Charley Burley: The greatest welter of all time? By Hank Mccoy


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PROFESSOR MARBRY: WAS BURLEY THE GREATEST “WELTER†EVER?

September 14th, 2011 By Professor Chuck Marbry

BURLEY POUNDED ON ARCHIE MOORE

Charlotte, NC- According to “AudioEnglish.net†as a noun, “Welter†has one meaning; “a confused multitude of things.†As a verb, “Welter†can have three meanings; 1) to toss, roll. or rise and fall in an uncontrolled way; 2) to roll around; 3) to be immersed in. The definitions are kind of ironic as it pertains to ‘Welterweight’ and boxing, because as you study the history of The Manly Art of Self Defense, you will find that welterweight has been one of the most consistent high energy and high talent weight classes down through the years.

ARCHIE MOORE & RAY ROBINSON SAID “CHARLEY BURLEY MIGHT HAVE BEEN THE GREATESTâ€

One of the all time great Old School welterweights (147 lbs) that has been overlooked and underrated by history is Charley Burley, who retired with a record of 84-12-2, with 50 knockouts and 1 no-contest. Just how Charley Burley gets overlooked when all time great welterweights are talked about is beyond The Professor, after all Charley beat the socks off the future light heavyweight champion, The ‘Ol Mongoose Archie Moore, knocking Archie down four times when they fought. On April 20th, 1942 while Charley Burley was in New York to fight Phil McQuillian, when in the lobby of a Hotel, Charley happened to run into none other than “Sugar Ray†Robinson. This chance meeting led both Burley and Robinson fighting on the same card later that same month in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on the 30th. Charley KO’d his opponent, Sammy Wilson in the second round, and Robinson also KO’d his opponent Dick Banner in the second, but while watching Charley from ringside, Sugar Ray told his manager, “I’m too pretty to fight Charley Burley!†And Ray Robinson (as well as every other middleweight title holder) avoided Charlie during his whole career.

BURLEY EVEN FOUGHT GREAT EZZARD CHARLES

What many do not know about the talent that Charley Burley had was that for the first six years of his 14 year fisticuff career, the 5’9″ Burley fought as a small welterweight for 38 fights. Then moving up to middleweight to earn bigger purses, he still was on the small side, usually weighing 151 to 156 pounds. He weighed just 151 for his second fight against Ezzard Charles, Whom he lost to twice, but was 10 pounds lighter than Ezzard Charles. Charley was an all-round complete fighter, a boxer-puncher, who was extremely accurate, and whose timing was almost perfect. Charley also possessed a granite chin. No less an expert than Archie Moore said that Charley Burley was the best fighter he ever faced.

BURLEY HAD TO FIGHT FOR THE “COLORED†TITLE

Beginning his professional career in 1936 at 19 years of age, Charley went 19-1 before losing a disputed split decision to leading welterweight contender Fritzie Zivic, who would go on to beat Henry Armstrong for the world title. Only three months later, Charley Burley would avenge that loss to Zivic (and win the third match easily as well). Then two years into his career, in 1938, Charley Burley, now weighing all of 145 pounds won the “Colored Welterweight Title†from the Cocoa Kid in Millvale, Pa., dropping the Kid three times on the way to a decisive unanimous decision win.

RACIST PIGS THAT RAN BOXING DETERMINED HISTORY

The sad chapter in boxing and the nations history during this time frame was the way people of Color were treated or denied opportunity. When Charley Burley beat The Cocoa Kid for “The Colored Welterweight Titleâ€, the only other fighter in Charley’s weight class that could come close to matching him was another excellent “fighter of color†who was also denied a world title shot, and that was Holman Williams, 146-30-11. So, frozen out of the world title picture, and with other contenders refusing to fight them, they fought each other six times. The final record between them stood at three wins apiece with one no-decision, although Charley Burley did take time from their rivalry to knock out 220 pound heavyweight J.D. Turner, while Charley himself weighed only 148 pounds!

BURLEY SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AMONG THE ‘ALL TIME GREATS’ OF BOXING

Charley Burley was inducted into Ring Magazine’s Boxing Hall of Fame in 1983, the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1987, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992, Charley Burley died at the age of 75 on October 16th, 1992. And while the inductions into the various Halls of Fame were well deserved, Charley Burley could have won a world welterweight title, and would have if he had been given the shot, at welterweight and/or middleweight, but he was too good, and the “wrong color†at a time when boxing politics and society were truly “welter†in the the full sense of the term.

Professor Chuck Marbry

Source:http://ringtalk.com/charley-burley-welter-ray-robinson-archie-moore-boxing-welter-welterweight

Nice little article on one of many great Pittsburgh fighters.

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