Charlie "White Lightning" Brown (Lightweight) An entertaining ESPN /USA Network grade fighter back in Mid-80's -early 90's' 31 11 0 21 KOs 7 KOs Representing Chicago in 1981, Charlie Brown won the 125 lb. Intercity Golden Gloves championship. Brown's best wins were over unbeaten boxers Frank Newton (24-0-1), Louis Burke (18-0), and Remo Di Carlo (12-0). Brown also collected wins over Arnie Wells, Saoul Mamby and Alfredo Escalera. Losses to world class boxers include: Harold Brazier, Greg Haugen, and title shots versus Johnny Bizzarro for the IBO title, and Harry Arroyo for the IBF belt. Charlie 'White Lightning' Brown is gone too soon at 53, a reminder of boxing's dangers Aug. 18, 2018 A hot summer day 34 years ago in Las Cruces saw the pinnacle of Charlie “White Lightning” Brown’s boxing career. He met the toughest of local favorites in Louie Burke. It was a highly entertaining lightweight brawl between two undefeated contenders. White Lightning, just 19 years old and 22-0, landed the quicker, flashier punches. The 23-year-old Burke, 18-0, connected with the harder, heavier shots. It was like a mini-Hagler-Leonard, and White Lightning took a close majority decision. The crowd at the Pan Am Center came to appreciate not just the plucky hometown hero, but the visiting phenom, too. Charlie “White Lightning” Brown died this week. He was only 53. In the end, he reportedly couldn’t walk and couldn’t talk — a shell of the blazing-fast kid that showed off his boxing prowess in 1984 in Las Cruces. And a stark reminder of boxing’s inherent dangers Goodbye, White Lightning Just six weeks after the Burke win, White Lightning, a native of Silvis, Ill., was fighting for a world title. A newly-minted 20 years old, he challenged IBF lightweight champ Harry Arroyo on the champ’s home turf of Youngstown, Ohio. And for the first few rounds, Brown was giving as good as he got. Despite the party lifestyle that had reportedly begun and eventually doomed his once-promising career, Brown looked like the goods against Arroyo, who was six years his senior. His fabulously fast hands were making up for his shoddy defense and making the older, slower champion look, well, old and slow. But then Arroyo, a strong fighter who was known for soaking up punishment before roaring back to win, began to surge. Suddenly, those fast Brown combinations slowed down, the leaky defense began to show itself and Arroyo backed the kid up. And then the champ started landing the thunder to Charlie’s White Lightning. And the punishment began to accumulate. And the fight was stopped in the eighth round. It was a fine effort. A hopeful sign of the future. But White Lightning never recovered. Brown was upset by Harold Brazier early in 1985. He bounced back, winning three fights before he was demolished by future IBF titlist Greg Haugen in one round in 1986. White Lightning went 5-8 over the last 13 fights of his career. He finally quit after being knocked out by Ralph Jones in two in 1995. His final record was 31-11 (21 knockouts). The culprit was the one that usually dooms young fighters — the parties and the alcohol and the trimmings of being a talented athlete. After a brilliant amateur career that saw him go a stunning 334-17 (with a reported 90 knockouts), Brown turned pro at age 18. He entered the ring against Burke as one of the hottest fighters in boxing. It was a showdown televised by CBS and at ringside sat Tim Ryan, Gil Clancy and, yes, Sugar Ray Leonard. What 21-year-old would not want to party under those circumstances? But the drinking got out of hand, and then became his demon when the boxing career went south. There were brushes with the law. Later in his career, he was probably in the ring when he shouldn’t have been — hoping for one more miracle, praying that those 20-year-old legs he might’ve taken for granted against Burke would magically return years later. It’s your typical sad boxing story. One day you’re on top of the world; the next day you’re taking beatings for peanuts. As the saying goes, you don’t play boxing. Brown’s demise wasn’t a surprise. He had been suffering for years. He had dementia — he started boxing at age 7 — and had been hit by a car. He lived in a nursing facility. And now he’s gone far too soon. But whoever was at the Pan Am Center on July 22, 1984, won’t forget the fight they saw. They won’t forget the quick feet, the fast hands, the tough opponent. And a stubborn willingness to take more than his fair share of punches. It was a hot summer day 34 years ago in Las Cruces that was the pinnacle of Charlie “White Lightning” Brown’s boxing career.
Dude burned out fast. His prime was like one year. Never recovered from the Arroyo loss. Great handspeed and stamina. Mediocre defense and didn't have the durability to compensate.
At that time, in the same division, there was another Charlie Brown: Charlie "choo choo" Brown. To avoid a conflict of interest, Snoopy declined to work with either of them. And Choo Choo Brown is not to be confused with Othal "Choo choo" Dixon, who was another lightweight of that era.
I remember Brown vividly. I didnt know he had such an extensive amateur career though. Terrible demise at such a young age.
John Verdosa was another one who was mismanaged. Brown had a really bad habit of having his chin in the air and slugging way too much . In his prime he had a great chin which latter in life cost him dearly. They moved him way tooo fast relying on his speed to get him through. They never bothered to teach him the finer points of the game.
Agreed; he had good raw talent, but the chin was sticking up in the air constantly, he always looked very unpolished to me. Decent trainers could have helped to fix that, but he was only going to go so far with that mindset anyway.
When I boxed as an amateur, Charlie Brown was the top amateur boxer in the state of Illinois. We were the same age. He was considered a phenom as a kid. Too many fights at too young an age. I remember going to amateur tournaments, and really little kids would box, and then go sit on their mom's laps after fights. You're not supposed to get punched in the head over and over and over again when you're seven.
I don't know if the networks thought they had another Boom-Boom Mancini on their hands, but he did seem to be a favored son when the officials cards were collected. Not taking anything away from Charlie, but the Louie Burke fight was very close and Burke had room to gripe, but there is no way in hell that Charlie beat Frank Newton.
I remember Charlie Brown. A good exciting prospect who never fulfilled the early expectations people had for him. Seeing his name again reminds me of a couple of other exciting white young lightweights from the early 1980s. Robin Blake and Tony ‘the tiger’ Baltazar
Brown was unusual in that his two biggest wins- Burke and Escalara- were seen by almost no one as I remember and most only got their first exposure to him with his IBF title challenge against Arroyo. And after getting ko'd by Arroyo, he fizzled fast and never won another meaningful fight. A flash in the pan most only recognized after it was extinguished.
Rockin' Robin Blake with "pink boxing trunks". Blake was born into a household with a father who would take him to the gym from an early age so that Blake was destined to box and amassed 300 amateur fights from the age of seven years old. Career 33 8 0 21 KOs W 4 KOsL residence Levelland, Texas, USA birth place Lubbock, Texas, USA https://ringsidereport.com/?p=70957