How good was Charley Burley?

[Beanflicker]

Man, its one thing to ALLEGEDLY have P4P greats duck you, like Ray Robinson, Billy Conn and Henry Armstrong. But how good does one have to be to have rough, tough, "take on any comer" guys like Lamotta, Graziano and Zale duck you?

I know he beat Archie Moore, but I've never seen any of his fights. How good was this guy, and why did the greats of that time want nothing to do with him?

[CutMeMick]

Man, its one thing to ALLEGEDLY have P4P greats duck you, like Ray Robinson, Billy Conn and Henry Armstrong. But how good does one have to be to have rough, tough, "take on any comer" guys like Lamotta, Graziano and Zale duck you?

I know he beat Archie Moore, but I've never seen any of his fights. How good was this guy, and why did the greats of that time want nothing to do with him?

(Cue Scrap)

'Scrap'

Scraps the one and only here who I had originally seen mention Burley and talk about some of the stories that surrounded him. Since then his comments and stories have echoed here.

I had the chance to meet a gentleman by the name of Allen S. Rosenfeld who wrote a book on Charles and was roomates with him for some 6 yrs.

Wish I could post everything he told me on line but somethings are not ment to be put out there.
Heres a quote from me.

I had a chance to meet a man by the name of Allen S. Rosenfeld who is the author of the book Charley Burley.
Very interesting man, he said he lived with Charley for about 6 years. and he talked good about the guy. He said Charley was a very good fighter and askesd him 'Was Charley as good as people say?" His answer was "Yes, on his best day he could beat anyone he was that good at his best".
It was a good talk and I learned a lot from Allen about Charley.

Something I could add is that Allen also said some of the storys we hear today are the truth but streched out a little.

[ICB]

I done an article on Burley here it is.


Charley Burley


83 wins 50 KO 12 losses 2 draws 1 no contest


Burley imo was one of the most ducked fighters in boxing history even Eddie Futch who trained Larry Holmes, Joe Frazier, and many other great fighters said Charley Burley was the greatest all round fighter he had ever seen, you will be shocked at this list but these are just some of the fighters that ducked Charley Burley.

Billy Conn
Marcel Cerdan
Jake LaMotta
Sugar Ray Robinson

Quite shocking isn't it ?? but not quite as shocking as the rumor that when Burley was gym sweeper he sparked out Robinson twice in sparring yes you heard me right folks thats no joke.


Anyway just little info for you guys here Burley was born 1917 his father was black coal miner from Virginia and his mother was a white Irish lady don't really know that much but i know his father died in 1925 and he moved to Pittsburgh in 1929 and where he took up boxing in which he was obvisiously surperb at he was also an excellent baseball player from what i've heard and he would of gone to the 1936 Olympics but he didn't want to go because of the German racist Policies from what i heard anyway i will continue with his boxing career in his 20th pro fight he fought his first real known opponent Fritzie Zivic who you will probably know if you haven't he beat some great fighters like Jake Lamotta and Henry Armstrong x2 anyway Burley lost very close razor thin decision that could of gone either way Burley rebounded and then fought Fritzie Zivic in a rematch the same year and beat him by 10 round decision after the victory Burley fought Cocoa Kid in the same year who was another ducked fighter Cocoa Kid was really awesome fighter though 178 wins 46 KO lost 56 that was his overall record anyway Burley dominated Cocoa Kid he floored him 3 times and won comfortable 15 round decision so 1938 was very good year for Charley Burley.

Moving on the 1939 Burley lost to Jimmy Leto by close decision now most of you probably haven't heard of him but his overall record was 84 wins 27 KO and 24 lost he also beat very good fighter like Cocoa Kid by KO who i mentioned earlier anyway moving on Burley rebounded from that decision loss by once again beating Fritzie Zivic by decision win then right after that fight Burley revenged his loss to Jimmy Leto by winning a decision after that win he fought the great Holman Williams who had a record of 146 wins 36 KO and 30 losses but Burley lost close decision even though Williams was down 3 times but despite the loss Burley had shown great skills and performed well after that loss Burley had no real fights against top opposition for about 3 years which i will be moving on to now.

