Amos “Big Train” Lincoln: A Very Underrated Heavyweight Contender

By Jim Amato

He was born in 1936 and he embarked on a professional boxing career in 1954. He won twenty five of his first twenty nine fights on his way to establishing himself as a top prospect by 1962. The imposing 6′ 2″ Amos Lincoln was nicknamed” Big Train” and he looked like he was going to become a force to be reckoned with for some time.

Fighting out of Portland, Oregon early in his career Amos also campaigned throughout the northwest in cities like Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Boise and even Vancouver, Canada. In 1957 he made one of his few ventures outside the Northwest as he traveled to Chicago and defeated Marty Marshall. In June of 1962 Amos made his New York debut as he met future champion Ernie Terrell at Madison Square Garden. The lanky, long armed Terrell would box his way to a six round decision. It would be two years before Amos fought again. Appearing in Las Vegas, Lincoln was halted in the second round by Jimmy “King” Fletcher. Amos would bounce back with a decision over clever Chuck Leslie and a ninth round stoppage over highly regarded Thad Spencer.

In 1965 Amos avenged his loss to Fletcher with a four round knockout. Lincoln then went over to Italy and was outscored by Santo Amonti. Then Amos put together a nice streak beating Roberto Davila twice, Scrap Iron Johnson and Spencer again. There was an eight round no contest with the classy Henry Clark and a decision over Billy Daniels. Then there were two wins over Elmer Rush. Amos was now considered one of the best heavyweights in the world.

The fortunes of Amos Lincoln would begin to change on October 21, 1966 at New York’s famous Garden when he dropped a ten round duke to Johnny Persol. Amos came back with two quick wins but then he was again taken out again by Jimmy Fletcher. Amos was then brought over to Germany where he was stopped by Karl Mildenberger. Lincoln had now fallen dramatically in the ratings. He continued to tumble as Thad Spencer was finally able to beat Amos. ” Big Train” finally got back in the win column with a points call over rugged Joey Orbillo in Los Angeles. Amos returned to Los Angeles to meet Buster Mathis who was on the comeback trail after a loss to “Smokin” Joe Frazier. In a bout the featured some odd scorecards, Mathis was awarded a split decision. One judge had it 11-0 for Buster. Another had it 9-1 for Mathis. The third judge had it 5-4 for Amos. Go figure…

The feared former heavyweight champion Sonny Liston was also forging a comeback and Amos met him in Baltimore where Sonny stopped him in two. Amos was then halted by tall Tony Doyle in six. In 1970 power punching prospect Boone Kirkman got Lincoln out of there in two rounds when they fought in Seattle. Finally Amos reached the end of the line when he lost in five rounds to Terry Daniels.

Amos Lincoln finished his career with 56 fights and a fine 39-13-3 record with one no contest. He scored 22 knockouts. Please remember Lincoln’s record was 3-9 over his last twelve fights. In his prime he was a fine heavyweight.