To All, I was sad to learn that Cleveland Williams was killed when hit by a car in Houston last week. He was in a crosswalk at The Medical Center which I often use, so it was kind of eerie.
Though the papers were full of the fact that he once fought Muhammad Ali, he had been gut shot by a .357 magnum (I think he broke the law of Driving While Black in 1960s Texas) and was way over the hill before that fight. I remember him from his prime. He had some truly great fights against the big names of his day, most of which were knockout victories. But his best fight, IMHO, was a loss to Sonny Liston, the toughest man who's ever lived. Cleveland got to Sonny early and often and knocked him out of the ring. Unfortunately for Cleveland, that really ticked Sonny off and he climbed back in the ring and knocked him out. That was a fight to determine who would meet Floyd Patterson.
Anyway, Cleveland Williams was a great fighter, not a great boxer, and it was sad to see him become another victim of Houston traffic. |
