IN MY e-book I inform a narrative a couple of man known as Bob Bozic and an image hanging on the wall of a bar in New York. It’s a joke.
Bozic just isn’t one of many nice heavyweights of the early Seventies, however he was powerful and one night time in September 1973 he shared a hoop with Larry Holmes at Madison Sq. Backyard. He misplaced on factors over six rounds; Holmes moved to 5 and nil and Bozic edged nearer to the top of a brief profession.
Bozic, who was a Canadian, completed with boxing in 1977 and left the game with 14 wins and three defeats. I met him about 15 years later when he was the barman at Fanelli’s, a secret New York watering gap. There are a whole bunch of boxing work and photos on the wall within the historical saloon.
On the primary night time I met him, we bought speaking concerning the image on the wall. It’s a black and white {photograph} of a person preventing one other man. One man has his huge again to the digital camera and the opposite is wanting intently within the eyes of his opponent. It was Bozic and, for about 20 years of visits to Fanelli’s, I believed the opposite man was George Foreman. It was not, it was Larry Holmes. Anyway, that story is within the e-book. The good Barry Jones solves the thriller.
The actual story of that image is the night time on the Backyard when Bozic fought Holmes. There have been, it appears, a variety of lawless nights on the Backyard within the Seventies. A number of the forgotten payments are really extraordinary.
The principle occasion that night time was former world heavyweight champion, Ernie Terrell, in opposition to Don King’s new man, Jeff Merritt, who was higher referred to as Sweet Slim. It lasted lower than a spherical and Merritt was hauled off Terrell after 2:42 of the primary. Terrell by no means fought once more.
It was Sweet Slim’s twenty first combat, his twentieth win and the fifteenth by stoppage or knockout. He was 6ft 5ins and weighed almost 17 stone. He was a hazard, make no mistake, however at the moment, and lengthy earlier than his involvement with King, Sweet Slim had slipped and slipped badly.
Merritt began to field in jail, continued to combat when he was launched. It’s stated that Joe Louis vouched for him at a parole listening to, and it would simply be true.
In 1969, Merritt beat Roy Williams, who was unbeaten in 9 fights, one night time in Philadelphia. That’s some win.
Merritt was managed by a syndicate and Bob Arum was concerned. Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali had been additionally, famously, managed and funded by syndicates. He was despatched to Miami to coach with Angelo Dundee and the exiled Ali. Sweet Slim was doing all the appropriate issues, with all the appropriate folks.
George Foreman refused him a combat at one level within the very early Seventies. There was 50 grand on the desk and Large George’s folks stated No. It’s most likely true, however it’s extra probably only a story that Dundee informed some press males at some point. Dundee liked to spin a line like that. In Miami, Merritt stored knocking folks out. Nevertheless, there have been tales of his life away from Dundee’s Fifth Avenue gymnasium and so they weren’t good tales.
In 1971, Merritt vanished on the day of a combat. He was simply gone. He had his licence to combat suspended by the native fee however that was not his downside: His downside was heroin; he was an addict.
CLEVELAND – NOVEMBER 28,1973: Jeff Merritt poses after successful the combat in opposition to Ron Stander on the Enviornment on November 28,1973 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photograph by: The Ring Journal by way of Getty Photographs)
The load began to drop off and it’s stated that you possibly can simply see the needle marks and the darkened veins in his arms. In late 1971, he toured as a part of Ali’s exhibition tour. Ali appeared to love him, however it appeared like the top for Sweet Slim as a number one heavyweight in a division deep with harmful males.
Sooner or later in both late 1972 or early 1973, Bundini Brown launched Merritt to Don King, who was within the early levels of amassing all of the heavyweights. King and Merritt spent a variety of time collectively. It was not a simple experience, however Merritt appears to have gotten clear and was matched with Terrell on the Backyard on the night time Bozic misplaced to Holmes. It was the break that Sweet Slim wanted. He had regained 20 kilos; his arms and eyes had been clear. He had King backing him and he had retired a former champion.
Two months later, Merritt stopped Ron Stander, who had fought Frazier for the world title. Bundini Brown, King and Richie Giachetti celebrated within the ring with Merritt on the finish of that combat. It was a brief revelry earlier than it began to unravel and there was nothing anyone may do. The medication got here again, the neglect within the gymnasium was apparent and Sweet Slim began to spiral. He misplaced twice in two years and was at struggle with the world.
Merritt’s final recorded combat was in 1982 at an evening membership in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He gained within the first spherical, however the victory led nowhere. Quickly, Sweet Slim was relegated to uncommon and unhappy sightings. Folks noticed him panhandling in Las Vegas earlier than huge fights and with every new sighting he was older and extra damaged. I appeared a number of occasions within the Nineties, however solely discovered the remnants of the Misplaced Technology.
Again at Fanelli’s the small black and white image nonetheless hangs, and Sweet Slim is a reminder that not each image tells each story.
Steve Bunce: Across the World in 80 Fights. Headline Publishing.