Cassius Clay vs. Doug Jones

Boxing competition

Date

March 13, 1963

Venue

Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York

Tale of the tape

Boxer	Cassius Clay	Doug Jones
Nickname	"The Louisville Lip"	"Turk"
Hometown	Louisville, Kentucky	New York City, New York
Purse	$90,000	$75,000
Pre-fight record	17–0 (14 KO)	21–3–1 (13 KO)
Age	21 years, 1 month	26 years
Height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	202+1⁄2 lb (92 kg)	188 lb (85 kg)
Style	Orthodox	Orthodox
Recognition	No. 2 Ranked Heavyweight	No. 3 Ranked Heavyweight

Result

Clay won in 10 rounds by unanimous decision

Cassius Clay vs. Doug Jones was a professional boxing match contested on March 13, 1963. Clay won on points in what would prove to be one of the closest fights of his early professional career. The fight was named 1963’s Fight of the Year by The Ring.^[1]

Background

This was a ten-round heavyweight title elimination bout at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Clay and Jones held the second and third spots in the top ten rankings respectively. Former champion Floyd Patterson held the number one rank, and was preparing for a rematch with Sonny Liston.

Clay was given 3-1 odds of defeating Jones, and confidently predicted he would score a knockout victory in the fourth round.

The fight

The fight a hard fought match, the more experienced Jones fought courageously against his larger opponent, taking everything thrown at him while countering effectively, greatly effecting Clay’s timing. Neither man was knocked down, despite Clay attempting to knock his opponent out particularly in the third and fourth rounds. Upon failing to make his prediction, Clay was booed at the end of the fourth round. The final rounds picked up in speed and intensity, with Clay ultimately prevailing in a series of fierce exchanges, and went on to win the bout on points through a close but unanimous decision.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Viewership and revenue

The fight was Madison Square Garden's first boxing sellout in 13 years,^[8] grossing a live gate of $304,943 ($3,034,846 inflation adjusted). The fight purses were $90,000 ($895,696 inflation adjusted) for Clay and $75,000 for Jones.^[9]

The fight had a closed-circuit theatre television broadcast, which drew 150,000 pay-per-view buys,^[10] including 9,000 in Texas^[11] and 1,500 at Syria Mosque.^[12] The fight grossed $500,000 ($4,976,087 inflation adjusted) in closed-circuit television revenue. In addition, the fight also had a pay-per-view home television broadcast in Toronto and Hartford, Connecticut.^[8] The fight's combined live gate and closed-circuit revenue was $804,943 ($8,010,933 inflation adjusted).

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:^[13]

References

^ "Cassius Clay vs. Doug Jones". boxrec.com. BoxRec. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
^ "Muhammad Ali's ring record". ESPN. 19 November 2003. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
^ Thomas Hauser (1991). Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times. Simon & Schuster. pp. 51–3.
^ Felix Dennis & Don Atyeo (2003). Muhammad Ali: The Glory Years. miramax books. pp. 68–76.
^ "Muhammad Ali: The Dream". Time. 22 March 1963. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
^ "A Comeuppance for the Cocksure Cassius". Sports Illustrated. 25 March 1963. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
^ Michael Ezra (2009). Muhammad Ali:The Making of an Icon. Temple University Press. pp. 52–4.
^ ^a ^b "Clay-Jones Fight First Garden Sellout in 13 Yrs". Traverse City Record-Eagle. March 13, 1963.
^ "Narrow Win Over Jones Jars Poetry Out Of Clay". Tucson Daily Citizen. March 14, 1963.
^ "Invitation To Murder: Cassius May Get A Crack At Liston This Summer". The Courier-Journal. March 14, 1963.
^ "Cassius Clay Outpoints Doug Jones For Decision: Clay Still Wants Liston in Six Months For Title". Brownwood Bulletin. March 14, 1963.
^ "Fight Telecast On at Mosque (Cassius Clay Ticket Ad)". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. March 13, 1963.
^ "BoxRec - event".

Awards
Preceded by vs. Charlie Powell	Cassius Clay's bouts 13 March 1963	Succeeded by vs. Henry Cooper
Preceded by vs. Zora Folley	Doug Jones's bouts 13 March 1963	Succeeded by vs. Billy Daniels
Previous: Joey Giardello W 10 Henry Hank II	The Ring Fight of the Year 1963	Succeeded by Cassius Clay KO 7 Sonny Liston

Muhammad Ali

Fights

Media

Docu films and series	Whicker's World (1967 episode) a.k.a. Cassius Clay (1970) Facing Ali (2009) When Ali Came to Ireland (2012) The Trials of Muhammad Ali (2013) I Am Ali (2014) Icons: The Greatest Person of the 20th Century (2019 episode) What's My Name: Muhammad Ali (2019) Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali (2021) Muhammad Ali (2021 series)