Editing Jimmy Young (boxer) (section)

===Early fights===
An inexperienced Young was matched against contender [[Earnie Shavers]] in what was only his 11th professional fight. Shavers, who at that time had a 42–2 record dealt Young his first knockout loss, being his 4th loss. Young had tried trading blows and was caught early on by one of the division's hardest punchers,<ref>His biography, as detailed in article itself below</ref> who was well known for his overwhelming early attacks.

After this defeat Young went undefeated for the next three years,  including a win over contender [[Ron Lyle]] and a controversial draw in a re-match with Earnie Shavers with many observers scoring the bout for Young.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/1752/jimmy-young-career-worth-remembering/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-08-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312155338/http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/1752/jimmy-young-career-worth-remembering/ |archive-date=2012-03-12 }}</ref> The improved outcome for Young was largely due to improvements made to his defense since his last fight with the devastating hitter. Despite Young's inability to earn a victory over Shavers, it was enough to earn him a title fight with the heavyweight champion, [[Muhammad Ali]].