1962 ~ Cassius Clay goes from #10 Ranking to #2 ~ "What the F***"

**Bill Paxtom** · 10-02-2014 05:30 PM

The Skinny

Saturday Night ~
May 19, 1962

Cassius Clay
Age......... 20 years, 4 months
Height..... 6' 3"
Reach...... 78"
Weight..... 196 lbs.
Record..... 13-0-0 {10 KO's}
Rank........ #9 Ring Magazine / #7 NBA

Billy Daniels
Age......... 24 years, 8 months
Height..... 6' 4"
Reach...... 80"
Weight.... 189 lbs.
Record.... 16-0-0 {7 KO's}
Rank....... #19 Ring Magazine / #16 NBA

Betting-Favorite ..... Cassius Clay { 5-1 }

A Saturday Night Television Bout at St. Nicholas Arena ~ New York City, New York

Billy 'The Barber' Daniels is a 2-year Professional. He also was a 1960 New York Golden Gloves Champion.
Billy has had all '14' of his bouts here in New York.

Billy is a lanky and awkward boxer, who has a pretty good long looping right-hand.

He is coming off a good win over 'tough' Boston club-fighter Claude Chapman. In that bout {January 29, 1962},
Billy dropped Claude in the 1st Round, but he himself was dropped in Round 4. It was a tough fight, but Billy
rallied to win a 10-Round Decision.

At this time, Billy Daniels {Age; 23 years, 7 months} was 8-0-0 {4 KO's}

*May 13, 1961 ......... TKO 1 ........ Willie Bell ~ 13-4-1 {6 KO's}
Willie 'The Ringer' Bell was a sturdy 24 year-old Heavyweight from Buffalo. Willie had won '10-Straight'.

* May 27, 1961 ........ W Dec 6 .... Wilfredo Allevez ~ 14-2-0 {6 KO's}
Wilfedo 'Candido' Allevez was a highly-regarded 22 year-old prospect from Puerto Rico

* July 27, 1961 ........ TKO 5 ....... Johnny Jenkins ~ 21-4-5 {10 KO's}
Johnny 'Double J' Jenkins was a tough 29 year-old Light Heavyweight club-fighter from Newark, Jersey.

* August 26, 1961 ... W Dec 6 .... Claude Chapman ~ 28-5-0 {13 KO's}
Claude Chapman was a 'tough' 33 year-old club-fighting Heavyweight from Boston. This 6-Round bout ended up as a 'controversial' Decision for Billy Daniels.

* October 21, 1961 .. W Dec 6 ..... John Massey ~ 15-1-2 {14 KO's}
John 'KO Kid' Massey was a 'highly regarded' 22 year-old Knockout Artist from Portland, Oregon.

* November 11, 1961 . W Dec 10 ... Jefferson Davis ~ 11-1-0 {4 KO's}
Jefferson 'Jeff' Davis was a talented 21 year-old 'lanky' 6' 4" boxer from Alabama. Jeff had lost his previous bout {L Dec 10} to talented Tony Alongi only 3 1/2 Weeks earlier.
Jefferson had also fought Cassius Clay 4-Times in the Amateurs, and claimed '1' win.

* December 11, 1961 .. TKO 3 ........ Don Warner ~ 16-5-2 {15 KO's}
Don 'KO' Warner was a 22 year-old 'hard-hitting right-hand' Knockout Artist from Philadelphia.

* January 29, 1962 .... W Dec 10 ... Claude Chapman ~ 29-7-0 {13 KO's}
A rematch with the 33 year-old club-fighting Heavyweight from Boston.

Billy Daniels >
"I haven't fought in 4-Months, and I would have preferred another bout first. So, I'll have to be at my sharpest, because
Clay is very fast and is tough to catch clean."

"I'll take a few Rounds to see what he's got, and then I'll make my move around the 4th Round. I expect a good fight,
and it should be a real close at the end. I think we're evenly matched, and we're both going to get hit."

**Bill Paxtom** · 10-03-2014 05:06 PM

Cassius Clay vs. Billy Daniels

Saturday Night ~ May 19, 1962

St. Nicholas Arena ~ New York, New York

Television Bout

Attendance ........... { 1650 }
Gate Receipts ....... { $4300 }

Cassius Clay {195 lbs.} was the {5-1} betting-Favorite. Billy Daniels {189 lbs.} was the overwhelming
favorite of the St. Nicholas Arena crowd.

Round 1 >

An evenly fought Round. Cassius was content to move and circle to his left while flicking out
left-jabs, and tossing in an occasional chopping right-hand lead into Billy's left-eye.

Billy, utilizing his longer reach {81" to 78"} speared repeated left-jabs at Cassius's mid-section.

Billy also tossed a few long looping right-hands, as he forced the action by moving forward.

{Close Round > Even}
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Round 2 >

Cassius showcased his fast-hands, and scored with double left-jabs, while adding in more right-hand
leads to the head whenever Billy got too close.

Again, Billy forced the action, but this time Cassius was a little sharper and landed the better
punches.

Billy continued to wing long looping right-hands into the left side of Cassius' body.

Billy came out of Round 2 with a slight puffiness over the left-eye.

{Round for Cassius Clay}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Round 3 >

Cassius was out fast, and scored with laser-type left-jabs as Billy stalked forward. Billy attempted
a few long right-hands, but they were not effective.

Cassius moved in closer, and started to fire right-hands to Billy'e left-eye. At the {1:20 Mark}, Cassius
landing a ripping right-hand that opened a 'gash' over Billy's left-eye.

Cassius then focused on the cut, and added more pin-point right hands on the area.

Billy still came forward, and tried with his whipping right-hands to both the head and body.

{Round for Cassius Clay}

At the end of the Round, Referee - Mark Conn went to Billy's corner to check out the cut damage.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------