Sugar Ray Robinson ducked Charley Burley???!

They were on some card together in the Midwest, and promoters wanted to stage a bout between the two. Afterwards, Robinson doubled his demand from $25k to $50k and also apparently said that quote "I'm too pretty to fight Burley".

Burley held no grudge, and said this about Ray:

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64104

 

I read a book on burly, its a sad story since he had universaly accepted talent. it dosnt make it right but he just wasnt quite the phenomanon that joe louis and ray robinson were. he just didnt fight out of new york or chicago or sell as many tickets or get the write ups of the other two.
there was a lot of champion material guys out there and just not enough titles to go round. ticket sellers got more breaks. robinson got more breaks but ulitmatly more people wanted to watch him than burly. its not fair its just how it was.
I read both robinson and burly apeared on the same card against patsy opponents one time and burly held nothing back in trying to outdo ray. the book hinted that burly did too good a job on his guy killing any chance he had of making a burly-robinson fight. I remember checking out robinsons record and i just think it was a case of ray getting booked with a beter known opponent in advance rather than ray ducking burly. why take burly in a back water when you can take a match against a beatable name opponent in newyork?

 

****ing hell, burley was all class. it puts it into perspective and provides a context beyond the typical ducking claims. sure, robinson didn't want to fight him but their was a reason. robinson has one of if not the greatest resume of all time. risking it all against a fighter than brought nothing makes sense and it's not like ray didn't fight a dozen or so hall of famers anyway. still, would have been nice to see and burley is incredible to not hold a grudge.

 

That's way more useful than what I was going to say. Good work, TS. :thumbsup

 

oh he was. again, i don't know that much about him but burley would fight anyone, any time and the only fighter to consistently get the better of him was ezzard charles. he lost to zivic early but avenged that. he beat archie moore, who denied him another match. others, including billy conn, refused fights and eddie futch called him "the finest all around fighter" he ever saw

 

A lot of fighters then, particularly black fighters, were avoided because the risk wasn't worth the financial reward. It was tough for the whole Black Murderers Row to get the fights they deserved. Some fought for the "Colored" titles or the "Duration" title when MW champ Tony Zale was in WW2.

LaMotta, who himself had to wait quite awhile to get a title shot, was quoted as saying something like "why should I fight Burley when I have Zivic?" One story regarding Fritzie Zivic is that after facing Charley Burley a couple times his management bought out Burley's contract.

Archie Moore was quoted as saying that he always gets asked whom the best fighter he faced was and that he always says Rocky Marciano to make them happy, but he felt the best two were Charley Burley & Eddie Booker.

There's not much film of Burley unfortunately. I've seen that one fight against Billy Smith, but nothing else.

 

As McGrain pointed out to me a while ago though, at no point was Burley the #1 contender. I'm of the opinion that it would have been a very dull fight aswell, but I still wish it had happened.

 

if i could get any three burley fights it would be 1)jd turner 2) archie moore 3)any of the ezzard charles fights (to see two of the best in their primes)

 

In 1942, my father without me went to St Nick's Arena to watch a prelim fighter he favored..I as a youngster refused to go with him...When he came home, he forgot the prelims and raved about a Charley Burley, who ko'd an opponent in one round...We had heard about Burley's reputation, as a fighter to be avoided, and my father found out why..Too bad I as a youngster, didn't see Burley, in the flesh...Robinson,obvious wanted no part of Burley...Too much risk , with little reward....My hero, Harry Greb, who my dad sawmurder Tunney,1922 MSG, avoided NO ONE, even heavyweights in his amazing career...Fear was not part of Greb's lexicon....

 

its sad that black fighters with ambition and talent had to be a super human phenomanon before they sold tickets. its the down side of the good old days that being good enough to be a champion wasnt enough!

 

" I have to admit, I have my doubts I could have licked him during my prime years".

Ray Robinson.

 

Fritzie Zivic and Beau Jack thought comparing Burley with Robinson was a joke.
Both thought robby was much better.

 

Jimmy Bivins also beat Charlie.