Williams is freqently remembered as either the best or second best of the black murderers row, with his priciple rival for supremacy of the claim coming from the magnificent Charley Burley. I must confess I don't know much about Williams and I'd like to learn more about his career if possible. I've noticed he's often invoked by Lamotta backer's as evidence of Jake's substance, and his name also figures very prominantly on Marcel Cerdan's ledger. Obviously he had a host of great wins over Satterfield, Moore, Kid Tunero (very underrated fighter by my estimation), Burley, Cocoa Kid, etc etc. One strange thing that stood out to me was Jose Basora's puzzling apparent superiority over Williams, who seemed unable to get much work done against the superb Puerto Rican. Apologies is this is a bit vague but I'm wondering if the estimable ESB scribes can fill me in.
And for that matter, how good was Jose Basora? He was considered unlucky to walk away with a draw in the first Robinson fight, even if he was viciously stopped in the rematch, and the story goes that he showed amazing heart against Charles, even having Charles a bit wobbled at one point.
Some quotes on Basora As a fighter he was very highly regarded. Former manager of Sixto Escobar Lou Brix described him like this, ‘When he hits them right they remain unconscious for half an hour or more. And he throws those punches absolutely straight – no swings or telegraphs.’ And further went onto say that ‘Basora is a young, rangy Latin who combines boxing skill with dynamite that can tear an opponents head off.’ Former manager of Fred Apostoli, Larry White asserted in January 1940, that Basora ‘would be Middleweight champion within 18 months.’3 So it is fair to say that boxing insiders had a very good opinion of Jose Basora. Also one newspaper calle dhim the 'Hardest Hitting fighter' in boxing during his career. Your right on the Charles match, Charles pasted him but in a breif flurry Basora rocked Charles with a left hook before finally succumbing.
Holman Williams is a fighter I really like, but aint studied that much. Although I will at some point, do an in depth study on him. I was only really interested in his style, so can't comment that much on his career. But his style interests me, he had a great jab and used it superbly. He had a superb defence that combined all three pillars of defence: footwork, blocking and head movement. He really is a marvel in that department.
I wouldn't say Williams lost the series with Basora. It's just that Basora outlasted him and Williams was well washed up by 1947. Until then, Holman held the edge 3-1-1 over Basora with Basora's lone win being a split decision. To be fair to Basora though, Holman's two early wins over Basora were 6 round bouts. I'd call it an even series. Their most important bouts were between 1943 and 1944, and they went 1-1-1.
He sure could bang, Chris Dundee thought very highly of him. I think Basora had a very awkward style for such an organised guy like Williams.
What were William's shortcomings then? I understand he had a bit of a lack of power, but was there anything else?
Eddie Futch stated about Williams, "I would rather watch Holman Williams shadow-box than watch some fighters fight." Scartissue
I would rather think about what Holman Williams looked like when he fought than watch some fighters fight. :good
All I've heard is that there's possibly a clip of him fighting in the late 40's, probably against Jean Walzack as the French filmed a lot of the fights in those days. Cerdan is rumoured, but that one should have come out by now if it existed. Whoever would be holding up a fight of that calibre deserves to be called out on their greed.