Zora Folley

Zora Folley (May 27, 1931 – July 7, 1972) was an American heavyweight boxer. He was well skilled with a good defence and also a punch to go with it.

Born in Dallas, Texas, he moved with his family to Chandler, Arizona in 1942, where he grew up playing baseball. Upon joining the U.S. Army in 1948, he entered the boxing ring, and won the 6th Army championship within a year, eventually earning the All-Army and All-Service titles. He fought in the Korean War, earning five battle stars, and was discharged in 1953.

He then signed a professional boxing contract, winning his first pro fight against Jimmy Ingram, then after a draw, won seventeen straight victories until losing to Johnny Summerlin in 6 rounds with a suspected broken jaw after being decked three times. Despite being considered a top contender, Folley never faced heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson. This was partly due to his highly controversial points loss to Henry Cooper in England, in September 1958 (which was later avenged in December 1961 by a two-round knockout.).

Folley beat such contenders as Eddie Machen, George Chuvalo, Bob Cleroux (twice), Oscar Bonavena the first match was one sided with Bonavena being decked but Oscar got the rematch 3 years later, and Doug Jones. He also had draws with Karl Mildenberger and Eddie Machen (their first fight). Between 1960 and 1962 Folley was knocked out by Sonny Liston, Alejandro Lavorante, and Doug Jones (in the rematch).

It wasn't until March 22, 1967, aged 34, that he faced the world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. Folley was knocked out in the 7th round being somewhat past his best. Folley fought for three more years afterward before being knocked out by Mac Foster in 1970.

Folley served as a member of the Chandler City Council, and raising a family of nine children with his wife Joella. Before their fight, Ali joked that Folley was such a nice man that it posed a real problem because he couldn't possibly get mad at him.^[1] Folley was one of the first to call the controversial champion by his Muslim name instead of Cassius Clay. Ali stated he'd respected Folley and was nervous before the match. Folley was the last man to face Ali before Ali's three-year exile from boxing in 1967.

In mysterious circumstances, Folley suffered severe head injuries in a motel swimming pool while visiting a friend in Tucson, Arizona on July 8, 1972, and died at a Tucson hospital within hours. The death was officially ruled to be accidental, but conspiracy theories regarding his death persist.

The city of Chandler dedicated Zora Folley Memorial Park in his honor.

