I think World War II, the decision by Zale and/or his management that they were going to sit on the title for as long as they could, and the income tax structure which punished fighters who made too much money were all factors. Burley was only one of several who merited a title shot during the time period of Zale's reign. Had Zale been a more aggressive champion (yes, I will say it, had he been a greater champion like -- say, Joe Louis, Henry Armstrong, Muhammad Ali, Joe Brown, Tyson, Hagler, etc. -- men who gave all their challengers a chance), then Burley along with Charles, LaMotta, Holman Williams, Marshall, and others would have had an opportunity. Also, the Graziano fights were so lucrative that, given the tax hit he would have taken, it wasn't worth it for him to fight anyone else, especially since he was on the downgrade from 1946 through 1949. Zale and Graziano were just plain lucky the way things played out for them. Their challengers weren't.
Jake LaMotta, a popular fighter, didn't get a title shot until 1949. So an unpopular fighter like Charley Burley was never going to get a shot. - Chuck Johnston
Yeah, Chuck, that's for sure. LaMotta finally did get a shot, but it was after Zale and Graziano. It 's hard to make a firm case that LaMotta ducked Burley with the Cerdan re-match going up in smoke and Burley becoming disheartened and his career kind of winding down.
Just looking across the board from the time Burley entered the rankings which was '38 - '41 as a welter and from '42 - '46 as a middle. Of course, the war prevented him from getting anything as a middle, but at welter Henry Armstrong did seem to be the main culprit. From '38 through '40 Armstrong put his title on the line many times and against amazingly ordinary opposition. One could say absolute no-hopers and one wouldn't be wrong. Armstrong did defend against a couple of solid world-ranked welters in Ernie Roderick and Ceferino Garcia, but the rest were either lightweights (Day, Arizmendi, Montanez, Feldman) or unranked guys like Bobby Pacho, Al Manfredo, Howard Scott, Joe Ghnouly, Paul Junior and Phil Furr. Many of whom were on losing streaks and many who actually got rematches with the title at stake. Of course, if there was no official body governing what was taking place then this sort of thing could flourish. The NBA or the powerful NYSAC should have had a say-so in getting Burley his rightful shot. But who knows what their agenda was back in the day.
Burley isn't the first or won't be the last who didn't get his chance … Boxing skill of course he did … But if you dig into it, you will find he doesn't blame SRR for it, because he knew AND has said there was no money in it for SRR. If are you the draw, you get the fights , if you are not, you don't …. The ONLY thing that boxing has retained it's consistency over the many many years.
Agreed...Most of Jake's prime is lost in the ring against ATG's … for all those who thinks he's underrated.. he had his own problems with getting his shot
It looked like Charley Burley's career had quite a bit of momentum by the latter part of 1938. During that year, Burley had wins over Fritzie Zivic, Leon Zorrita, Cocoa Kid and Billy Soose with his only loss being by a split-decision in a ten-round bout with Zivic. A few days after his win over Soose, Burley was introduced to the crowd at Madison Square Garden when Henry Armstrong won a decision in a fifteen-round bout with Ceferino Garcia to retain his world welterweight title on November 25, 1938. At the time, Burley was listed as a welterweight contender. But Burley's career lost quite a bit of momentum during 1939. After his knockout win over Sonny James on January 10, 1939, Burley had hand surgery and was inactive for five months. On June 11, 1939, Burley looked rusty while losing a split-decision in a ten-round bout with Jimmy Leto. On an all-star boxing show at Forbes Field that took place on July 17, 1939, Burley looked o.k. while winning an unanimous decision in a ten-round bout with Fritzie Zivic, but the latter looked lethargic, resulting in the bout being a poor one. On another all-star boxing show that took place at Forbes Field on August 29, 1939, Burley won a ten-round rematch by an unanimous decision over Jimmy Leto in a bout that was considered a poor one, especially in comparison to the thrilling ten-round bout that Sammy Angott won by a decision over Billy Marquart on the same card. After winning by a knockout in the first round in a bout with Mickey Makar on October 23, 1938, Burley lost to Holman Williams by a decision in a fifteen-round bout (the first of many bouts between the two boxers) in New Orleans on December 1, 1939. It appears that the lost of momentum during 1939 had a profound effect on Burley's career. Besides not getting a shot at a world title, Burley would have a great deal of trouble getting important bouts in in his hometown of Pittsburgh afterwards, let alone elsewhere. He also never fought in a large number of important boxing cities and venues in the United States. Moreover, he fought only one time each in New York City and Chicago. - Chuck Johnston
