[Gunsmoke]

Hi Guys,

Time for the next Norton opponent, this time it's the veteran Californian HW Bill McMurray.

Norton's Tenth Fight - 1969-05-29

Bill McMurray 23-24-3 (8)

Another of the crop of California heavyweights from the 60's. McMurray was a professional opponent for some of the biggest names of the decade. From 1959 till the start of 1962 McMurray built a reasonable 13-3-0 record fighting against Club Fighters and nobodies. At the start of 1962 he fought fellow trialhorse Paul Andrews, right at the the end of Andrews career, to whom he lost a 10 round decision. He wouldn't win again till the early part of 1963 when he knocksout George Logan in the eighth. He win one, then lose one through the next 4 fights before facing Eddie Machen in his push to a World title fight, he would be kayoed in seven. He had a five month layoff before accepting a fight against Charley Powell which he also lost by KO, this time in three rounds and his once reasonable career record was looking decidedly more shabby at 16-9-0. Two tough fights against Elmer Rush followed the disappointing outing against Powell which result in a draw and a split decision loss. Somehow his run of 4 defeats earned him a shot at the California State Heavyweight title against Roger Rischer. Rischer was too polished however and McMurray lost on points after 12 rounds. Rischer agreed to a non-title rematch and again proved too good, this time taking a decision in 10.

Once again McMurray fought Rush in October of 64, the third time he fought Rush since May of that year, and again he would lose, this time in the eighth via knockout. That would be his second string of 4 straight losses and his record at this point in his last ten fights was 1-8-1, his lone win coming against Billy Stephan (KO 4). Taking 1965 off to make decisions about his future in the fight game, McMurray would return in 1966 with two straight victories over Bobby Stininato and Dancing Jackson. After splitting two fights against Willie Ray Richardson, McMurray would face Thad Spencer for the California State title, prior to Spencer's participation in the Heavyweight elimination tournament in just under 12 months time, which he won with Knockout in the seventh round, stunning the crowd. His first title defense was against Tony Alongi which ended in a Technical Draw with both fighters badly cut. His second defense in January 1967 was against Henry Clark who beats McMurray on points in 12 rounds. In March he would pad Floyd Patterson's record lossing in the first by KO. Rising young fighter Dave Zyglewicz (22-0-0 at the time of the fight) was his next opponent of note at the end of 1967, whom he losses to via decision after 10 rounds.

In March of 1968, McMurray began a murderous schedule which saw him fight some fearsome punchers to close his career, the first of these was against a rebounding Sonny Liston eager to prove he was still a force, loosing by KO in the fourth. Six months later he ponied up again, this time against young Boone Kirkman, whom he lost to by points after 10 rounds.

On the 29th of May he would fight California's next great Heavyweight, Ken Norton, whom he would lose to in his inimitable style, this time being KO'd in the seventh. Norton's record after this fight moved to 10-0-0 (9). At the turn of the decade McMurray's time was nearly done and a third round TKO loss to Boone Kirkman and a first round KO loss to Earnie Shavers sent McMurray into retirement.

Career Bouts:
1971-07-13 Earnie Shavers 28-2-0 L KO 1
1971-04-16 Pat Duncan 16-2-0 D PTS 10
1970-04-28 Boone Kirkman 20-1-0 L TKO 3
1969-11-19 Alvin (Blue) Lewis 20-3-0 L PTS 10
1969-09-18 Charlie Reno 4-3-0 W PTS 10
1969-05-29 Ken Norton 9-0-0 L KO 7
1969-04-15 Pat Stapleton 2-1-0 W KO 1
1968-09-19 Boone Kirkman 17-1-0 L PTS 10
1968-03-16 Sonny Liston 39-3-0 L KO 4
1967-11-22 Dave Zyglewicz 22-0-0 L PTS 10
1967-10-16 Fred Lewis 7-2-0 W KO 6
1967-03-30 Floyd Patterson 45-5-0 L KO 1
1967-01-17 Henry Clark 8-3-2 L PTS 12
1966-11-23 Tony Alongi 38-2-3 D TD 6
1966-09-13 Thad Spencer 29-4-0 W KO 7
1966-07-12 Willie Ray Richardson 15-4-0 W PTS 10
1966-04-20 Willie Ray Richardson 14-4-0 L KO 6
1966-03-15 Dancing Jackson 0-0-0 W KO 4
1966-02-01 Bobby Stininato 27-10-1 W PTS 10
1964-10-26 Elmer Rush 7-0-1 L KO 8
1964-10-10 Roger Rischer 23-8-2 L PTS 10
1964-08-04 Roger Rischer 21-8-2 L PTS 12
1964-07-01 Elmer Rush 5-0-1 L SD 10
1964-05-28 Elmer Rush 5-0-0 D PTS 10
1964-03-10 Charley Powell 24-8-3 L KO 3
1963-11-05 Eddie Machen 44-4-2 L KO 7
1963-09-03 Tod Herring 22-2-0 L PTS 10
1963-08-13 Billy Stephan 16-7-1 W KO 4
1963-07-10 Tiger John Collins 4-3-0 L PTS 10
1963-04-18 Tiger John Collins 3-2-0 W PTS 10
1963-03-21 George Logan 23-8-1 W KO 8
1962-11-27 Jimmy Fletcher 2-1-2 L KO 1
1962-06-18 Jerry Simmering 9-2-0 L PTS 10
1962-03-27 Paul Andrews 36-9-0 L PTS 10
1962-01-23 Eddie Jackson 4-5-1 W PTS 8
1961-11-14 Bob Tanner 4-1-0 W PTS 6
1961-10-23 Jackie Torme 12-4-1 W KO 3
1961-08-28 Bob Tanner 2-0-0 W PTS 6
1961-07-04 Jimmy Fletcher 2-0-1 W PTS 8
1961-04-25 Joe Sullivan 7-10-1 W PTS 8
1961-02-24 Tex Urbauer 0-2-0 W KO 4
1961-02-13 Joe Sullivan 7-9-1 W PTS 6
1960-11-18 Billy Fields 3-9-2 W PTS 6
1959-11-14 Eddie Jackson 2-2-1 L KO 2
1959-10-10 Freeman Hardin 0-0-0 W PTS 4
1959-10-05 Leroy (Roy) Smith 14-7-5 W PTS 6
1959-09-10 Johnny Hayden 17-7-0 L PTS 6
1959-05-16 Herbert Hair 1-3-0 L PTS 4
1959-04-17 Eddie Jackson 0-0-0 W PTS 4
1959-04-04 Andy Isaacs 0-3-0 W PTS 4