Randall "Tex" Cobb

Randall "Tex" Cobb
Born	Randall Craig Cobb May 7, 1950 Bridge City, Texas, United States
Other names	Tex
Nationality	American
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	108 kg (238 lb; 17.0 st)
Division	Heavyweight
Style	Boxing • Karate
Fighting out of	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Rank	Black belt in Karate
Years active	1975–1993
Professional boxing record
Total	51
Wins	42
By knockout	35
Losses	7
By knockout	1
Draws	1
No contests	1
Kickboxing record
Total	11
Wins	9
By knockout	9
Losses	2
Draws	0
Other information
University	Temple University

Randall Craig "Tex" Cobb (born May 7, 1950)^[1] is an American former boxer who competed in the heavyweight division. Widely considered to possess one of the greatest chins of all time,^[2] Cobb was a brawler who also packed considerable punching power.^[3] He began his fighting career in full contact kickboxing in 1975 before making the jump to professional boxing two years later. He challenged Larry Holmes for the WBC World Heavyweight Championship in November 1982, losing a one-sided unanimous decision, and took wins over notable heavyweights of his era such as Bernardo Mercado, Earnie Shavers and Leon Spinks.

In addition to his fighting career, he has also acted in numerous films and television series, usually appearing as a villain or minion. Examples include roles on the popular programs Miami Vice and Walker, Texas Ranger.

Early life

Randall Cobb was born in Bridge City, Texas, the son of Norma Grace (née Alexander) and Williard Glynn Cobb, a factory foreman.^[4] He was raised in Abilene, Texas and attended Abilene High School where he played on the football team. Cobb later studied at Abilene Christian University but dropped out at the age of nineteen, and began karate training. He lived in the dojo, cleaning the mats to earn his keep.^[5] After earning his black belt, he craved full contact competition and thus took up kickboxing, fighting in an era when only full contact rules were used in the United States. He won his first nine matches, going 9–0 with 9 knockouts.

He TKO'd El Paso Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion and karate black belt, David Ochoa, in the first ever professional kickboxing event in El Paso, Texas in 1975. The promoters were Robert Nava and boxing trainer Tom McKay under the guidance of boxing guru and matchmaker, Paul Clinite. Clinite signed Randall to a professional boxing contract a few weeks later. He also signed Ochoa who had fought amateur under the guidance of McKay as his trainer. Clinite provided films of heavyweight boxers to study to get the huge Cobb a good style. After a few days, it was decided that Randall should work at learning the "Joe Louis shuffle". Randall, Paul and Tom spent a few months at El Paso's San Juan Boxing Gym just doing the simple basics. A few months later, Clinite made arrangements for Randall to be sent to Joe Frazier's gym in Philadelphia.

Boxing career

After nine straight wins as a kickboxer, Cobb lost his first two amateur bouts. In his professional boxing debut on January 19, 1977 in El Paso, Texas, he knocked out Pedro Vega. He went on to win 13 straight fights by 1979, all by knockout. Cobb was a fighter who had hitting power, as shown by his eighth-round knockout victory over Earnie Shavers in 1980. He lost his two following bouts afterwards to Ken Norton and Michael Dokes, respectively, but soon bounced back to earn a shot at Larry Holmes' WBC World Heavyweight Championship. On November 26, 1982 at Houston's Astrodome, Cobb was defeated in a unanimous decision by Holmes, who won all fifteen rounds on two of three scorecards. The bloody one-sidedness of the fight, which came 13 days after the bout between Ray Mancini and Duk Koo Kim that led to Kim's death four days later due to brain trauma, so horrified sportscaster Howard Cosell that he vowed never to cover another professional match, which Cobb jokingly referred to as his "gift to the sport of boxing."^[6] When prodded further regarding Cosell's remarks, Cobb observed, "Hey, if it gets him to stop broadcasting NFL games, I'll go play football for a week too!" When asked if he would consider a rematch, Cobb replied that he did not think that Holmes would agree, as Holmes' "hands could not take it." In an interview after the Holmes fight he was asked how he could fight someone whose arms were a foot longer than his were, to which he replied, "Oh, it seemed that way to you too?"

He made a brief return to kickboxing on May 5, 1984 to challenge John Jackson for the PKA United States Heavyweight title in Birmingham, Alabama, losing on points. Between late 1984 and 1985, he lost four straight fights, the last of which was a knockout at the hands of Dee Collier, the only time he was ever KO'd. After a two-year hiatus, he made a return to the ring and went on a twenty-fight undefeated streak against lightly regarded opponents (including a win over past-his-prime former champ Leon Spinks in 1988) before retiring again rather suddenly in 1993. A 1993 Sports Illustrated article alleged that Cobb had participated in a fixed fight with Sonny Barch and had used cocaine with Barch and promoter Rick "Elvis" Parker before and after the fight. Cobb said the magazine libeled him, and he sued for $150 million. In 1999, a jury awarded Cobb $8.5 million in compensatory damages and $2.2 million in punitive damages. However, the verdict was overturned in 2002 by a federal appeals court, which said that the article wasn't published with "actual malice." The magazine did not interview the referee and other ringside officials who were at the match, which tends to show that the magazine "might not have acted as a prudent reporter would have acted," the ruling stated. "But the actual malice standard requires more than just proof of negligence".^[7]

