A minor boxing mystery to solve-need input

Maybe some old issues of Ring would carry reports of this fight? I've got a few from the early 50's, there maybe something in there?

 

Okay. Just a thought. You are making the excellent point that because the newspapers or records say this is the fact does not mean it really happened that way.

And except for you, none of us were actually there to judge the veracity of these records.

 

Old Fogey and Burt, Oh man, I dug some more to possibly substantiate a possible same fighter and I only drew more damning evidence. I checked into Bobby's August fight with Chico Pacheco, his Sept. 13th fight with Glen Hendershot and his Oct. 23 fight with Gaby Ferland to see if the Robinson fight in the Velodrome was mentioned. Nothing was mentioned about the Robinson fight other than in the Ferland fight mentioning that Robinson and Dykes were scheduled to fight the following month. I did find the piece on the announcement of Robinson-Dykes which was signed Oct. 18th. It says, "Ray Robinson will box Bobby Dykes of San Antonio in a non-title 10 rounder at Chicago Stadium Nov. 8. The bout was announced by Truman Gibson, secretary of the IBC. Dykes has lost only one fight in the past two years and has beaten such foes as Les Felton, Frankie Abrams and Charlie Salas." Also, remember in my previous post I found that error to the Billy Brown-Jimmy Curl fight? Well, heres the retraction, "The AP incorrectly reported the result of the Billy Brown-Jimmy Curl fight Monday night at the Coral Gables Coliseum in Miami. Brown, of Hartford, won a split decision over Curl of San Antonio. Bobby Gleason, manager of Brown, said his fighter suffered a slight cut over his right eye but expected to sign for a bout with Bobby Dykes at Miami within three weeks. Brown lost a 10 round decision Sept. 4 to Ray Robinson, welterweight champion and top middleweight contender." Obviously they were not the same fighter (although they never actually fought). The San Antonio papers covered absolutely everything on Dykes. He was obviously the favored son at the time even though he had relocated to Miami. I'm sorry I couldn't have found something corroborative, Burt. Is it possible this could have happened on a different date?

Scartissue

 

scartissue it says Dykes had only lost once before facing Robinson, that is incorrect.

 

I know, I checked it out too, he lost to both Lester Felton in '50 and Frankie Abrams in '49. Their "lost only 1 fight in the past 2 years" is incorrect.

Scartissue

 

Burt I am in no way trying to dispute what you claim to have seen, and as many have said on your behalf not all of the records of the past have been accurately recorded which further muddles the situation. But as for Boxrec they have Dykes listed as orthodox and not southpaw on the page I refrenced???

http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=11094&cat=boxer

 

No worries Burt, I've a few from around that time but the only one with a SRR fight report in is for the St Valentines Day Massacre

Good luck in your search:good

 

I was gonna search through old Rings but the bout wasn't picked up by the Ring Record Book so I doubt it'll be found in their mag.

 

This is interesting so I took a look into it. My limited research does not look good, unless Dykes was substituted for Brown in 1950.

1. Well, it couldn't have been the summer of 1952, because Robinson was retired.

2. I doubt if it was the summer of 1951 because Robinson was in Europe at that time.

3. Summer of 1950: This would mean it would have been the 1st fight between Robinson and Dykes. I just watched and listened to Robinson-Dykes, November 1950. There is no indication there at all that the two had met previously. Surely they would have at least mentioned it, if they had known about it.

4. Summer of 1953 (or later): Not possible. From Wikipedia: "The last event (at the Velodrome) was an Old-Timers reunion and bicycle race on September 4, 1950. Coney Island Velodrome was torn down and replaced with high-rise housing."

If it happened, it almost had to have happened in 1950. My guess is that Dykes replaced Brown, for whatever reason, and the sportswriters in that area didn't pick up on it...again...for whatever reason...and...the people broadcasting the second fight between the two did not know about the first fight.

 

Burt, I started to think we were on to something there. Maybe Brown was a sub since you wouldn't have bothered with a Robinson-Brown fight. Well that blew up as well. I read on reports the day of the fight that it was to be Robinson-Brown, but how far back was the sub made? I decided to work my way forward from Robinson's bout with Jose Basora (which was on Aug. 25. But I found an AP article on the 27th reporting on Robinson-Basora, stating that Robinson is planning to fight once a month in order to get the title shot at Jake LaMotta. The last short paragraph stated, "The sugar's next bout is with Billy Brown at Coney Island Labor Day." So, the bout was definitely scheduled, it was definitely Brown in there with Robinson (very descriptive articles I found relating to the bout, Brown weighing in at 160 1/2 whereas Dykes was a welter) and even on youtube's fight with Dykes, the commentator states how Robinson had fought Billy Brown. So, it had to be a different date.

Scartissue

 

Burt could it have been earlier than 1950?