Professional boxing record

79 Wins (44 knockouts, 35 decisions), 11 Losses (7 knockouts, 4 decisions), 6 Draws [2]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	24-1	Mac Foster	KO	1	29/09/1970	Selland Arena, Fresno, California	Folley knocked out at 3:04 of the first round.
Win	10-5-3	Billy Joiner	UD	10	05/11/1969	Silver Slipper, Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	35-33-4	Tommy "Hurricane" Sims	KO	1	16/06/1969	Phoenix Municipal Stadium, Phoenix, Arizona	Sims knocked out at 2:19 of the first round.
Win	20-29-2	Sonny "Policeman" Moore	TKO	4	30/01/1969	Silver Slipper, Las Vegas, Nevada	Referee stopped the bout at 2:54 of the fourth round.
Loss	35-4	Oscar Bonavena	MD	10	06/07/1968	Estadio Luna Park, Buenos Aires
Draw	23-1	Al "Goulds Terror" Jones	PTS	10	14/05/1968	Miami Beach Convention Hall, Miami Beach, Florida	47-47, 44-46, 46-44.
Draw	11-1-1	Roger Russell	PTS	10	11/03/1968	Philadelphia Arena, Philadelphia	49-48, 43-47, 48-48.
Loss	36-15	Brian London	PTS	10	13/11/1967	Liverpool Stadium, Liverpool, Merseyside	48.75-49.75.
Win	1-0	Nick Sosa	KO	2	04/10/1967	Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Arizona	Sosa knocked out at 1:34 of the second round.
Win	5-1	Wayne Kindred	TKO	8	18/09/1967	Silver Slipper, Las Vegas, Nevada	Referee stopped the bout at 2:50 of the eighth round.
Loss	28-0	Muhammad Ali	KO	7	22/03/1967	Madison Square Garden, New York City	WBA World Heavyweight Title. Folley knocked out at 1:48 of the seventh round.
Win	22-11-3	Floyd Joyner	KO	1	17/01/1967	Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas	Joyner knocked out at 1:40 of the first round.
Win	28-10-1	Jefferson Davis	UD	10	13/12/1966	Houston, Texas	98-93, 99-91, 98-92.
Win	8-2-2	Henry Clark	UD	10	25/10/1966	Sacramento Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, California
Win	28-8-1	Jefferson Davis	KO	8	28/06/1966	Centennial Coliseum, Reno, Nevada
Win	21-3	Bob Foster	UD	10	06/12/1965	New Orleans Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana	9-0, 6-3, 8-1.
Win	8-0	Oscar Bonavena	UD	10	26/02/1965	Madison Square Garden, New York City	9-1, 9-1, 10-0.
Win	28-2-1	Gerhard Zech	KO	4	14/11/1964	Westfalenhallen, Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia
Draw	40-2-1	Karl Mildenberger	PTS	10	17/04/1964	Festhalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Hesse
Win	24-2	Tod Herring	TKO	7	17/03/1964	Houston, Texas	Referee stopped the bout at 1:34 of the seventh round.
Win	25-7-2	George Chuvalo	UD	10	17/01/1964	Cleveland Arena, Cleveland, Ohio	50-45, 49-42, 47-44.
Win	18-3	Billy "The Barber" Daniels	UD	10	17/10/1963	Paul Sauve Arena, Montreal, Quebec	49-44, 48-38, 47-43.
Win	5-4	Tiger Lynch	KO	5	19/09/1963	Boise, Idaho	Lynch knocked out at 1:49 of the fifth round.
Loss	31-4	Ernie Terrell	UD	10	27/07/1963	Madison Square Garden, New York City	2-7, 1-7, 3-7.
Win	39-4-1	Bob Cleroux	UD	10	23/05/1963	Paul Sauve Arena, Montreal, Quebec	50-36, 50-39, 49-39.
Draw	25-9-2	Dean Bogany	TD	5	02/04/1963	Bakersfield Civic Auditorium, Bakersfield, California	Fight stopped due to an accidental headbut.
Loss	20-3-1	Doug Jones	KO	7	15/12/1962	Madison Square Garden, New York City	Folley knocked out at 1:58 of the seventh round.
Win	8-9-3	Dave Furch	UD	10	19/11/1962	Tucson, Arizona	100-91, 100-91, 100-90.
Win	13-1	Al Gonzalez	KO	5	29/08/1962	Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Arizona	Al knocked out at 1:55 of the fifth round.
Win	19-2	Doug Jones	UD	10	01/08/1962	Denver Auditorium Arena, Denver, Colorado	47-45, 47-45, 47-46.
Win	37-9	Paul Andrews	TKO	7	12/06/1962	Sacramento, California	Referee stopped the bout at 2:00 of the seventh round.
Win	31-2-1	Bob Cleroux	UD	10	18/04/1962	San Francisco Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, California	10-0, 9-1, 9-0.
