Venue: St Nicholas Arena, New York, 19th May, 1962.
The bible of boxing, The Ring
magazine now had clay as the eighth heavyweight contender
in the world in their famous world rankings. He had won 13
on the trot, 10 by way of knockout or stoppage. Billy Daniels
was also unbeaten, but less experienced. Daniels had won seven
straight, all by KO, and he was a local boy. Dundee described
him as “a cute sucker,” and the bout turned out
to be closely fought, with clay a lick or two from his best.
Daniels was taller than clay and he began well, scoring with
some neat headshots. Clay struggled to strike up his usual
humming rhythm. By the seventh, Daniels was slightly ahead
on points, and as Angelo Dundee observed later, “it
was a tough fight until Muhammad busted him up….”
Suddenly finding some form, clay opened up a cut over daniels’
eye and the referee had no option but to step in.
Watch the Muhammad Ali video
against Billy Daniels:
