There have been many boxers in the history of boxing who had their record “padded” against pro debuting boxers and those who had never won a fight. No one had this like heavyweight LaMar Clark who was 43-3 with 42 knockout wins. Only one of his 46 fights went the distance.
Clark was a chicken farmer from Cedar City, Utah, who left the farm to seek his fame and fortune in the boxing ring. As an amateur he was 25-2. He was in the same stable as Middleweight Champion Gene Fullmer and his brothers Jay and Don Fullmer. Clark developed the same mauling style that Gene Fullmer had.
Clark’s opponents consisted of 27 opponents making their debut who were professional wrestlers and local tough guys. 37 of his 43 wins were against opponents who “never won a fight”.
Only 3 of his opponents had winning records. On December the 1st in 1958 he defeated 6 opponents on one show with 5 of them making their debuts and one having a 1-2 record knocking all of them out.
Clark made his debut on January 4th in 1958 winning a 6 round decision over John Hicks who was also debuting. Both fighters were from Cedar City and the bout was held there. A week later Clark had his first 10 rounder that would be the first of only three in his entire career. He scored a knockout and three days later in a rematch with Hicks he scored a third round knockout in a scheduled 8.
Clark had his first four fights in Cedar City with the fourth a fourth round knockout over Jack Read, 1-1, in two rounds. They would be re-matched on December 1st with Read being one of the six Clark fought that night.
After Clark scored his first knockout in his second fight he would go on a 41 straight knockout streak before losing for the first time. He was 36-0 when he fought his first opponent with a winning record in Tony Burton, 4-2-1, in April of 1959. It was at the Polo Grounds in Palm Springs, CA, and only the second time he didn’t fight in Utah. Only three of his forty-six opponents had winning records.
Clark’s first loss was to Dominican Bartolo Soni, 12-2-1, being stopped in the ninth round of a scheduled 10 in April of 1960. Two months later he returned to the ring against the 1956 Olympic Gold Medal winner Pete Rademacher, 6-3-1, being stopped in the tenth and final round.
It would be nine months on March of 1961 before Clark came back knocking out Chuck Wilburn, 6-12-4, in the second round at the Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV. He was the co-feature of Gene Fullmer defending his NBA World Middleweight title defeating “Sugar” Ray Robinson.
Clark would end his boxing career the following month on April 19th 1961 taking on the 1960 Olympic Light Heavyweight Gold Medalist Cassius Clay, 5-0 (4), aka Muhammad Ali. The bout was scheduled for 8 rounds at the Freedom Hall, in Louisville, KY, Ali’s hometown. Clark was knocked out in the second round. He was 27 years old when he retired.
In summary Clark was 43-3 with 42 knockouts and knocked out in all of his 3 losses. Only his pro debut went the distance of 6 rounds. He knocked out all debuting opponents in 27 of his wins. He defeated 37 opponents who never won a fight. He only fought 5 times other than in Utah where he fought 41 times. Of his 46 fights only 3 were scheduled for 10 rounds. He lost 3 of his last 4 fights. He was managed by Marv Jensen, who managed Middleweight Champion Gene Fullmer.