Eric Armit profiles one of many early heavyweight destroyers, raised in an period of racial segregation, who was pressured to battle the identical males again and again.
Elmer “Violent” Ray
Born: 3 March 1911 in Federal Level, Florida
Died: 20 Might 1987 in Hastings, Florida, aged 76
Division: Heavyweight
File: 133 fights, 96 wins (69 by KO/TKO), misplaced 23 (9 by KO/TKO), 11 attracts, 3 No Selections. Ray’s early file is incomplete. The primary battle recorded by BoxRec was a ten-round draw with Walter King in October 1933.
Scored wins over: Lee Savold, Jersey Joe Walcott**, and Ezzard Charles**
Misplaced to: Jersey Joe Walcott**, John Henry Lewis**, Ezzard Charles **, John Holman
The story of Elmer Ray
Ray was a member the so-called “Black Murderers’ Row”. A bunch of black fighters who because of restrictions on blended race fights in some states, and to the risk they posed, as high quality fighters with a punch, had been pressured to repeatedly battle one another. He fought Obie Walker 14 instances (together with a spell once they fought one another 5 instances in three months), Dixie Oliver six instances and Willie Bush 5 instances.
To finish 1939, his traceable file was a poor 11-13-9, however from October 1943 to March 1947 he scored 50 consecutive wins, 46 of them by KO/TKO, together with a run of 20 consecutive inside-the-distance wins.
In March 1947, he was ranked No. 1 heavyweight by Ring Journal with an excellent likelihood of difficult Joe Louis however misplaced a majority choice towards Jersey Joe Walcott. He rebounded to attain numerous wins, together with a break up choice over Ezzard Charles (pictured under) in July 1947 to climb to No. 2 within the rankings.
Nevertheless, a ninth-round KO loss to Charles, in Might 1948, ended his hopes of a title shot and he retired in March 1949 on the age of 38. After retiring, he lastly acquired into the ring with Joe Louis, however solely in exhibition bouts.
In 2003, Ring Journal rated Ray No. 44 of their record of the 100 best punchers within the historical past of boxing. Ray was inducted into the Florida Boxing Corridor of Fame in 2010.
