00:00The country, he succeeded John Tate, who of course is now half of a world's champion, the WBA champion, as the best amateur in the country.
00:09Well, he's come out in six pro fights, six knockouts, and looks like he's going to have a very productive career.
00:15He's going to win 230 pounds from Baltimore, Maryland.
00:23His career record, 10 wins, 4 losses.
00:26Let's hear it for Ira Martin.
00:29Martin.
00:30You're listening to Frank Shane, the ring announcer.
00:35Wearing white trunks trimmed with red, weighed in at 228 pounds.
00:43The up-and-coming rising heavyweight star, undefeated in six bouts, six knockouts, from Louisville, Kentucky.
00:54Let's hear it for Greg Payne.
00:56The referee is Tony Perez.
01:01The scoring here in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on a rounds basis, scored by the referee and two judges with a supplementary point system if the rounds come out even on an official's court.
01:13The mandatory eight count is in effect.
01:15However, there is no three knockdown rule.
01:18That is the referee's discretion.
01:19He can stop it after one knockdown.
01:21He can allow it to go on as he decides.
01:24A man, however, cannot be saved by the bell.
01:27If he has floored at or near the ringing of the bell ending a round, he must arise by the count of ten, even though the bell might ring, except in the last round.
01:36Wearing the blue trunks is Ira Martin from Baltimore, and wearing the white trunks with the red trim is Greg Page from Louisville, Kentucky.
01:48Round one, it is scheduled for eight.
01:51Page has a lot of the mannerisms of Muhammad Ali, especially keeping those gloves down low and then opening up with a flurry of punches.
02:00Martin, a seasoned campaigner, will bide his time.
02:03Page is a good hitter, particularly with the left hook, and he throws a good combination.
02:10And that punch dropped Martin.
02:12Martin was dropped there.
02:14A good straight right hand.
02:19Page is inclined to showboat, and Martin is down already.
02:22Looks like Page wants to be around a little bit longer than Martin does.
02:39He will be, apparently.
02:41Martin is taking a battering on the ropes, and already they're yelling, stop the fight.
02:45And I think the referee is going in, and it is all over.
02:51Approximately one minute and three seconds of the first round.
02:55A knockout for Greg Page, who has won seven now and lost seven, all by knockouts.
03:02And whether or not that was a fair test for Greg Page, I don't know.
03:06We'll have to let the future decide that, won't we, Larry?
03:09Well, some of the boos here at the convention all suggest that they didn't think it was a, the fans didn't think it was a fair test.
03:17And, of course, Martin looks just like, if you'll pardon the expression, a piece of meat out there for Page to batter on.
03:25And Page did indeed batter on him.
03:29Well, there was no contest right from the beginning.
03:32A straight right hand by Page started Martin on his way, and he continued as Page battered him.
03:40Let's look at the replay of this now.
03:46All right, short left.
03:48He's just feeling him out here, going to the body very nicely.
03:52Actually, Page backs out because he's, he really would like a little bit more competition than he's getting at this point.
04:02And he goes to work in a very, very professional manner, I would say, Don.
04:08But I imagine he's had some stiffer workouts in the gymnasium.
04:12I think so.
04:13Anyway, the time was one minute and three seconds of the first round.
04:17There is Greg Page, the winner, talking to Butch Lewis, one of the promoters here tonight.
04:25And Jerry Quarry is up in the ring.
04:27And Jeff Levine is bringing Greg, a very happy Greg Page, over to Jerry.
04:31So go ahead, Jerry.
04:36I'm here with Greg Page, the winner, by a first round knockout.
04:39How did you feel about that?
04:40Ah, man, you know, ain't nothing but a day's worth.
04:43Well, let me tell you something.
04:44I mean, we wanted to see a little bit more action.
04:46You took it away from us too quick.
04:47Well, Michael Dose couldn't knock him out of the way.
04:49I could.
04:50So you wanted to impress somebody, huh?
04:52Well, we're going to take a little look at it right here in a minute.
04:55And then you can explain a little bit what was really happening, okay?
04:58When did we get it?
04:59Here we are.
04:59Like, I was hurting with the body shots, and he started dropping his left hand.
05:06And I started going over top of his right hand with the left hook.
05:09And the left hook started catching him, so I started throwing my right hand over top.
05:12So he failed with the move right there, so that's when I stopped him with it.
05:15That left hook to the body really did some damage.
05:18That's what I've been working on, on body shots.
05:20Because heavyweights cannot take body shots.
05:23As a rule, they can't, man.
05:24And you're proving it, aren't you?
05:25That's right.
05:26Well, congratulations, Greg, and I wish you the best of luck in your future, man.
05:29No, you got it.
05:33We'll give it back to John and Larry.
05:36All right, Jerry, that's the happiest I've seen Greg Page in two days, Larry.
05:40He was almost sullen all day here.
05:42I guess it's a big weight off his shoulders now that he's won this bout so convincingly.
05:47Well, you know what we've seen, Don?
05:49You know, when you ordinarily see a heavyweight prospect along about his 15th or 20th fight,
05:54and you look back at his record, and there are a number of KO1s on the record.
05:59This is what it is.
06:00We have just seen a KO1 in the ring record book.
06:04He is an impressive specimen, we have to say that.
06:09We ought to say also that the fact that one of the promoters here tonight also handles him.
06:15Butch Lewis?
06:16Butch Lewis may suggest why the opponent was the opponent, but nonetheless, it was my first look at him under live conditions.
06:27And I have to be impressed.
06:29I saw him against the Russian heavyweights a couple of years ago when he was still an amateur, and he was impressive then.
06:34And in a way, it's a shame he didn't go on to meet Teofilo Stevenson in the Olympics, but he'd rather have the big heavyweight title.
06:42By that time of the Olympics, he will have already had a dozen or 15 straight wins on his record, and we'll be moving on from there.
06:51All right, Larry, now let's go to Len Berman with Pinklin Thomas and Georgie Benton.
Comments