Zora Folley

Zora Folley
Data
Birth Name	Zora Folley
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	May 27, 1932
place of birth	Dallas
Date of death	July 7, 1972
Place of death	Tucson
style	Left delivery
size	1.85
Combat Statistics
Struggles	96
Victories	79
Knockout victories	43
Defeats	11
draw	6th

Zora Folley (born May 27, 1932 in Dallas , Texas , † July 7, 1972 in Tucson , Arizona ) was an American heavyweight boxer.

The early professional career

Folley began professional boxing in 1953. Despite his 43 knockout victories, he was not a knockout bat and was also not a boxer who had above-average taker qualities. Since he did not experience careful matchmaking by his management, but rather had to compete against more highly rated boxers early in his career, from today's perspective it seems as if he had a so-called "glass chin", which is not the case. Folley's reputation was based on good boxing technique, fairness and a generally professional view of the profession.

In 1955 he was defeated by Johnny Summerlin, who in the previous year had gone the full distance twice with Sonny Liston and was only narrowly defeated by him in the rematch with 2-1 judge votes. Folley, who met an opponent who had made six fights in a row victorious and was in the shape of his life, was knocked to the ground several times in the fight and finally gave up in the sixth round. A few months later he suffered his second defeat against Young Jack Johnson, again by giving up.

Promotion to "Contender"

He defeated the first well-known opponent in 1956 when he managed to win points over the Cuban Niño Valdés . In 1958 he boxed a draw against the then undefeated Eddiemachen , who had a style very similar to him. Against the 1956 Olympic champion Pete Rademacher , who had boxed unsuccessfully against Floyd Patterson for the world championship in his professional debut , he won in his second professional fight by knockout in the fourth round. He then lost to Henry Cooper on points in England .

In 1960 he defeated Mach, but was knocked out by Sonny Liston . The next year he went against the world ranked Argentine Lavorante KO, but knocked out Cooper in England in a rematch. In 1962 he beat the originally coming from the light heavyweight Doug Jones , who caused great difficulties for the young Cassius Clay in the same year, on points, but went KO in a rematch.

In July 1963 he lost surprisingly clearly on points against the eventual world champion Ernie Terrell . As a result, he got points wins against George Chuvalo , Óscar Bonavena and the later long-time light heavyweight world champion Bob Foster . In fights in Germany he boxed in 1964 against Karl Mildenberger , he won against Gerhard Zech by knockout.

After he did not lose in 1966, he finally received a title fight against world champion Muhammad Ali . He lost by knockout in the seventh round. It was Ali's last fight for the next three years.

End of career and death

However, Folley did not win a significant fight and ended his career in 1970. He then worked as a car dealer in Chandler , where he was also a member of the city council. He died in 1972 in unknown circumstances in a Tucson motel . In the incident, considered to be an accident, he suffered severe head injuries, which he eventually succumbed to in hospital.

Web links

• Zora Folley in the BoxRec database

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Sweet Science: Rise and Fall of Zora Folley