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Jimmy Ellis, Ali’s friend who won boxing crown, dies at 74

Jimmy Ellis (right) missed with his attempt to punch Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden. Mr. Ellis lost the match and his heavyweight crown that night. Associated Press 1970 file

NEW YORK — Jimmy Ellis, who beat Jerry Quarry to become World Boxing Association heavyweight champion in 1968 and fought the era’s best fighters, including his friend Muhammad Ali, died Tuesday at age 74.

Mr. Ellis, who had suffered from dementia for more than a decade, died at Baptist Health Louisville hospital in Kentucky, his son, Jeff, said.

Ali’s former sparring partner and a fellow Kentuckian, Mr. Ellis was among a group of boxers who traded title belts during one of the heavyweight division’s most celebrated eras. His 15-round majority-decision win over Quarry in Oakland, Calif., came in the final of an eight-man tournament. Later that year in Stockholm, he defended the belt against two-time champion Floyd Patterson in a fight that he also won on points.

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‘‘I was made out to be nothin’ but a sparring partner,’’ Mr. Ellis said in a 1968 interview with Sports Illustrated after winning the world title. ‘‘It bothered me to be run down like that. I was more than that. I knew it. I think I’ve proven that now.’’

Mr. Ellis won the WBA belt that Ali held until he was stripped of his titles for refusing induction into the Army during the Vietnam War. Mr. Ellis, who was 6-foot-1 and 197 pounds when he took the crown, won 40 bouts, 24 by knockouts, and lost 12 in his professional boxing career.

He was WBA champion until Joe Frazier defeated him in February 1970 at Madison Square Garden in New York. In that fight, Frazier knocked him down twice in the fourth round and Mr. Ellis didn’t come out of his corner for the fifth.

Mr. Ellis began his boxing career at the Columbia Gym in Louisville, where he was trained by police officer Joe Martin, who was credited with spotting Ali’s talent years earlier. Ali and Mr. Ellis later shared the renowned trainer Angelo Dundee.

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Ali remembered his longtime friend as a ‘‘master in the ring.’’

‘‘In the world of heavyweights, I have always thought that Jimmy was one of the best,’’ Ali said in a statement in which he and his wife, Lonnie, expressed condolences.

Ali said his friendship with Mr. Ellis began as both rose through the ranks as amateurs in their hometown of Louisville. ‘‘As a former champion, Jimmy was known for exceptional hand speed and a strong chin,’’ Ali said.

Dundee often said that Mr. Ellis packed more punch than he was given credit for, Ali recalled. But Ali said Mr. Ellis’s greatest qualities were his ‘‘gentle manner and the compassion in his heart.’’

‘‘I had a kinship with Jimmy and felt like he and I were of the same cloth,’’ Ali said. ‘‘He was a great athlete and a caring man. Great competitors who happen to be great friends are rare. Jimmy Ellis was that to me and I will miss him.’’

After losing his world title, Mr. Ellis had unsuccessful bouts with Ron Lyle, Joe Bugner, and Frazier before retiring in 1975 after injuring his left eye during training.

James Albert Ellis was born in Louisville, the son of a Baptist minister, Walter, and his wife, Elizabeth, who raised the family’s nine children.

He had a strong interest in gospel music from his teenage years and was a featured singer in the Riverview Spiritual Singers, based at the Riverview Baptist Church, where his father was pastor. The group toured and released recordings, even while Mr. Ellis pursued boxing.

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Mr. Ellis first encountered Ali watching him fight on local television in the late 1950s, and decided he could beat Cassius Clay, as Ali was then known, Jeff Ellis said. The pair often sparred, then became friends.

They met in a North American Boxing Federation championship bout in 1971. While neither fighter was knocked down, the referee stopped the match at 2:10 of the 12th round, awarding a technical knockout victory to Ali. Mr. Ellis and Ali remained friends in retirement.

‘‘I still talk to Muhammad once a week on the phone and he never, ever, begins our conversation without the words ‘Hi, champ,’ Mr. Ellis told the Daily Telegraph in 2003.

In addition to his son Jeff, Mr. Ellis leaves another son, James Jr., daughters Jamesetta Wells, Inez, Mary, and Sonya, and 10 grandchildren. His wife, the former Mary Etta Williams, died in 2006.


Material from the Associated Press was used in this obituary.