Remembering Jerry “The Bull” Martin who Faced the Best Champions of his Era

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The festive season is a time for family and friends, a time for rest and relaxation, a time for Francis Albert and the great Dino to serenade timelessly as the fruits of the vine sparkle and open fires smother us in the warmth of goodwill. It’s a time for old movies and classic documentaries. Jimmy Stewart’s “George Bailey” will grant an angel his wings one more time and Gene Wilder’s “Willy Wonka” will bestow a young boy with far more than just a golden ticket. Fight fans will dust off the box sets where the legends of the past will live again and their stories will be handed down to a new generation. For me, there are two boxing documentaries that transcend merely the tale of a tape. The first is “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson”, a story that seeps beneath the skin of a culture stained in shame and the second is “Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears”, a powerful and bitterly poignant insight into the legacy of the late and truly great “Smokin” Joe whose Philadelphia gym was under such pressure to stay open.

It seems almost inconceivable to think that the hallowed halls of such a monument to boxing would be under threat when you consider that the sport can now generate millions for individual fighters and that the promoters of today wallow in a lavish luxury that allows them to pay lip service to the past without actually supporting it. The building at North Broad St and Glenwood Avenue is now partially leased to a discount furniture and bedding company with “Knock out prices”, a tragedy that warrants words I cannot use in this article. It was reported recently that Bernard Hopkins is considering buying the old gym and, if he does, he has the admiration and appreciation of all honest fans. The gym holds the spirit, not only of “Smokin” Joe and his family but of every fighter who passed through its doors. Boxing isn’t just about champions and legends, it’s about men and women who would lace up gloves on the hope that a better life awaited in the ring. Joe’s gym was a home to such dreams and one such dreamer was Jerry “The Bull” Martin.

Born on November 29th 1953 in Bolans, Antigua, Jerry traveled to Philadelphia in 1975 with no amateur experience and nothing more than self belief to set him apart from the hundreds of young fighters that made the city a boxing capital. Miles from home and desperately alone, he found a welcome at Joe’s Gym, as all boxers did, and a career was born. On February 25th 1976, Jerry knocked out Sixto Martinez at 2:15 of the first round and went on to become a regular at the famous Blue Horizon. Four years later he had put together an impressive record of 19-1 with 12 KO’s and he had secured the NABF and USBA Light Heavyweight titles. His only loss was to Paul Pablo Ramos in 1977 in an experimental event that posted punch scores on an electronic scoreboard as the fight progressed. “I kept watching the scorecard and couldn’t believe I was losing “Jerry later recalled. His manager at the time, Leon Tabbs, remembered the bout with frustration. “He came to the corner and argued about the scoring “said Tabbs “I kept telling him to just fight and not watch the scores”. Jerry lost that one on a 10 round decision but, by 1980, he was ready for his biggest bout so far.

At the same time as Jerry Martin was making his way up the ranks, an unbeaten fighter, James “Great” Scott was coining his own reputation. Scott was an inmate in Rahway Prison in New Jersey who was allowed to fight under a special penal program. He was a fearsome individual that terrified opponents and stood as King of Rahway to those doing time there. He had beaten Yaqui Lopez, Jerry Celestine, Bunny Johnson and even the great Eddie Mustafa Muhammad within prison walls and, on May 25th 1980, he would attempt to add “The Bull” Martin to that list. Jerry’s promoter J Russell Peltz best summed up the bout. “No one gave Martin a chance” Peltz said “but he went in there, knocked Scott down in each of the first two rounds and won a clear cut decision. It was one of those moments that make boxing special”. It was a massive win for Jerry who would later admit that he had been scared of Scott as so many had been. “People thought of him as a superman” he recalled “Everyone was afraid to fight him. I was too. But the thing that helped me was that you had to go to the prison the day before the fight for the weigh in and that settled me down”. With such a name on his record, Jerry now looked to a world title showdown with a former victim of Scott’s, WBA Champ, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad.

The bout took place in the summer of 1980 in the Great George Playboy Club, New Jersey. In a bruising affair, both fighters traded bombs and, coming into the tenth round, the judge’s scorecards were tight with one judge seeing the fight even. But the class that identified Muhammad as one of the greats came to the forefront in that round. “I had caught the Flu near the end of training camp” Jerry lamented “but that was no excuse. He was a good technician and puncher. I got dropped in the 2nd and 6th rounds. The fight was stopped in the 10th”. Martin would go on to challenge for the title twice more, losing to the brilliant Matthew Saad Muhammad for a tilt at the WBC belt in 1981 and against the legend that was Dwight Muhammad Qawi for the same title a year later. Jerry would retire from the ring in 1984 with a record of 27-7 and notching up 17 KO’s along the way.

Jerry “The Bull” Martin was inducted into the Philadelphia Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011. J Russell Peltz remembers Jerry fondly and recalls the prison battle with Scott as the outstanding memory of the Antigua man’s career. “That was one of the highlights of my career and it certainly was the highlight of Jerry’s career”. Peltz would say “To go in there and be the first man to take that monster down was an amazing thing”. But then, “The Bull” was an amazing man. He was a brave and tough boxer who brought with him all of the fighting spirit that Joe Frazier’s Gym lent to its patrons. His story is one of the many that was born in sweat and tears within the walls of that great building on North Broad St and Glenwood Avenue.