- Eddie Machen
Edward Mills Machen (
June 15 1932 -August 8 1972 ) was born inRedding, California , onJune 15 ,1932 . Machen was aconvict turned boxer [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878030,00.html TIME ] ] . His 64-bout career began onMarch 22 ,1955 , and he went on to win his first 24 bouts.Machen often fought at Civic Auditorium or the
Cow Palace inSan Francisco . His first bout was with fellow first-timerRaul Flores , whom heknocked out in the first round. He had eleven fights in 1955 and the six-feet, 195-pounder won them all, ten by knockout ortechnical knockout . He had eight more wins in 1956 against better competition. In 1957, he won all five fights he had, including two over formerlight heavyweight championJoey Maxim . The Maxim wins made him a ranked contender.In April 1958, he met highly-ranked
Zora Folley and fought to a draw over 12 rounds. He was then knocked out in one round by undefeatedIngemar Johansson , a future heavyweight champion, in September.On the comeback trail in 1959, Machen posted seven straight wins to return him to contention. In January 1960, he lost a decision to Folley at the Cow Palace. Later that year he met another future champion,
Sonny Liston , and lost a 12-round decision. Liston was penalized three times for low blows in that match.1961 began with two wins, then a very controversial loss to Harold Johnson by decision. Again, he came back with three very good wins, including a decision over undefeated Doug Jones. In 1962, Machen had two more wins before he had a draw to high-ranked
Cleveland Williams inHouston in July 1962. In 1963 he resumed fighting and scored four straight knockouts to finish the year. He fought just twice in 1964, battling his personal issues. One was a win the other a close 12-round loss to another former heavyweight champion,Floyd Patterson in Sweden in July 1964.In 1965, Machen nonetheless received his first world title shot when he and 6'6"
Ernie Terrell met for the vacatedWorld Boxing Association title that had been stripped fromMuhammad Ali . Terrell won the 15-round decision. In 1966 he lost a decision to GermanKarl Mildenberger in Germany, then lost a close split-decision to Manuel Ramos. He closed that year with two wins, one over future contenderJerry Quarry , which was Quarry's first defeat.Machen closed his career with three straight losses, one in late 1966 to future heavyweight champion
Joe Frazier by a tenth-round technical knockout. Machen was admitted to the Napa State Hospital in the fall of 1962 after threatening to commitsuicide . He later filed forbankruptcy in 1966 and retired from boxing in 1967. His final record was 50-11-3, with 27 KOs.Machen died in
San Francisco onAugust 8 ,1972 , by falling from an apartment window at the age of 40. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878030,00.html TIME ] ] .References
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878030,00.html "Time" magazine article]
External links
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