Jimmy Ellis - 1970s Heavyweights

One of a number of the fighters in this list that has passed away is Ellis a former WBA champion winning the title in 1968 by beating the late Jerry Quarry, also in this list. Like many of the boxers in the heavyweight division of the 1970s, Ellis was a winner with 40 victories and just 12 defeats while knocking out 24 opponents. During this era, no one ducked anyone. Ellis lost three of his last four fights and they were to Joe Fraizer, Joe Bugner, and Ron Lyle, all solid fighters. After those three losses, he concluded his career with a knockout victory over Carl Baker. Ellis would lose to Muhammad Ali, Ernie Shavers, Joe Frazier, and Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. But Ellis owned wins over Quarry, Floyd Patterson, George Chuvalo, and Oscar Bonavena.