Win	41-9-1	Mike DeJohn	KO	3	15/02/1962	Denver Auditorium Arena, Denver, Colorado	DeJohn knocked out at 2:24 of the third round.
Win	23-7-1	Henry Cooper	KO	2	05/12/1961	Empire Pool, Wembley, London	Cooper knocked out at 1:06 of the second round.
Win	12-14-2	Sonny "Policeman" Moore	UD	10	28/09/1961	El Paso County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas
Win	5-5	"Big" Ben Marshall	KO	2	30/08/1961	Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Arizona	Marshall knocked out at 2:41 of the second round.
Loss	12-1	Alejandro Lavorante	KO	7	11/05/1961	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles	Folley knocked out at 0:35 of the seventh round.
Win	8-2	Norman Letcher	TKO	5	10/02/1961	Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Arizona	Referee stopped the bout at 1:12 of the fifth round.
Win	42-22-7	Willi Besmanoff	UD	10	16/09/1960	SW Washington Fairgrounds, Centralia, Washington	99-94, 98-96, 98-96.
Loss	29-1	Sonny Liston	KO	3	18/07/1960	Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colorado	Folley knocked out at 0:28 of the third round.
Win	6-13-1	Clarence Williams	UD	10	05/04/1960	Sacramento, California
Win	31-1-1	Eddie Machen	UD	12	18/01/1960	Cow Palace, Daly City, California	118-113, 117-114, 119-114.
Win	16-3	Alonzo Johnson	UD	10	18/11/1959	Caravan Inn East, Phoenix, Arizona	99-96, 99-93, 98-94.
Win	16-12-4	Monroe Ratliff	TKO	2	02/10/1959	San Diego Arena, San Diego, California	Referee stopped the bout at 1:58 of the second round.
Win	35-16-7	Howard "Honeyboy" King	MD	10	04/08/1959	Sacramento, California	97-93, 95-95, 98-92.
Win	53-25-6	"Chief" Alvin Williams	KO	4	07/07/1959	Fresno Memorial Auditorium, Fresno, California
Win	39-15-7	Willi Besmanoff	UD	10	07/04/1959	Denver, Colorado
Win	32-18-3	Hank Thurman	UD	10	10/03/1959	Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Arizona	100-81, 100-81, 100-86.
Win	16-2-1	Alex Miteff	UD	10	29/01/1959	Denver Auditorium Arena, Denver, Colorado
Win	37-12-1	Joe Bygraves	TKO	9	24/11/1958	Granby Halls, Leicester, Leicestershire	Referee stopped the bout at 2:59 of the ninth round.
Loss	16-7-1	Henry Cooper	PTS	10	14/10/1958	Empire Pool, Wembley, London
Win	0-1	Pete Rademacher	KO	4	25/07/1958	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles	Pete knocked out at 1:15 of the fourth round.
Win	28-12-1	Art Swiden	UD	10	19/05/1958	Las Vegas, Nevada	50-43, 46-40, 49-45.
Draw	24-0	Eddie Machen	PTS	12	09/04/1958	Cow Palace, Daly City, California	116-117, 115-115, 117-115.
Win	13-4	Garvin Sawyer	UD	10	01/01/1958	Capitol Arena, Washington, District of Columbia	100-77, 100-76, 100-76.
Win	8-8	Edgardo Romero	TKO	4	04/12/1957	Albuquerque Civic Auditorium, Albuquerque, New Mexico	Referee stopped the bout at 2:35 of the fourth round.
Win	13-5-1	Duke Sabedong	KO	4	21/11/1957	Phoenix, Arizona
Win	9-7-4	Monroe Ratliff	UD	10	10/09/1957	Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Arizona
Win	8-6	Edgardo Romero	TKO	6	05/08/1957	Dallas Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, Texas
Win	18-8-1	Jeff Dyer	UD	10	09/07/1957	Phoenix Coliseum, Phoenix, Arizona
Win	6-3	Julius Griffin	TKO	4	18/06/1957	Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Arizona	Referee stopped the bout at 2:59 of the fourth round.
Win	--	"Irish" Jimmy Wood	KO	2	20/05/1957	Sports Center, Tucson, Arizona	Wood knocked out at 1:20 of the second round.
Win	10-19	JD Harvey	KO	4	18/04/1957	Sports Arena, Yuma, Arizona	Harvey knocked out at 2:46 of the fourth round.
Win	9-10-1	Johnny Hollins	KO	2	12/03/1957	Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Arizona	Hollins knocked out at 1:29 of the second round.
