The “Council Bluffs Butcher” has died.
Boxer Ron Stander, who helped put Council Bluffs on the sporting map in the 1970s, died Tuesday at the age of 77. He had been in hospice care, according to his family.
Toddy Stander said her husband died Tuesday from complications of diabetes at their home in the Omaha, Nebraska, suburb of Ralston.
Stander was in the national spotlight on May 25, 1972 when he fought the WBC and WBA boxing heavyweight champion Joe Frazier at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.
Nearly 10,000 people filled the Civic on May 25, 1972. Electricity was in the air as the majority of the capacity crowd backed the local challenger. Chants of “Go Big Ron” echoed through the arena.
Early on, Stander gave as good as he got. At one point in the first round, he landed a right to the chest that put Frazier on his heels. A follow-up left sent the champ staggering backward.
In the next round, Stander unleashed an enormous right uppercut as Frazier ducked his head while coming out of a corner. The punch — the one the Butcher’s trainer, Johnny Dunn, thought could bring the world title to Council Bluffs — whizzed past the champ’s left ear.
Stander’s chances for victory went with it.
From that point on, Frazier carved up the Butcher. After the fourth round, ringside doctor Jack Lewis stopped the fight due to lacerations on Stander’s face that took 17 stitches to close.
Frazier retained the title by technical knockout, although that was the last time he’d leave a boxing ring as a world champion. George Foreman TKO’d Frazier in two one-sided rounds in his next bout.
Stander also fought, and lost to, heavyweights Scott LeDoux, Ken Norton and Gerrie Coetzee in the 1970s, and remained a popular figure in boxing circles the rest of his life.
Boxer Ron Stander, who helped put Council Bluffs on the sporting map in the 1970s, died Tuesday at the age of 77. He had been in hospice care, according to his family.
Toddy Stander said her husband died Tuesday from complications of diabetes at their home in the Omaha, Nebraska, suburb of Ralston.
Stander was in the national spotlight on May 25, 1972 when he fought the WBC and WBA boxing heavyweight champion Joe Frazier at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.
Nearly 10,000 people filled the Civic on May 25, 1972. Electricity was in the air as the majority of the capacity crowd backed the local challenger. Chants of “Go Big Ron” echoed through the arena.
Early on, Stander gave as good as he got. At one point in the first round, he landed a right to the chest that put Frazier on his heels. A follow-up left sent the champ staggering backward.
In the next round, Stander unleashed an enormous right uppercut as Frazier ducked his head while coming out of a corner. The punch — the one the Butcher’s trainer, Johnny Dunn, thought could bring the world title to Council Bluffs — whizzed past the champ’s left ear.
Stander’s chances for victory went with it.
From that point on, Frazier carved up the Butcher. After the fourth round, ringside doctor Jack Lewis stopped the fight due to lacerations on Stander’s face that took 17 stitches to close.
Frazier retained the title by technical knockout, although that was the last time he’d leave a boxing ring as a world champion. George Foreman TKO’d Frazier in two one-sided rounds in his next bout.
Stander also fought, and lost to, heavyweights Scott LeDoux, Ken Norton and Gerrie Coetzee in the 1970s, and remained a popular figure in boxing circles the rest of his life.