May 19, 1962 - Cassius Clay, whose ebullient personality and knockout predictions have brought a refreshing breeze to boxing, scored a technical knockout tonight over Billy Daniels at 2:21 of the seventh round of their scheduled 10-round heavyweight bout at St. Nicholas Arena. Before the fight, he said he would leave the country “by jet” if he did not stop Daniels in “five or maybe seven.” Clay had said such things before, but always had thwarted travel agents looking for his business. The victory over the previously undefeated Daniels was Clay’s 14th in 14 bouts and his 11th knockout. Daniels got a bloody nose in the first round and his eyebrow cut from a right cross in the third. Crimson masked his face in every round after that, and it took 10 stitches to close the cut after the fight. The ultra-confident Clay danced in and out, flicking a jab here, a chopping right there. Accompanying every punch, soft or hard, was the forced air from his nostrils that sounded like a tire blowout. After the fight, he called his victory over Daniels a “workout.” Daniels expressed a different view. “He’s a Fancy Dan, that kid,” he said of Clay. “He’s fast and takes a good punch, but he’s not good when the going gets rough. A front runner, that’s him. He’s got a long way to go.”
Comments