Elmer Ray’s nickname was “Violent” and he had the punch to match

Eric Armit profiles one of the early heavyweight destroyers, raised in an era of racial segregation, who was forced to fight the same men time and again.

Elmer “Violent” Ray

Born: 3 March 1911 in Federal Point, Florida

Died: 20 May 1987 in Hastings, Florida, aged 76

Division: Heavyweight

Record: 133 fights, 96 wins (69 by KO/TKO), lost 23 (9 by KO/TKO), 11 draws, 3 No Decisions. Ray’s early record is incomplete. The first fight recorded by BoxRec was a ten-round draw with Walter King in October 1933.

Scored wins over: Lee Savold, Jersey Joe Walcott**, and Ezzard Charles** 

Lost to: Jersey Joe Walcott**, John Henry Lewis**, Ezzard Charles **, John Holman

The story of Elmer Ray

Ray was a member the so-called “Black Murderers’ Row”. A group of black fighters who due to restrictions on mixed race fights in some states, and to the threat they posed, as quality fighters with a punch, were forced to continually fight each other. He fought Obie Walker 14 times (including a spell when they fought each other five times in three months), Dixie Oliver six times and Willie Bush five times.

To end 1939, his traceable record was a poor 11-13-9, but from October 1943 to March 1947 he scored 50 consecutive wins, 46 of them by KO/TKO, including a run of 20 consecutive inside-the-distance wins.

In March 1947, he was ranked No. 1 heavyweight by Ring Magazine with a good chance of challenging Joe Louis but lost a majority decision against Jersey Joe Walcott. He rebounded to score a number of wins, including a split decision over Ezzard Charles (pictured below) in July 1947 to climb to No. 2 in the ratings.

However, a ninth-round KO loss to Charles, in May 1948, ended his hopes of a title shot and he retired in March 1949 at the age of 38. After retiring, he finally got into the ring with Joe Louis, but only in exhibition bouts.

In 2003, Ring Magazine rated Ray No. 44 in their list of the 100 greatest punchers in the history of boxing. Ray was inducted into the Florida Boxing Hall of Fame in 2010.