James Emerson Delaney (August 12, 1924 – June 25, 1947), known professionally as Jimmy Doyle, was a

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

who died after a boxing match with

Sugar Ray Robinson Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regarde ...

Background

A mixed-race Creole, Doyle was born James Emerson Delaney in Los Angeles on August 12, 1924, "Jimmy Doyle," was the son of Edward (originally Edouard) Delaney and Marie Elodie Barret, both from New Orleans, who moved to Los Angeles shortly after their marriage in 1921. Jimmy's father was born in 1886 to Joseph Georges Delaney and Elodie Landry, part of a French-speaking family of colored Creoles who hailed from the upper Bayou Lafourche country.

Professional career

Doyle made his debut as a professional boxer in 1941 and in 1947 lost to

by 8th round

TKO A technical knockout (TKO) is a professional fighting term. TKO may also refer to: Sports * TKO, the name of a professional wrestling move referring to either the cutter or stunner variant * TKO Group Holdings, a combat sports company Music Ar ...

. After the bout, Doyle went to the hospital, suffering from a severe head injury, where he died seventeen hours later.Nat Fleischer, in ''

The Ring The Ring may refer to: Arts and entertainment *The Ring (franchise), ''The Ring'' (franchise), a Japanese horror media franchise Literature * ''The Ring'', a 1967 novel by Richard Chopping * ''The Ring'', a 1988 book by Daniel Keys Moran * ''The R ...

'', September 1947, "Second Guessers Know The Answer", p. 4

Last fight and death

In 1947, Doyle challenged

for the World Welterweight Title. Robinson had the advantage in every round except the sixth, when he was staggered twice and received a cut over his right eye. A single left hook from Robinson, thrown as Doyle was attempting a right hook, ended the fight in the eighth round. The punch knocked Doyle hard on to his back. As the referee started counting, Doyle raised himself onto his elbows, and tried to use the ropes to gain his feet, but he couldn't. The bell ending the round struck as the referee counted off 'nine,' saving Doyle from a complete knock out by the bell. His handlers asked the ref to end the match, as Doyle was in no condition to go on. Doyle was taken to St. Vincent's Charity Hospital immediately after the bout, where he failed to regain consciousness and died a few hours later. He was given

last rites The last rites, also known as the Commendation of the Dying, are the last prayers and ministrations given to an individual of Christian faith, when possible, shortly before death. The Commendation of the Dying is practiced in liturgical Chri ...

by a Catholic priest as Robinson rushed to the hospital. Jimmy Doyle was fighting in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, since after suffering some heavy knockouts in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

that state's boxing commission would not sanction him to fight again.Will Haygood, Book TV, September 2010 After his death, criminal charges were threatened against Robinson in Cleveland, up to and including manslaughter, though none actually materialized. Robinson's biographer Will Haygood stated during a September 25, 2010 book festival appearance that Doyle was pushing himself to fight to "buy his mother a house" and after Doyle's death in 1947, Robinson gave the earnings of his next four fights to Doyle's mother, so she could buy that house. Later in an interview, Sugar Ray Robinson says he dreamt the night before the fight that he killed Doyle in the ring.

References

External links

* * The story of the fatal fight is retold in the 1950 radio drama
Premonition of the Panther
, a presentation from ''

Destination Freedom ''Destination Freedom'' was a series of weekly radio programs that was produced by WMAQ in Chicago. The first set ran from 1948 to 1950 and it presented the biographical histories of prominent African Americans such as George Washington Carver ...

'', written by

Richard Durham Richard Isadore Durham (September 6, 1917 – April 27, 1984) was an African-American writer and radio producer.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, Jimmy 1924 births 1947 deaths African-American boxers American male boxers Boxers from Los Angeles Creole peoples Deaths due to injuries sustained in boxing Sports deaths in Ohio 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen Welterweight boxers