Boxing in The 1960s - 1963

1963

• February 23- Dick Tiger retains his world Middleweight title with a fifteen round draw (tie) against former world champion Gene Fullmer in their Las Vegas rematch.
• March 13- Cassius Clay defeats Doug Jones by a close (scores of 96-95, 96-95 and 99-92) but unanimous decision, Madison Square Garden, New York.
• March 21- A world title double header in Los Angeles: Luis Rodriguez wins the world Welterweight title by defeating Emile Griffith with a fifteen round decision. Then, the double header turns tragic when Sugar Ramos takes the world Featherweight title away from Davey Moore, who would later die of the injuries suffered in the bout.
• March 25- Davey Moore dies in Los Angeles. His death led to Pope John XXIII's describing of boxing as barbaric, and to Bob Dylan's song Who Killed Davey Moore?.
• June 1- Willie Pastrano wins the world Light-Heavyweight title with a fifteen round decision over Harold Johnson, Las Vegas.
• June 8- Emile Griffith recovers the world Welterweight title by defeating Luis Rodriguez with a fifteen round decision in New York.
• June 18- Cassius Clay suffers a knockdown at the end of round four at the hands of Henry Cooper, and then, he rips off his glove in the corner before round five, making trainer Angelo Dundee go to the locker room to get a new glove, and giving him time to recover. Cooper succumed to his tendency to cut and with blood streaming down his face, the referee was forced to stop the fight in round five, London.
• July 22- Sonny Liston again defeats Floyd Patterson by a knockout in the first round, this time retaining the world Heavyweight title, Las Vegas.
• August 10- Gene Fullmer's last fight, as he gets knocked out in eight rounds by world Middleweight champion Dick Tiger in Ibadan, Nigeria. To Fullmer's surprise, about 1,000 of Tiger's fans greet him outside the stadium after the fight, to applaud him and express admiration.
• December 7- Joey Giardello becomes world Middleweight champion with a fifteen round decision win over Dick Tiger, Atlantic City.
• December 20- Rubin Carter produces one of Emile Griffith's two knockout defeats, scoring a technical knockout over the world Welterweight champion in round one of a non-title bout, Pittsburgh.