Gorilla Jones

William Landon Jones (1906–1982) known as "Gorilla" Jones, was an American boxer who held the NBA Middleweight Boxing Championship of the World.

Jones was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 12, 1906.

He dropped out of school and eventually started boxing at age 18.

Although he was nicknamed "Gorilla" for his exceptional reach, Jones is to be distinguished from the original "Gorilla Jones", who campaigned from 1913 to 1924 and held the World Colored Welterweight title.

Jones was never knocked out.

He had 52 knockouts out of his 101 wins, with over 141 total fights.

Jones turned professional in 1923 with Stephen "Suey" Welch as manager and trained with Joe Stanley.

Jack McVey fell to Jones on June 25, 1929, in a ten-round points decision at Boston's Braves Field before a substantial depression era crowd of 7,000.

More of the fighting appeared to take place at long range, with Jones' right connecting most often, as his left was often blocked by McVey's glove.

McVey's consistent aggressiveness appeared to turn the crowd in his favor, and he scored on occasion with a few left hooks to the head.

The crowd booed the final decision in Jones' favor and resented his presentation of a championship belt from the Massachusetts Boxing Commission.

He lost to Jewish boxer and reigning world welterweight champion Jackie Fields on October 21, 1929, in San Francisco before a crowd of 10,000.

In an action-filled ten rounds, Jones took the early lead and rocked Fields several times with straight rights to the jaw, but Fields's stamina and aggressiveness wore Jones down in the closing rounds.

Fields clearly took the ninth and tenth, and had a clear edge in five rounds, but could not defend against repeated rights from Jones throughout the bout.

In a match two months later on December 13, referee Joe O'Connor stopped the bout, complaining that Jones was not giving his "usual exhibition" and ordered the promoter to pay the purses for both fighters.

The Boston Globe felt the fight was legitimate, however, and that Jones's long arms against Fields's desire to fight at close range made the boxers look as though they were trying to avoid coming to blows.

On August 25, 1931, Jones defeated Tiger Thomas in a ten-round points decision in Milwaukee, in what several boxing historians would later consider a world middleweight championship bout.

The bout, however, was only the first round in a tournament to determine the world middleweight champion to replace Mickey Walker.

Jones showed superior speed and took a strong points margin, despite a slow start in the first few rounds.

He showed better speed and superior ring craft than his opponent.

In the second round of the NBA middleweight tournament, Jones defeated Clyde Chastain in a sixth-round technical knockout on September 17, 1931.

A cut above Chastain's eye caused by the lace of Jones' glove played no small part in the referee's decision to end the bout in the sixth.

Jones had the advantage in three rounds, Chastain in only one, and one was even.

In a ten-round points decision in Milwaukee, Jones defeated George Nichols on November 3, 1931, in the third round of the world middleweight tournament.

Though Nichols was the aggressor throughout the early rounds, Jones' great defensive work kept him out of trouble.

From the fourth to seventh, Jones acted as the aggressor building up a points lead.

Nichols did little damage to Jones until the seventh, landed two strong blows to the body in the ninth, and continued his offensive in the tenth, but Jones' points margin was too great to overcome.

Jones was able to coast through much of the eighth and ninth, though the tenth saw both boxers trying for a knockout.

The crowd of 3,500 did not find the decision entirely to their liking.

He won the National Boxing Association World Middleweight Title vacated by Mickey Walker with a technical knockout over Oddone Piazza on January 25, 1932, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The match was the final round of the championship tournament to decide the new world middleweight champion.

With hard rights to the head and body in the third, Jones finished the series with two hard blows to the body and one to the head indicating he was close to ending the bout.

In the sixth, Jones pounded Piazza with everything he had, when a solid right put Piazza on the canvas for a count of four.

When he arose, he tried to cover up when Jones continued to pound at him, but the referee wisely stopped the bout.

On March 31, 1932, Jones defeated powerful hitter, Chuck Burns in a third-round knockout in Akron, Ohio.

Jones floored Burns three times in the third with a flock of lefts and rights, before sending him to the mat for the fourth and final time.

Burns had not been knocked out in a previous bout.

The first two rounds were slow as Jones assessed his opponent, but he came out roaring in the third.

In a world middleweight title defense, Jones defeated Young Terry on April 26, 1932, in a twelve-round unanimous points decision before a partisan crowd of 7,000 rooting for Terry, at the Armory in Trenton, New Jersey.

He was posthumously inducted into World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2009.