Heavyweight Fighter Jumbo Cummings Released From Prison

Former heavyweight boxer Floyd “Jumbo” Cummings, who once fought former champ Joe Frazier to a draw and was later sentenced to life in prison, has been paroled.

Cummings, 66, was hit with the life sentence in 2002 under the state’s three strikes law. His third strike was for robbing a Subway on Chicago’s South Side.

Cummings pulled the robbery with another man and a woman. While Cummings got life, the other man was sentenced to eight years in prison and the woman got six.

Cummings was paroled from Menard Correctional Center in Downstate Chester two months ago, according to Department of Corrections records.

Cummings actually got his start in the ring while behind bars. He was convicted of murder at the age of 17 and was sent to Stateville Correctional Center. There, he began boxing as an amateur. Opponents were brought into the prison to face him and Cummings was also taken out in chains for fights on the outside.

Sentenced to 50 to 75 years for the murder conviction, Cummings got out in 13 and turned professional, making his debut at a Highland Park restaurant in June 1979. He knocked out Dave Watkins in the first round.

Cummings won his next 13 pro fights before losing to Renaldo Snipes in March 1981 in Atlantic City. Cummings was beaten on points and bit Snipes’ shoulder during the bout.

Cummings then managed a win against Bobby Jordan, got his draw against an aged Frazier in December 1981, then dropped his last five fights to finish 15-6-1 with 13 knockouts.

The draw with Cummings was Frazier’s last professional fight. Before the fight, Cummings was quoted as saying he was not afraid of hurting Frazier, he was afraid of killing him.

Cummings trained in Joliet gyms after he got out of prison and embarked on his professional career.

In 1984, Cummings was convicted of robbery in Michigan and served 12 years.

In 2008, while he was doing time at Menard, Cummings sued ESPN Classic for rebroadcasting his fight against Frazier without his permission.

At Menard, Cummings “lived a quiet and private life, free from the prying curiosity which accompanies either fame or notoriety, withdrawn from the public gaze, free from the insatiable interest of the great mass of people in those whose conduct or behavior attracts or warrants general public notice or interest: and (he) has ever shunned and avoided notoriety and publicity, has ever cherished and held as precious the privacy of his personal life and acts and sayings in all social relations,” he said in his lawsuit.

But then ESPN Classic ruined all that for Cummings by rebroadcasting his fight, the lawsuit said, as his name was “cheapened and made notorious,” he was “subjected to the contempt, ridicule and inquisitive notice of the general public,” and his “peace of mind” was “disturbed and destroyed,” among other things.

Cummings asked for $50 million. A federal judge dismissed the case in March 2009.