Sugar Ray Robinson ducked Charley Burley???!

Yes, and he seems to get a free pass for it as well.

 

Robinson not fighting any of the Black Murders Row has drooped him to #4 on my ATG list.

 

You also need to drop Armstrong down then for not facing Burley, Holman Williams, Cocoa Kid himself.

Robinson was also initially a LW and beat the LW champ at 136lbs

Avoiding fights doesnt always detract from a fighters ability either, Calzaghe for instance didnt want any of the hard fights, his dad had to force him to fight Lacy and you saw how emphatic that win was

 

McGrain & PowerPuncher
I don't rate Armstrong all that high to begain with

 

Brave man, I agree Armstrong not necessarily being a lock for the top3 but they'll drown you on here for mentioning it. Whats your top10 look like?

 

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[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Matchmaker Jake Mintz said today he had wired an offer of $17500 to Ray [Sugar] Robinson of Newv York to fight Charley Burley of Pitts- burgh here Sept. 17.[/SIZE]

This is a headline from a 1945 Chicago paper. can't find anything after that.

 

For me Robinson never ducked Burley. Every time Burley got into a position to really demand a title shot he lost or was sidelined through injury. That is what is overlooked with Burley, his management was terrible and more than likely it was it that cost him a chance to be king.

 

Its been posted on here Robinson was offered career high money to face Burley, not sure on the legitimacy of that

 

He was never once obligated to face Burley, as McGrain pointed out Armstrong's, Zivic's and Cochrane's duck of Burley is far more blatant. In fact Armstrong basically ducked Burley from Aug 22nd 1938 till the 4th October 1941.

Sugar Rays title reing compared to Burleys career

Rays title reign

1946

Tommy Bell W15 (WT)

1947

Bernie Miller TKO3
Freddie Wilson KO3
Eddie Finazzo TKO4
Georgie Abrahams W10
Jimmy Doyle TKO8 (WT)
Sammy Secret KO1
Flashy Sebastian KO1
Calif. Jackie Wilson TKO7
Billy Nixon TKO6

1948

Ossie Harris W10
Henry Brimm W10
Bernard Docuson W15 (WT)
Kid Gavilan W10
Bobby Lee W10

1949

Young Gene Buffalo KO1
Henry Brimm D10
Bobby Lee W10
Don Lee W10
Earl Turner TKO8
Freddie Flores TKO 3
Cecil Hudson KO5
Kid Gavilan W15 (WT)
(after that competed at Middleweight)

Burleys career in these years

1946

Charley Dodson TKO3
Paulie Peters TKO2
Billy Smith W10
Charley Banks W10
Bert Lytell W10

1947

Bert Lytell L10
Larry Cartwright WKO7

1948

Battling Black Jack KO3

1949

Charley 'Doc' Williams L10
Willie Wright W8

If someone could provide monthly rankings of these years, it would help.

In 1946 Burley was a fully fledged Middleweight weighing at least 157lbs, in that year. His opposition were mostly Middleweights and Light Heavyweights, so surely if anyone ducked him it was the Middleweight Champion. Who was a very inactive Tony Zale.

He then lost to Lytell in early 1947 and didnt do much at all beating 2 no hopers. And in 1949 he rounded out his career with a loss to Light Heavyweight hopeful Williams and then went out on a win to a no hoper.

As Champion Robinson did not duck Burley at all, a very common misconception, and anyway Burley was past prime when Robinson was champion.

 

For those of you who do think Robinson 'ducked' Burley what time period do you think it happened?