Boxing lost another one of its former heavyweight greats on Nov. 26 when Ron Lyle died in a Denver hospital at the age of 70. Lyle, like Joe Frazier, who also passed away recently, was known for his bouts in the 1970s against the likes of Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Lyle was admitted to hospital on Nov. 18 after complaining of pains in his stomach. He died just over a week later when his stomach abscess suddenly became septic.
Lyle was one of 19 children and grew up in Denver. However, he had problems with the law while growing up and was convicted of second-degree murder when he was 19 years old after shooting a rival gang member. Lyle said he was attacked by the victim with a lead pipe and he didn’t fire the gun that killed him. He was offered a lighter sentence if he talked, but he would never reveal the name of the man who pulled the trigger and served seven and a half years in prison. His life almost ended while serving his sentence as he was viciously stabbed by a fellow inmate, but managed to pull through.
Although he was an excellent basketball player growing up, he decided to learn how to box while in prison. Lyle won a national amateur title after he was released and turned pro when he was 29 years old, winning his first fight in 1971 by a second-round knockout. Lyle’s parents were very religious and he felt he had let them down and broken their hearts by being involved in the gangland killing. After his mother traveled through a snowstorm to visit him in prison one day he decided he would become the world’s heavyweight champion to make her proud.
Lyle fought in what was arguably heavyweight boxing’s greatest era in the 1970s. He took on the likes of Buster Mathis, Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena, Jimmy Ellis, and Jimmy Young by 1975 and then got a shot at Ali on May 16 in Las Vegas for Ali’s WBA and WBC heavyweight titles. Lyle fought exceptionally well, but Ali finally caught up with him in the 11th round and beat him by a TKO. One judge had the fight scored a draw at the time of the stoppage while another had Lyle ahead by a point and the third had Lyle up by six points.
Lyle was back in the ring four months later to face the heavy-hitting Earnie Shavers. Lyle was decked in the second round, but came back to stop Shavers in the sixth. His next fight, against Foreman in January of 1976, was the most memorable of his career and one of the best in boxing history. The two men slugged it out from the opening bell and Lyle dropped Foreman in the fourth round. Foreman got up and then dropped Lyle. But just before the bell rang, Foreman was back on the canvas again after Lyle rallied. Both men continued trading power shots in the fifth round and Foreman finished the classic fight off with a KO.
More trouble with the law followed in 1978 when Lyle again killed a man. This time he was found not guilty by self defense after killing a former inmate who attacked him in his home. He retired from boxing in 1980 after being knocked out in the first round by Gerry Cooney. Fifteen years went by before Lyle decided to box again and in 1995 he made a comeback. He won all four of his comeback bouts by knockout against mediocre opposition and then retired for good later that same year. And the end of his career, Lyle’s record stood at 43-7-1, with 31 wins coming by knockout.
Lyle spent the last few years of his life coaching youngsters, including Victor Ortiz for a brief period, at a Salvation Army center in Denver. He was inducted into the Colorado Golden Gloves Hall of Fame in March.