Acting career

As a Hollywood actor Cobb has played a series of villainous roles in films such as Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol, Raising Arizona, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Liar Liar, The Golden Child, Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult, Fletch Lives, and Ernest Goes to Jail. He has made some guest appearances on television shows, including Miami Vice, Highlander: The Series, Married...with Children, Moonlighting, Walker, Texas Ranger, MacGyver (in which he played a character named "Earthquake"), and The X-Files. Cobb's other appearances include the 1983 hit movie Uncommon Valor, which reversed his villainous image; the 1987 movie Critical Condition, in which he plays a character in the psych ward who thinks he's a "brother" (an African-American); The Champ, which referred to his boxing career by casting Cobb as a boxer that fights the title character, Billy Flynn; and Diggstown, in which he plays a prison inmate who fights at the behest of a con man. He also was in the movie Blind Fury with Rutger Hauer.

Personal life

Cobb lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and maintained a friendship with Philadelphia Daily News columnist Pete Dexter, who frequently commented on boxing. In a notorious 1982 Grays Ferry incident, Cobb came to the defense of Dexter, who, during the course of a bar brawl, was severely beaten.^[8] Cobb rescued him and endured a broken arm, costing him a scheduled fight with Muhammad Ali. Ali then fought Trevor Berbick and lost.

In January 2008 at age 57, Cobb graduated magna cum laude from Temple University with a bachelor's degree in sport and recreation management. He remarked that it was odd to hear the cheers of a packed arena without being in a boxing ring. "It was nice to have that opportunity to wear a robe, to step up there and not have to worry about bleeding," Cobb said.^[9] Cobb's eldest son Bo was killed in an accident in early 1999. His younger son Joshua pursued a short career as a boxer.

Boxing record

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing record
9 wins (9 KOs), 2 losses, 0 draws Date Result Opponent Event Location Method Round Time 1984-05-05 Loss John Jackson Birmingham, Alabama, USA Decision 12 2:00 For the PKA United States Heavyweight Championship. 1983-00-00 Win Anthony Elmore Decision 1975-04-18 Win David Ochoa El Paso, Texas, USA TKO 2 Legend:       Win       Loss       Draw/No contest       Notes

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	The Champ	Bowers
1983	Uncommon Valor	Sailor
1983	Braker	R.E. Packard	Television film
1986	The Golden Child	Til
1987	Critical Condition	Box
	The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission	Eric "Swede" Wallan	Television film
	Raising Arizona	Leonard Smalls
	Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol	Zack
	Buy & Cell	Wolf
1989	Fletch Lives	Ben Dover
	Collision Course	Kosnic
	Blind Fury	Slag
1990	Ernest Goes to Jail	Lyle
1991	Raw Nerve	Blake Garrett
1992	Diggstown	Wolf Forrester
1994	Ace Ventura: Pet Detective	Gruff Man
	Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult	Big Hairy Con
1997	Liar Liar	Skull
1998	The Next Tenant
2000	Vice	Lt. Munson

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Code of Vengeance	Willard Singleton
	Hardcastle and McCormick	Dennis "Corky" Conklyn	Episode: "The Career Breaker"
1987	Miami Vice	Moon	Episode: "Down for the Count (Part 1)"
	Moonlighting	Big guy in gas station	Episode: "Sam & Dave"
	Frank's Place	Cyrus Litt	Episode: "Food Fight"
1988	MacGyver	Daniel Royce "Earthquake" Toberman	Episode: "The Spoilers"
1990–91	In the Heat of the Night	Frank Kloot	Episodes: "A Problem Too Personal" and "No Other Road"
1993	Married... with Children	The Burglar	Episode: "Un-Alful Entry"
	Shaky Ground	Ned	Episode: "Stayin' Alive"
1994	Highlander: The Series	Kern	Episode: "Line of Fire"
1998	Walker, Texas Ranger	Dwight Trammel	Episode: "Survival"
2000	The X-Files	Bert Zupanic	Episode: "Fight Club"
2001	Walker, Texas Ranger	Ross Dollarhide / 'flashbacks', Desperado	Episode: "The Final Showdown"

References

1. According to the State of Texas. Texas Birth Index, 1903–1997. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com
2. Pete Dexter. "The Weight Of Tex Cobb's Belief". The Stacks.
3. Brent Brookhouse (11 October 2012). "UFC 153: Bonnar vs. Silva, Tex Cobb vs. Larry Holmes and courage through standing in front of a locomotive". Bloody Elbow.
4. "Randall "Tex" Cobb Biography (1950-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 2016-05-05.
5. "WILL OF IRON: The Sport and Times of Randall "Tex" Cobb". Fitflex.com. Retrieved 2016-05-05.
6. Maxim magazine; March 2000; Page 84.
7. "Jury Awards 'Tex' Cobb $10.7M". CBS News. 1999-06-11. Retrieved 2016-05-05.
8. Hiltbrand, David (November 4, 2003). – "A Return to His Old Stomping Grounds". – The Philadelphia Inquirer.
9. "Randall 'Tex' Cobb earns degree from Temple University". Philadelphia Inquirer. January 26, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-01-30. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
10. "Randall Cobb Professional boxing record". BoxRec.com. Retrieved 2016-05-05.

External links

• Professional boxing record for Randall "Tex" Cobb from BoxRec
• Randall "Tex" Cobb at the Internet Movie Database