Win	20-4-5	Howie Turner	UD	10	11/02/1957	St. Nicholas Arena, New York City	6-2, 6-3, 7-3.
Win	13-5-2	Wayne Bethea	SD	10	09/01/1957	Syracuse War Memorial Arena, Syracuse, New York	5-4, 5-4, 4-5.
Win	13-4-2	Wayne Bethea	SD	10	03/12/1956	St. Nicholas Arena, New York City	4-6, 6-5, 6-3.
Win	34-13-3	Nino Valdes	UD	10	25/09/1956	Softball Park, Phoenix, Arizona
Win	14-4-2	Roger Rischer	UD	12	15/08/1956	Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Arizona	Southwestern Heavyweight Title.
Win	13-3	Rocky Robinson	KO	8	28/05/1956	Sports Center, Tucson, Arizona	Robinson knocked out at 1:40 of the eighth round.
Win	12-25-4	Ponce DeLeon Taylor	KO	7	08/05/1956	Phoenix Municipal Stadium, Phoenix, Arizona	de Leon knocked out at 0:03 of the seventh round.
Win	50-32-8	Alex Watson Jones	KO	3	28/02/1956	Phoenix, Arizona	Jones knocked out at 2:01 of the third round.
Loss	10-5-1	Young Jack Johnson	RTD	5	01/12/1955	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles	California Heavyweight Title. Folley did not come out for the sixth round due to a broken rib.
Win	6-5-1	Reuben Wilson	KO	8	24/09/1955	Clifton, Arizona
Win	27-5-1	Ted Calaman	TKO	4	08/09/1955	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles	Referee stopped the bout at 1:54 of the fourth round.
Win	7-3-2	Jack Jarrod	TKO	7	28/07/1955	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles	Referee stopped the bout at 1:20 of the seventh round.
Loss	24-4-2	Johnny Summerlin	RTD	6	23/06/1955	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles	Folley did not come out for the seventh round due to a broken jaw.
Win	22-4-4	Howard "Honeyboy" King	TKO	1	16/05/1955	Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, California	Referee stopped the bout at 2:57 of the first round.
Win	7-4-1	Calvin Brad	TKO	7	07/04/1955	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles	Referee stopped the bout at 2:50 of the seventh round.
Win	7-6-1	Kirby Seals	TKO	5	24/02/1955	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles	Referee stopped the bout at 2:48 of the fifth round.
Win	4-2-1	JD Reed	TKO	8	20/01/1955	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles	Referee stopped the bout at 1:10 of the eighth round.
Win	--	Kid Zanzibar	KO	7	18/12/1954	Clifton, Arizona
Win	13-12-1	Jimmy Ingram	PTS	10	26/11/1954	Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Arizona
Win	4-0-1	Georgie Woods	PTS	10	23/10/1954	Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Arizona
Win	20-28-4	Sandy McPherson	UD	8	01/10/1954	Edmonton Gardens, Edmonton, Alberta
Win	3-0	Kid Percy	KO	??	28/08/1954	Clifton, Arizona
Win	7-2	Kirby Seals	UD	10	13/08/1954	San Diego Coliseum, San Diego, California	56.5-53.5, 57.5-52.5, 58-52.
Win	22-25-7	Frank Buford	UD	10	12/07/1954	Tucson, Arizona	54-53, 60-50, 54-53.
Win	--	Johnny Rebel	KO	1	10/06/1954	Phoenix, Arizona
Win	12-8-3	Joe Sandell	TKO	3	13/04/1954	Softball Park, Phoenix, Arizona
Win	26-14	Battling Blackjack	KO	1	26/03/1954	Clifton, Arizona
Win	14-2-3	Howard "Honeyboy" King	TKO	7	26/01/1954	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles	Referee stopped the bout at 2:35 of the seventh round.
Win	23-11-3	Lonnie Malone	TKO	2	07/12/1953	Arena, South Gate, California
Win	0-6-1	Joe Louis Brown	KO	8	17/11/1953	Phoenix, Arizona
Draw	3-2-1	Calvin Chambers	PTS	4	29/09/1953	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles
Win	7-8	Jimmy Ingram	PTS	4	22/09/1953	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles

References

External links

• Professional boxing record for Zora Folley from BoxRec Retrieved on February 5, 2008
• The Rise and Fall of Zora Folley The Sweet Science, September 9, 2005
• After Muhammad, a Graveyard Sports Illustrated, April 3, 1967