AIR DATE:
EPISODE: Episode 53
Watch The Scoop from Monday to Friday featuring Canadian heavyweight champ Bola Ray, who lends his vast experience in the sport and provides his comments and analysis on boxing, on YouTube and TalkinFight.com/live. #boxinghistory @georgeforeman
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Transcribed:
Hello there, boxing fans around the world, welcome once again to another episode of the scoop featuring the champ molar ray, who has been uh filling our ears with all sorts of uh madness and mayhem from a day gone by when we had uh champions going toe-to-toe practically Every month and uh making a lot of uh fun out of it as well.
It was a great time to be a fan, as we went uh through the 70s and 80s with these great guys and when i say great yeah we’re talking about the greats uh, including muhammad ali, potentially the greatest and tonight we’ve got someone who added to his Life story, i’m sure, thank you very much, so very much all right, um today, i’m talking about a man who [ Music ] for reasons i still can’t wrap my head around just was not satisfied with being who he was.
He was a light heavyweight by today’s standards.
He was seen he would have been seen as a light, heavyweight or even a cruiserweight but um.
This was before the cruiserweight division had actually begun, but even then he was still teetering on the light heavyweight side or a very small heavyweight by definition at the time, and yet he still was constantly just not happy with being not just a light heavyweight, but a World champion light heavyweight, not even a world champion, but arguably the greatest world champion light heavyweight he’d, always go back up to heavyweight just to get fight the bigger boys and was never really all that successful.
With his uh heavyweight campaign um, he was a great test.
Um he was so great that um he tested himself in the heavyweight division like quite a few times quite a few times, and he didn’t do poorly, but he went up.
He lost against future or even current world champions and uh yeah still was not happy um.
With that being said, my name is bala raymond olabwali.
This is the scoop born april 27, 1942 in borger texas, but the family moved to albuquerque new mexico when he was still in his formative years.
Um was none other than [ Music ] bob foster.
I mean most people don’t really know, and they really should um upon finishing high school bob enlisted in the air force where this is where he found boxing and while he was in the air force, he got it into the golden glove circuit fought in the golden Globes fought in some inter-service boxing competitions, and then he turned pro march 27 1961.
, like i said before, bob was a natural um light heavyweight and that weight cost was just well.
It wasn’t enough for him, but he would go up to heavyweight, for the opportunity to prove himself prove something to himself that he can hang with big boys now keeping in mind bob was a tall man, six foot three by yesterday’s standards.
Um, i just was not happy with not being the big boys granted.
The money was probably a lot better much like today.
If you find the heavyweight division so um, he started off his career, fighting solely light heavyweight and won the first nine fights, and then he goes up against doug jones october 20th, 1962 on three days notice, because you may have remember me talking about a zora foley.
He had some uh, he had contracted some kind of virus.
So not only does he decide to go up a weight class but on three days notice.
That’S a level of confidence that i’m just like scratching my head about, but so be it he bob um.
This is his first dance at heavyweight and right off the hop in the first round.
Wham bob hits cams and doesn’t actually get up until the ref actually counts nine, so he was.
He was pretty stung to say the least from there.
He then went on to fight do the best he could for the rest for um the next six rounds, but then in the seventh round – and it was a pretty telling round – he was he was game, but he wasn’t.
He was taking quite a shellacking, especially at the end of the round, and then he got caught boom with this huge left hook and he falls he’s he gets rocked, but he doesn’t, he doesn’t hit canvas and just before the ref or sorry just before, um doug Jones was actually able to jump him.
The bell goes so he got saved by the bell.
He had a minute to clear his head, so be it.
He then returns to the following the next round: a frown and he’s attempting to re-establish his jab and whatnot, but doesn’t isn’t all that successful and why ends up happening? Is dog catches him again boom and he’s rocked again does not touch canvas but because he had been taking so much abuse, especially from the the end of the last round.
To this point in the in the eighth round, the ref just finally stops the fight.
His first contest at heavyweight wasn’t ultra successful, so so be it.
He uh nothing really to be ashamed of.
He was.
He was eight pounds smaller than this guy first time ever um fighting someone that was that much bigger than him.
So he goes on to fight three more fights and loses his only his only in his whole career light heavyweight title, uh, light heavyweight fight against um, uh, south africa, our south american champion by the name of muro mina, now great fight, technical fight, united’s decision, but Still, it was again, i still think that he had nothing to to be ashamed of and he just fought a champion.
Decent caliber fighter took a loss in the division that he’s supposed to have stayed at, but heaven forbid he listened to anybody july 10th.
He attempts his hand dead, heavyweight again to lose to a seventh round knockout to uh ernie trell.
If you remember from another, show that i’ve done now, ernie terrell was a heavyweight.
Why why, in between, he had already won some six or seven fights all at light.
Heavyweight showing his dominance only to come back up up to heavyweights to play with the big boys and just did not prove favorable.
I don’t understand this.
