This week saw the passing of 81 year old former Cincinnati heavyweight contender Billy Joiner, a man who as an outstanding 86-6 light heavyweight amateur faced Cassius Clay twice, and 10 years later as a 9-3-3 professional heavyweight faced the fearsome Sonny Liston twice.. Following success as an AAU and Golden Gloves light heavyweight champion, Joiner turned pro in 1962 and went on to face Zora Folley, Juergen Blin, Alfredo Evangelista, Al Lewis, Mac Foster and Oscar Bonavena.. By 1966 Bill was 9-1 (4 Ko’s) but over the next 15 years would precede to lose 12 of 18 with 3 draws.. In 1969 coming off two successive defeats to Liston, Joiner travelled to Canada and outpointed the highly touted Bob Cleroux in his own home town, a defeat that forced the tough Canadian to retire from the sport.. In December of 1975, Bill would travel to Puerto Rico to face the then 18-0 future heavyweight legend Larry Holmes.. Joiner laced on gloves for the final time in 1981 when he outpointed 13-2 Young Louis over ten rounds in Detroit, wrapping up his extraordinary career at 12-13-3 (5 Ko’s)
Billy was possibly the last of the remaining heavyweight contenders from the Golden era of boxing.. RIP Billy Joiner.
Great article hi
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