So onto 1942 was a pretty good year for Burley he once again fought Holman Williams who was 91-8 at that time and Burley revenged his loss to Williams by winning a decision then Burley fought JD Turner who weighed 219 pounds and was 6 foot 3 while Burley weighed 151 pounds and was 5 foot 9 so it was a Heavyweight vs Middleweight but despite that Burley still kicked JD Turner's a** by winning 7th round TKO amazing feat isn't it ?? anyway moving on Burley fought the great Ezzard Charles losing twice to Charles both times by close 10 round decision's during that time Burley also fought Holman Williams 3 times his old rival winning 2-1 Burley he then fought Llyod Marshall losing by a close SD so 1942 was an up and down year for Burley.

Onto 1943 Burley had a draw with his old rival Cocoa Kid then once again fought Holman Williams but the fight was declared NO Contest because after one minute of the 10th round because of inactivity Roll Eyes

But Burley went undefeated in 1943 so it was a solid year for him.


Onto 1944 Burley probably got his biggest win of his whole career beating the great Archie Moore and flooring him 4 times to win one sided decision Archie Moore once said "Alot of people ask me who was best fighter i've ever fought i say Rocky Marciano because thats what people want to hear but really and truthfully i was old when i fought Marciano but really the best fighter i ever fought was Charley Burley because he whooped my a** in my prime" funny quote Grin

But Burley never got World title shot he called them all out but none of them wanted to fight even thought Burley was in top 10.


Onto 1945 he once again fought Holman Williams but lost a close 15 round decision after that Burley never really fought any known names he went 19-2 after the fight with Williams and retired in 1946 he was never stopped in his whole career.

And just one more thing i want to show you this quote from Robinson.

"Im Too Pretty To Fight Burley"

Burley always believed he was better than Robinson but Robinson ducked him like the plague like all the other champions did which is sad but anyway i think Burley definetly deserves a mention for amazing fighter because he had to fight bigger men than himself just to get fights.


Charley Burley vs. Oakland Billy Smith


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4IsZxqeJos


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v1Ct2DFRQQ

[OumaFan]

Unfortunately not much tape on him as far as I know.

Seen the one Ice showed, have never seen any others.

[DaxxKahn]

Man, its one thing to ALLEGEDLY have P4P greats duck you, like Ray Robinson, Billy Conn and Henry Armstrong. But how good does one have to be to have rough, tough, "take on any comer" guys like Lamotta, Graziano and Zale duck you?

I know he beat Archie Moore, but I've never seen any of his fights. How good was this guy, and why did the greats of that time want nothing to do with him?

I don't know if those guys DUCKED him....Especially LaMotta...that guy would fight a Sherman Tank in his prime....


[quote=CutMeMick ]

Man, its one thing to ALLEGEDLY have P4P greats duck you, like Ray Robinson, Billy Conn and Henry Armstrong. But how good does one have to be to have rough, tough, "take on any comer" guys like Lamotta, Graziano and Zale duck you?

I know he beat Archie Moore, but I've never seen any of his fights. How good was this guy, and why did the greats of that time want nothing to do with him?

(Cue Scrap)

'Scrap'

Scraps the one and only here who I had originally seen mention Burley and talk about some of the stories that surrounded him. Since then his comments and stories have echoed here.

I had the chance to meet a gentleman by the name of Allen S. Rosenfeld who wrote a book on Charles and was roomates with him for some 6 yrs.

Wish I could post everything he told me on line but somethings are not ment to be put out there.
Heres a quote from me.

If only I could repeat some of the stories these promoters, fighters, managers and trainers have told me over the years I would have a best seller...it's almost like "Damn I wish he never told me that"...some stuff is almost to good to keep to yourself....