He, after the fight he actually goes and finishes the year with three more fights: pretty decent fights um all like two fights in one in the month of november alone, um again at light, heavyweight and he’s dominant, starts the following year off at light heavyweight and he’s Dominant uh only to then meet up with zoro foley, the fighter that uh had to duck out in his uh first fight with doug uh doug jones zora wins a unanimous decision over him, but again as a heavyweight he’s frustrated and i for a life of me.
Don’T understand why, if he just stayed at light heavyweight, he would be well.
Everybody would know his name a lot more than anything you know, but instead he goes back back up to heavyweight, looking to make a dent trying to make uh.
What do i call it? Get in the rankings and is unfortunately unsuccessful um he comes back down, and now he has a string of fights, a string of wins where he finally gets his title shot at light heavyweight against none other than dick tiger.
Dick tiger was a nigerian expat, um phenomenal fighter two-time world champion at middleweight decided to come up in the ranks, are coming to the heavyweight uh lighthead week and uh was actually beaten march march 24th, 1968 by bob foster, which is no surprise, and it was just Bob was beyond you know, amazing by this point, but so be it.
He stays there um and dominates the the what’s called the light heavyweight division for a while um only to then eventually run into none other than the man himself, joe frazier wow, and he he’s defending his titles.
He sorry, let me retract.
He finally got an opportunity to fight for the title um april, 4th um, which god um or he’s defending his title sorry april 4th.
But he is fighting guys who are light heavyweights april 4th of of 70 and he’s beating these guys he’s beating these guys and then all of a sudden, joe frazier comes in, but he’s at heavyweight, joel frazier, weighed 209 bob foster weighed 188, and that is arguably The heaviest heaviest bob could ever make.
Why go there you’re a king at light heavyweight? Nobody can touch you you’re, destroying.
Why go.
There goes up against joe frazier and gets knocked out in the second round.
I i don’t know what to make of him once again.
Goes right back down to light heavyweight.
Does what he’s got to do mind you this time he has quite the winning streak.
Goes on for another two years, almost three um undefeated uh defending his his late heavyweight title only to then go off and run into the man himself, the greatest we’re talking december or november 21st 1972.
Now he initially went up against him solely because this is right.
After muhammad ali had already lost, um lost his title and he fought bob foster at heavyweight for the north american boxing federation title.
So it wasn’t a world title shot but um, like i said, north american title shot and foster was knocked down four times in the fifth twice in the seventh and then finally one more time in the eighth and then he got counted out.
He just wasn’t big enough.
He was sensational at light heavy, not big enough, i’m not taking anything away from him.
There’S no, there’s! No, nothing to be ashamed of.
Yes, he doesn’t.
He just doesn’t do it.
He goes right back up and then goes back down to light heavy light heavy again he has a successful career um pretty much to the end, and then he yeah he finished off his career with two back-to-back losses: um against none other than heavyweights, and once again, Two big losses: two knockouts two stoppages.
He was a sensational talent.
He was just physically and you.
We all know these guys who for life of them, unless you put bricks in their pockets, they’re, not going to tip the scale any heavier and for life.
For me he doesn’t, he did not want to stay or he wanted to be known for his accolades at the heavyweight realm at the alvin rank ranks um post uh, post um boxing life.
He became a sheriff.
Actually that was his ring name.
Deputy sheriff right from john street, he was always what he aspired to be and he finished off his life as deputy sheriff um uh.
What’S called in uh bernello county department sheriff in albuquerque new mexico uh died at the age of 73 november 21st, 2015 and i’d like to say thanks for the memories he genuinely like made things interesting um he kept us.
He kept us entertained.
Thank you, sir, and with that that is my show.
So if you like this episode, please hit the like button and subscribe smash.
The notification bell.
It’S boy, ball, that’s a scoop! You know what i’m thinking the man obviously had a big heart.
I mean he had a passion for the game.
Obviously i think he knew where the money laid, but anyway you know what they ask of the spartans they ask of the spartans, were they brave or were they stupid? So i’m sitting here i’m listening to this story.
I’M thinking did the guy ever win at heavyweight.
Did he ever win, he won and he won some fights like he was a.
He was just.
Never.
He never got to the point of contender.
I should actually i shouldn’t call him.
I shouldn’t say that he never got to a point of content because he actually fought joe frazier for the world title, but it was because he was so dominant as a light heavyweight in the one in the way cross below.
He did have some wins against some.
Some future contenders, but nothing yeah.
He never beat a champion.
I hate what that is what a story, no, i say believe you can’t say: yeah yeah, that’s a story, for i mean i’m just saying poor guy i mean i mean he.
You know if you balance off his fantastic career at light heavyweight, but what is he known for uh? You know the cricket who could we’re quitting exactly all right, champ thanks very much for another great episode.
I really appreciate it’s good stuff and uh.
We’Re we’ll see you tomorrow night and uh yeah today’s hump day, so we got two more episodes this week coming up, yeah you’re, going to surprise us tomorrow.
Are you going to let us know what you’re doing? No, actually, i i i told you it’s going to be busted, mr matheson, but uh yeah.
I already told them away good stuff, we’ll see you tomorrow, night
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