In this prefight video of the 1986 CBS Sports Saturday presentation of the 10 round middleweight bout between Doug DeWitt vs Milton McCrory…..Tim Ryan and Gil Clancy profile the careers of both fighters as they are about to enter the ring for their fight against each other.
Doug DeWitt is an American former World Middleweight Champion…..who was known as “Cobra”…..was a boxer who was raised in Yonkers, New York…..when he started boxing at the age of 15….and had turned professional by the time he was 18, he had turned pro. He won three middleweight titles during a 12-year career….while ending his careers with a record with 33 wins…18 by KO….8 losses and 5 draws.
Milton McCrory was a professional boxer in the welterweight and middleweight division….who had an amateur record of 105-15….when he lost in the 1979 National AAU finals to Lemuel Steeples….and then lost in the Olympic Trials to Johnny Bumphus, another future world champion….who is also being forgotten. Milt McCrory trained under the legendary Emanuel Steward in the famous Detroit Kronk Gym program….who was known as “Ice Man” after turning pro in 1980….after which he won his first 20 bouts….thus establishing himself as the unified #1 contender for the welterweight title at the time of Sugar Ray Leonard’s 1st retirement from the ring….to which he won the vacant WBC belt of Leonard’s….and became the first Kronk Detroit-born champion in a rematch with Colin Jones….after fighting to a draw with him in their initial match-up. McCrory then defended his title four times before losing the belt via KO in a unification match with Donald Curry in 1985. He later moved up to Light Middleweight and challenged Mike McCallum for his WBA Light Middleweight title in 1987….but lost via a 10th-round TKO. He retired in 1991 after losing 2 of his last 4 fights.
This particular 10 round middleweight boxing match is just another example of two really outstanding boxers during The Golden Age of Boxing from 1964 to 1995….who have all but been forgotten…..due to the fact that there were so many “legends of boxing” who stole all the limelight during this awesome era of mastery of the art of pugilism…..who deserve their place in history….and why we at ImaSportsphile are so delighted for having this video in our vintage library…..which really profiles these two really good world champions going head to head.
