in the 6th round. Lyle won. His reward, was a fight with George Foreman early the following year.

It was perhaps the most savage fight either fighter would ever have. Foreman was hurt in the opening round, his legs doing the proverbial funny dance. The first three rounds were more than enough for even the most sadistic of fight fan. The 4th round was an unforgettable round of sheer brutality and heart. Foreman went down and appeared on his way out. But sensationally he dropped Lyle and he looked out on his feet only for Lyle to drop Foreman again. This time, heavily. Make no mistake, the bell saved Foreman. The former champion was looking to regain the title he had lost to Ali in Zaire in 1974, he needed to beat Lyle to keep him on the right side of those hopes. In the 5th round, Foreman battered Lyle to defeat. It was something akin to what you would see on the cobbles. The fight was voted the Ring Magazine Fight of the Year for 1976. With good reason. Foreman would later tell the Ring Magazine. “My God, I was in the fight of my life. I had to get up and fire back when I was groggy and I’d never been in that position. Lyle would point his right hand in my direction and hit me with it almost every time he let it go.”

Both Foreman and Lyle had lost to Ali. Both wanted Ali again. But circumstances would prevent either winner or loser from sharing a ring with the great man again. Foreman also lost to Young in 1977, found God and retired and was content preaching the gospel until he ran out of money and found something else again.

The career of Ron Lyle never quite reached those same heights again. Lyle was charged with murder again in 1978 but he claimed self-defence and was acquitted later that year. Inside the ring, he lost to another forgotten heavyweight from that era Jimmy Young, who repeated his earlier victory over Lyle in 1976. Beating Joe Bugner by a split decision the following year kept the show on the road. A stunning 2nd round defeat to Lynn Ball in 1979 was a big setback but a 1st round-stoppage defeat to the big-punching Gerry Cooney ten months later ended any lingering hopes of world title glory. But in truth, they had long since gone.

Lyle retired after the Cooney fight. But when George Foreman launched his improbable comeback, at 54, Lyle did the same hoping for another go at the ‘Punching Preacher.’ And a miracle. Despite four wins, neither came.

There were spells as a youth worker, a security guard and a trainer until his death in 2011. Lyle was 70 when he died from complications following stomach surgery.