Ali Vs Lyle-May 16th, 1975 L.Vegas
This was a title fight and Muhammad Ali's second title defense after beating George Foreman to regain the world title. Ali had just beaten Chuck Wepner after beating Foreman and his record stood at 46-2. Ali was proving again that he had what it took to be champion. Ron Lyle was coming off a surpising loss to Jimmy Young before this fight, but still got a title shot. Lyle had beaten Boone Kirkman and Memphis Al Jones in his fights before Young. Lyle had a ring record of 31-2-1 with 21 knockouts. Let's see if Ali could hold on to his title against the rugged challenger.

Here's the fight as I saw it.-Green are the round scores as I scored it, red is important text like a cut, great punch or knockdown.

Round 1- Lyle comes out as the boxer and uses the jab and Ali is covering up. Ali is clowning and the crowd boos. Ali misses a jab and a right. A real boring round that was pushed by Lyle.
Lyle's Round- 10-9

Round 2- Ali with a jab to start. Lyle lands a couple body shots and there is very little action. Lyle lands a nice quick right. Both fighters are doing mostly nothing, Ali lands a jab.
Even Round- 10-10  (20-19) Lyle

Round 3- Lyle comes out with little jabs. Ali is not doing much of anything, but he lands a quick right. Lyle lands his own right and then lands another right. Lyle's Round- 10-9  (30-28) Lyle

Round 4- Lyle jabbing and lands a little right. Ali doing nothing still and gets hit with a body shot. Lyle winning the rounds by being more active. Lyle's Round- 10-9  (40-37) Lyle

Round 5- Lyle connects with a good right to the body. Ali is on his toes and jabbing here all of a sudden. He's missing a lot though but still lands a decent right to Lyle's jaw. Ali is snapping the jab this round.
Ali's Round- 10-9  (49-47) Lyle

Round 6- Ali is on his bicycle now, but not landing. Lyle lands a couple punches to Ali in the corner. Lyle with a decent body shot after Ali lands a jab, one of his only clean punches of the round.
Lyle's Round- 10-9  (59-56) Lyle

Round 7- Lyle lands with a couple jabs, followed by an Ali jab. Ali is really letting rounds slip away. He does land a jab and a right. Lyle lands a good right and body shot. Ali is doing a little more this round but not enough, Lyle may be slowing a step. Lyle's Round- 10-9  (69-65) Lyle

Round 8- Lyle jabs and lands a right. Ali follows with a right of his own. Ali is sticking the jab this round. Ali is scoring well and lands two sharp right hands. Lyle lands a nice right and the two fighters exchange right hands to end the round. Ali's Round- 10-9  (78-75) Lyle

Round 9- Ali on his toes a little. Ali moves against the ropes and Lyle is pawing at him. Lyle lands a couple decent body shots but is hit with an Ali right hand. Lyle lands a glancing right.
Lyle's Round- 10-9  (88-84) Lyle

Round 10- Lyle jabbing and landing a few body shots. Lyle lands a nice uppercut and right combination. Ali not doing anything this round and takes another right hand. Lyle's Round 10-9  (98-93) Lyle

Round 11- Ali comes out jabbing this round. Ali lands a big right hand, Lyle is hurt real bad. Lyle is out of it as Ali pours it on and lands every shot in the book. The referee steps in the fight is over. Muhammad Ali with a stunning near one punch knockout gives him a TKO in the 11th round.
Ali-TKO 11

Muhammad Ali really looked out of it for most of this fight, just going through the motions. He landed a real sneaky right hand, and all of a sudden Ron Lyle was out of it, usually it takes more then one punch to really hurt an opponent for Ali, but this time it was one punch. Ali would go on to make many more title defenses and have wars with Joe Frazier, Earnie Shavers and Ken Norton in his future. Ron Lyle would never again fight for a title, but would engage in wars with Earnie Shavers and George Foreman in his next two bouts before lowering his competition.