Candace Toft - Off The Ropes: The Ron Lyle Story

Off the Ropes

Off the Ropes

The Ron Lyle Story

Candace Toft

Foreword by Al Bernstein

First Hamilcar Publications edition, 2018.

First published in Great Britain by Scratching Shed Publishing Ltd, 2010.

Copyright 2010 Candace Toft

Foreword 2018 Al Bernstein

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-949590-04-3

Hamilcar Publications

Ten Post Office Square, 8th Floor South

Boston, MA 02109

www.hamilcarpubs.com

On the cover: Ron Lyle in the ring during his fight versus Jerry Quarry at Madison Square Garden on February 9, 1973. Photograph by Neil Leifer for Sports Illustrated.

Frontispiece: Ron Lyle celebrates with children after knocking out Jack OHalloran at the Denver Auditorium Arena on November 26, 1971.

This book is dedicated to the memory

of Nellie Lyle.

Nobody ever hit me that hard. No question. I'll remember that punch on my deathbed. A great puncher, a great guy.

Earnie Shavers

Foreword

The heavyweight division in boxing in the 1970s was a special place, where giants roamed the landscape. They were not just big in stature, but big in talent and ferocity. Standing tall among these men was Ron Lyle. He would fight virtually every major heavyweight of that era and stamp his name on that time in boxing with some breathtaking performances. His quest to ascend to the top of that division is filled with rich stories of effort, triumph, and failures as well.

The story you are about to read is not all about those endeavors. The story of Ron Lyle, while ultimately and intrinsically bound with boxing, is about much more. Ron's story is one of struggle, tragedy, and redemption. The life lessons that Ron learned throughout his seventy years on earth are chronicled herethey are universal lessons that we can all relate to whether boxing fans or not.

His late-starting and somewhat truncated boxing career provides the tapestry on which much of this story is told. No sport is more of a metaphor for life's challenges than boxing. Ron's career demonstrates that. Ron's professional boxing journey may have been imperfect, but we don't expect perfection in life. There is no question, however, that Ron's achievements, while boxing in such an extraordinary era, give him a special place in boxing history.

You will read about those moments in the sun, some great victories, and a couple of near misses at glory that demonstrated Ron Lyle's character and ability perhaps even more than his successes. At advanced boxing ages of thirty-five and thirty-six, Ron gave two of his more memorable performances against Muhammad Ali and then George Foreman. I was not yet a national boxing announcer at that time. I was simply one of millions of fans who watched those two special matches. Like everyone, I came away impressed with Ron Lyle's grit, courage, and tenacity. Years later when I interviewed him at the International Boxing Hall of Fame, I was moved to tell him that his performance against George, even in losing, inspired me to never give up in any endeavor. It is perhaps the most important message that we can take away from Ron's story.

To gain redemption in life, as Ron did, you first have to visit a dark place, where your actions harm yourself and others. To escape that place takes the help of others as well as a strong personal epiphany that points you in the right direction. You will find out about all of that in the pages ahead. In my brief time with Ron, later in his life, I found him to be a bit of a philosopher. The lessons life had taught him would tumble out in conversation. His story is one worth revisiting, not just for the grandeur and the fame it offered, but also for those common truths.

Al Bernstein

Las Vegas

July 2018

Prologue

The bell ends the first round, and Jos Roybal, a wiry sixteen-year-old, walks slowly to his corner. Ron Lyle reaches up through the ropes with a damp rag and nods at the boy to blow his nose. Then blow again. The bell sounds, and the sparring match resumes, both Jos and his opponent demonstrating the moves they have practiced for months under Lyle's watchful eye. At the end of three rounds, Jos holds his arms up in a sign of victory, and Lyle, seated against the wall, points to the folding chair beside his own. Breathing hard, Jos drops down next to his mentor, and Lyle lays his hands on the boy's shoulders. You want to get better, right?

Yeah.

Then you need to keep working, Jos. I'll set you up with matches, but not if you don't work. Right?

Right.

Why?

Because you don't want to see me get hurt.

You got it.

Ron touches his right fist to Jos's and waves him away, then turns to a volunteer assistant. You gotta be alert to their needs. I know what they need because I was there once. I had the same needs. He adds with a smile, They don't know it yet, but what they need the most is self-discipline.

Lyle typically wears a wool cap over his shaved head and dark glasses in public, but he effectively expresses his sentiments to the kids with big smiles and light touches. He lives his axiom that a trainer has to respond to his fighter's moodsdetect any interference with their focus.

How do we reconcile this soft-spoken, gentle man with the toughest heavyweight who never won the title; the guy who served hard time for second-degree murder before he even started his amateur boxing career; the third-ranked fighter who had Muhammad Ali beat for ten rounds in their title fight; the guy who fought George Foreman in a legendary brawl with four knockdowns; the guy who was arrested for murder a second time?

Ron Lyle is one of those names you almost remember, but not quiteuntil you see him. The sixty-seven-year-old former heavyweight carries his weight upright on his six-feet-three-and-a-half-inch frame and looks two decades younger than his age. He still runs regularly, and even though he can no longer do his famous one thousand push-ups an hour, he still does sets of a hundred. But when he takes off his glasses, it's the intensity in those black eyes that brings it all back. He has always looked his interviewers straight in the eye.

Ron is a philosopher. He talks about being true to the game and about life being a test and about not blaming anyone else for your troubles. He says you can't straighten out until you make a commitment. He says you always have to prepare for the unexpected and never look back. He says he would live his life over just the samethat he had to learn from his mistakes. He says he is a God-fearing man.

It's time to go, and the kids line up along the side of the ring. Ron moves along the line and touches each of thema clap on the shoulder, a fist-to-fist, or a high five. They seem reluctant to leave and linger for a few minutes until one boy leaves first, and then the others begin filing out of the gym. Another Saturday morning.