was one of 19 children born to a minister father, and thus the family members
grew up having strong religious beliefs. As Lyle
stated in a 1972 “Boxing Illustrated”
magazine article, this religious upbringing helped him cope with his
incarceration, and he believed he had been placed in this precarious position as
an inmate (quote) “in order to test his faith in the Lord,
to serve his time, and the Lord would
ultimately set him free” (unquote).
He
decided to turn his incarceration into something positive, and became a model
prisoner in order to gain an early parole. Lyle
had always been an excellent athlete, excelling in basketball, baseball and
football. While in jail, he was attracted to boxing and joined the prison
boxing program run by Lt. Clifford Mattax,
the Recreation Director at the prison facility. With the help of some inmates
that had professional boxing experience, and with his determination to succeed,
Lyle quickly mastered his skills in the
ring and became the most effective young fighter in the facility. Although he
lost his first fight to another prison inmate, he never lost another fight, even
beating boxers brought in from a nearby Army base. The physically imposing
Lyle had become an unmatched opponent
for all those who dared to face him.
Lyle’s
quick development and growing prison legend came to the attention of a self-made
Colorado businessman named Bill Daniels,
owner of the “Utah Stars” of the American Basketball Association and the “Denver
Rocks”, a team in the International
Boxing League. Daniels continued to follow
Lyle’s boxing exploits in the facility,
while contemplating the possible future of the inmate once outside the prison
walls, if he were to be soon released.
Ron
Lyle was finally paroled in November 1969
after serving a little over seven years of his sentence, and immediately joined
the “Denver Rocks” boxing team under
the close watch of their owner, Bill Daniels.
Between December 1969 and January 1971, he had 29 amateur fights, winning 25 and
losing only four. He won several National amateur titles and was Heavyweight
champion of the International Boxing League. Among his amateur victims was
Duane Bobick, who later would be a
Bronze medal winner at the 1972 Olympic games. Ironically, Bobick
would also turn professional under the management of Bill Daniels,
the Colorado businessman.
Under
the managerial leadership of Bill Daniels
and famed trainer Bobby Lewis,
Lyle turned to the professional ranks in April
1971 at the advanced age of 30 years old. An imposing 6’ 3” and between
210-220 pounds, the hard punching Lyle posed a menacing figure that reminded
many to the late Charles “Sonny” Liston.
He won his first 19 fights, 17 of them by KOs including impressive victories
over Manuel Ramos, Jack
O’Halloran, Vicente “Paul” Rondon,
Buster Mathis, Brazil’s Luis
Pires and Larry Middleton.
These victories earned Lyle worldwide
recognition and a very high ranking in the Heavyweight division.
** (In
an interesting side note, this writer was in attendance for Lyle’s
fourth pro fight in July 1971 at New York’s Sunnyside Garden
arena. Lyle
scored an impressive second round KO victory, and I spoke to a very cordial and
accommodating Lyle after the fight).
However, Lyle’s first mega fight, under
the bright lights of New York’s fabled Madison Square Garden,
resulted in a one-sided decision loss to the much more experienced Jerry
Quarry. Irish Jerry
was only 27 years old but a veteran of 54 fights, including wars with
Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier,
George Chuvalo, Ken Norton and many
other top Heavyweights of his era. Quarry
easily out-boxed Lyle, who could not cope with Jerry’s
underrated boxing skills, punching power and
ability to absorb punishment.
After
experiencing his first setback, Lyle
started a 2-year unbeaten streak of 12 fights, including wins over ranked
fighters Gregorio Peralta, Jose
Luis Garcia, Oscar Bonavena
and former Heavyweight champion Jimmy Ellis.
Following a decision loss to the clever Jimmy Young,
Lyle found himself challenging the one
and only Muhammad Ali for the
heavyweight championship of the world, Lyle’s
first and only challenge at a world title.
Muhammad Ali
had recaptured the WBA & WBC Heavyweight titles several months before by
knocking out George Foreman in the
famous “Rumble in the Jungle” fight in
Kinshasa, Zaire. Although a definite underdog in this memorable title fight
against one of the greatest champions of all time, Lyle
had surprisingly out boxed and out punched the great Ali
through ten rounds, and was ahead in the
scoring on two judges’ cards with the third judge having the fight even.
