Elmo Henderson

Elmo Henderson
Born Albert Carl Henderson
April 8, 1935
Corpus Christi, Texas
Nationality African-American
Other names Elmo, Tex
Occupation Boxer
Known for Claiming he knocked out Muhammad Ali in an exhibition fight

Elmo Henderson born April 8, 1935 is an African-American former boxer from Texas. Despite his dubious claim of a 1972 win against Muhammad Ali in an exhibition match in San Antonio, Texas, he did not become particularly well known in the boxing community; John Spong of the Texas Monthly said that the match was the "shot not heard round the world". However, people who attended the exhibition say Elmo Henderson did not defeat Ali, and newspaper reports after the exhibition made no mention of Ali losing. After the match, Henderson became a part of George Foreman's Rumble in the Jungle event in Zaire and won a libel suit against Norman Mailer and Playboy. As of 2003, Henderson was a homeless man in Austin, Texas.[1] Now in 2015, Henderson lives in a care home in Northern California.

History

Henderson, a high school dropout from Stop Six, Fort Worth, first began boxing in 1954 and frequented events in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. He went to prison in Huntsville, Texas in 1961 after stealing a television from a truck. In 1964, Henderson won the Texas state boxing title by defeating Benny Bowser, a boxer from Austin, Texas, in the second round of the competition. In the following year, Henderson again faced Bowser and lost the title to him after the judges made a split decision to grant the title to Bowser. In 1967 Henderson had a series of fights; in August of that year the California Athletic Commission asked Henderson to take an examination of his brain so doctors could determine if he had received brain damage. Henderson did not take the examination and instead went to New Zealand to match against Bobby Dunlop; he defeated Dunlop in the New Zealand match, and then Dunlop defeated Henderson in a rematch in Sydney, Australia three months later. The California Athletic Commission suspended Henderson's state boxing license after it learned of the matches in Australasia. In 1968, police from Fort Worth found marijuana in Henderson's possession, and he briefly returned to prison. In 1972 Nevada suspended Henderson's boxing license because, unless the boxer gets an exception, the state did not allow people of 36 years of age or older to be boxers. Despite the suspensions in California and Nevada, Henderson continued boxing in other states. Five states, including Texas, granted Henderson boxing licenses after California suspended its license of Henderson.[1]

Elmo Henderson used to train at Archie Moore's gym on the corner of Sage and Gateway in Vallejo, California. Archie Moore was the Light Heavyweight champion and had lost to Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) on November 15, 1962. Henderson had fought Ernie Shavers on October 29, 1971 in Stateline, Nevada and was knocked out in the fourth round, Shavers was the hardest puncher that Henderson had ever encountered during his career, at that time Ernie Shavers had never lost and during the year 1971 alone Shavers had 17 professional fights and won them all and most by knockouts.

Elmo Henderson claimed he defeated Muhammad Ali in an exhibition match during the "Muhammad Ali Boxing Show" in San Antonio, Texas on October 24, 1972. However, people that were present at the event say it did not happen. He never achieved widespread fame in the boxing world. He also served as a cheerleader in George Foreman's entourage in the Rumble in the Jungle event in Zaire. Norman Mailer wrote a Playboy article about Henderson in the May 1975 issue. The article included a false statement that said that Henderson had been released from the Nevada State Hospital, a mental hospital.[1] Henderson filed a $1 million lawsuit against Mailer and Playboy. The magazine and Mailer lost the lawsuit.[2] In 1977, the jury, located in Corpus Christi, Texas, awarded Henderson $105,000. Spong said that the lawsuit made Henderson, "[...]at least in his telling of the story, the first black man ever to win a libel suit against a white man."[1] The federal court ordered the defendants to make the payment on November 16, 1977.[3] Owen Cox, the judge, said that the amount was too high, and ordered that the plaintiff would either accept $25,000 or that the case goes to trial again. The defendants decided to pay a sum between the jury judgment and Cox's judgment to Henderson. Bill Nutto, Henderson's lawyer, does not state how many dollars the defendants paid to Henderson and Nutto. Henderson said that he received $40,000.[1]

In 2003 Henderson was a homeless man in Austin, Texas.[1] However, as of August, 2011, Henderson is housed and well in Vallejo, California, and, as of November 10, 2012, Henderson is living in a nursing home called Napa Nursing in Napa, California.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Spong, John. "The shot not heard round the world: the way Elmo Henderson tells it, his entire life can be boiled down to a single moment in 1972, when he stepped into the ring in San Antonio and knocked out the greatest fighter on the planet. But honestly, that's just where his story begins." (Pay version link) Texas Monthly. December 1, 2004. Printed in the December 2004 issue. Retrieved on April 5, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Norman Mailer, Playboy lose boxer's suit." The Baltimore Sun. November 17, 1977. A3. Retrieved on April 5, 2011. "[...]to a south Texas boxer who had filed a $1 million libel suit against them. The jury ruled yesterday that $100000 must be paid to Elmo Henderson by Play[...]"
  3. ↑ "Writer, Magazine Told To Make Libel Award." Associated Press at The New York Times. November 16, 1977. Retrieved on April 4, 2011.
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