Which Former Heavyweight Champion Was The Elder Brother Of The Supremes’ Lead Singer Jean Terrell?

Ernie Terrell!

Ernest Terrell[1] (April 4, 1939 – December 16, 2014) was a 20th-century American professional boxer who competed from 1957 to 1973. He held the World Boxing Association heavyweight title from 1965 to 1967, and was one of the taller heavyweights of his era, at 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) tall. Terrell was the elder brother of the Supremes‘ early 1970s lead singer Jean Terrell. In the 1960s, Jean sang with Ernie’s group Ernie Terrell & the Heavyweights.[2]

Terrell was born on 4 April 1939 in Inverness, Mississippi, and spent his early childhood in Belzoni. He was born into a family of ten children, whose father was a Mississippi sharecropper who during Terrell’s childhood moved the family north to Chicago when he found employment in the factories there. Terrell received his formal education at Farragut School in Chicago. Before turning professional, he won the Chicago Golden Gloves in his youth as a light heavyweight, and he also formed a pop music singing act called “The Heavyweights” with three of his siblings.[3]

In his early career, Terrell defeated some good contenders, including Cleveland Williams (Terrell won the rematch by decision after losing to Williams in their first fight by knockout), Zora Folley, and future light heavyweight champion Bob Foster. However, he is best remembered for his fight with world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, on February 6, 1967, in which he was badly beaten.

Ali was scheduled to fight World Boxing Association champion Terrell (the WBA had stripped Ali of his title after his agreement to fight a rematch with Sonny Liston) on March 29, but Terrell backed out and Ali won a 15-round decision against substitute opponent George Chuvalo. The WBA matched Terrell and Eddie Machen for the vacant crown. Terrell defeated Machen to win the belt on March 5, 1965. He held it until February 6, 1967, when he lost to Muhammad Ali. During this time, most in the boxing world continued to recognize Ali as the legitimate champion, for he had not lost his championship in a boxing match. The WBA’s rival, the World Boxing Council, had also continued to recognize Ali as champion.

During his reign as WBA champion, Terrell defended the title twice, beating Doug Jones and George Chuvalo.

In February 1967, Ali and Terrell met to end the debate about who was the legitimate heavyweight champion. Before the bout, Terrell repeatedly called Ali by his birth name. He said later that he had known “Clay” for years in the amateurs and hadn’t gotten used to calling him another name. Ali took offense to this, and vowed he would punish Terrell. For his part, Ali further stoked the prefight ill-will by labeling Terrell “an Uncle Tom nigger who is going to get his ass whupped”.[4] Ali won a lopsided 15-round decision, reclaiming the undisputed championship. The Daily Telegraph wrote that the resulting fight was “the nastiest display of Ali’s celebrated ring career”, describing how he seized Terrell in a headlock and dragged Terrell’s eye along the top rope, and declared, “The fight will be remembered for Ali’s constant taunts of ‘what’s my name?’ to an opponent he was apparently content not merely to defeat, but also to belittle and humiliate.”[4] The match is recounted in the film Ali.

Terrell lost an upset 12-round decision to Thad Spencer later in 1967 in the WBA heavyweight tournament that was organized after Ali was stripped of his title in April 1967. He left the sport for three years following the loss, but returned in 1970, winning seven consecutive fights before losing to Chuck Wepner by decision. The Wepner decision was highly controversial; most who saw the fight thought Terrell had won.[5]

In 55 professional fights, Terrell earned a record of 46 wins (21 by knockout), nine losses and no draws. He retired from boxing in 1973 following a knockout loss to Jeff “Candy Slim” Merritt.[6]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Terrell

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