However, in the eleventh and final round, Ali
displayed all of the ability, punching power
and determination that made him an all-time great. A powerful right hand
delivered by Ali hurt Lyle,
who stumbled into the ropes. An attacking Ali
landed several combinations to a wobbly and unsteady Lyle,
who was now reeling from one side of the ring to the other. Now caught in a
ring corner unable to defend himself, Lyle
was hit with countless combinations, and after a few more landed, the referee
had no choice but to stop the fight and save Lyle
from more punishment. The clear underdog in this fight, Lyle
had certainly displayed surprising boxing skills, punching power and ability to
take a punch in his valiant but losing effort against the “Greatest of
all Time” champion.
Not one
to avoid any fighter, Lyle rebounded
from the Ali loss by taking on one of
the hardest punchers in boxing history, the ever dangerous Ernie Shavers.
With a record of 49-4 and a long list of knockout victims, Shavers
was himself knocked out by Lyle
in another barnburner that saw each fighter kiss the canvas once.
Shavers was unable to beat the referee’s 10
count in the sixth round as he suffered a knockout loss at the hands of
Lyle.
Now
back on the winning ledger, Lyle’s
victory was followed by a fight against another very dangerous opponent, former
Heavyweight champion George Foreman,
who was back in the ring in his first start since losing his title in the “Rumble
in the Jungle” classic against Ali.
In what turned out to be named as “The Fight of the Year”
in 1976 by the prestigious “Ring Magazine”,
the fight turned into an instant boxing classic.
After a
brutal three rounds of fighting that saw both fighters land many powerful
punches, Lyle hit Foreman
with a tremendous right hand that knocked Foreman
down. Rising before the referee’s count reached ten, a brave Foreman
fought back and withstood a relentless attack by Lyle,
who was now pounding the seemingly helpless former champion. Calling on all of
his power that had made him a world champion, Foreman
gamely fought back and staggered Lyle
with a powerful right and left combination that dropped Lyle
almost through the ring’s bottom rope. A hurt and wobbly Lyle
got up and gamely fought back with a vicious attack of his own. With the crowd
on its feet and screaming wildly, Lyle
landed another barrage that again dropped Foreman
near round’s end. Only the bell to end the round saved Foreman
from a KO loss and gave both combatants a welcome minute’s rest to recover.
The
furious action continued in the fifth and final round, and several
Foreman combinations clearly hurt Lyle
and sent him reeling into a corner of the ring seeking refuge from his attacking
foe. As the referee closed in on the fighters to take a closer look at the now
defenseless Lyle, George
Foreman landed a fight ending three-punch
combination and Lyle pitched face
forward onto the ring apron. The fight ended with a prone Lyle
and a very lucky Foreman as the winner
in the “Fight of the Year” for 1976.
An instant boxing classic was born.
The now
35-year old Lyle continued to box, and
in the next 5 years won 8 fights and lost 2. Although he had two impressive
victories, against Hungary’s Joe Bugner
and Canada’s tough Scott Ledoux, his
skills were clearly in decline when he was knocked out in one round by the hard
punching Gentleman Gerry Cooney in
October 1980. After the loss, the 39-year old Lyle
announced his retirement from boxing.
Following a fifteen-year layoff, Lyle
decided to return to the ring wars and began an ill-advised comeback at 54 years
of age. Although he recorded four knockout victories against mediocre
opposition in a four-month span, he announced his permanent retirement from the
sport.
During
his career, Ron Lyle was one of the
most feared punchers in boxing, having faced, and defeated, many of the era’s
best Heavyweight contenders. He finished with an impressive career record of 43
wins (with 31 by KO) only 7 loses and 1 draw.
Ron Lyle
faced what appeared to be insurmountable adversity during his early childhood
with his gang involvement, a murder conviction, resulting incarceration and
confinement in a state penitentiary for over seven years.
However, aided by his determination to rehabilitate his life, his strong
religious beliefs and with the guidance of influential people he met through the
sport of boxing, Ron Lyle was able to
redirect his life’s path onto the road leading to a complete rehabilitation.
Along
the way, Ron Lyle gave the world’s
boxing community many exciting and thrilling moments in his boxing career,
including his classic encounter against future Hall-of-Famer George
Foreman in the 1976 “Fight of the
Year.”
