Billy dynamite Douglas

don't ask me

 

Well you've certainly got me interested in watching the Briscoe fight again now if it resurfaces.

 

I was a little too young to ever see Dynamite Douglas fight live, but, I met him a little over 20 years ago. He still looked like he was in excellent shape even though he was approaching 60 years old. He was built much differently than Buster. He was just under 6 feet, but still looked hard as nails. He seemed to be a very stern, serious guy. Not necessarily unfriendly, but serious. Very different in build and personality from Buster. Buster is a very big guy. Buster's natural frame is enormous. Built like an NFL defensive lineman. But, Buster is one of the nicest, most humble guys you could ever meet. And, a good sense of humor, as well. If Buster's natural gifts could have been combined with his father's dedication and discipline, Buster could have been an ATG.

 

Sounds a lot like the Richie Kates KD.

 

I remember Dynamite Douglas well. The fight I remember most (although I didn't see it) was his 10 rounder with hotshot Pedro Soto. Soto was a bit of an enigma. Fabulously talented, but couldn't or - as his manager Gil Clancy would say - wouldn't make 175. There was no Cruisers in those days so he was really out of his depth fighting the heavys. I tend to believe Clancy's opinion of poor training effort as I have a photo of him in a magazine fighting Marvin Stinson and the belly was just hanging out over his trunks. Anyway, when still light heavy he was scheduled to fight a 10 rounder with Tom Bethea in the Garden but Bethea pulled out the day of the fight. On that kind of notice, Douglas accepts and arrives. With a 15 year age difference, Soto starts fast but Douglas slowly works his way into the fight and drops Soto twice to take the verdict. On his way out of the arena, the MSG audience spots him in the upper balcony and cheers him on his way out. That had to do the old man proud.

 

I think it’s difficult to meet your full growth potential if a kid takes up a weight making sport while they are still growing.

I read that Buster had boxed as a kid but took a break from boxing altogether and went into basketball. By the time he went back into boxing he was already a fully grown guy. I think there is evidence that boxing all the way through childhood can stunt growth.

I have known fathers who boxed in lighter divisions Themselves that deliberately kept their own sons away from competitive boxing until they had got to 14 or 15 for this reason.

When you look at families where only one sibling boxed the non boxing brothers are often bigger. Barry Mcguigans brothers were all bigger than he was. Frank Bruno’s brothers were gigantic. All bigger than he was. It’s probably not always the case, but could be a plausible explanation.

 

I certainly would.

 

I saw a photo from the Saad-Douglas fight in an issue of World Boxing that covered the fight. His face was badly puffed up. In the article they quoted the ref. As saying both guys took tremendous punishment but Saad was fighting back whereas by the end Douglas was just taking shots. Saad was 23 and Douglas in his upper 30s. Not too surpring Saad had reserves that Douglas didnt have.

 

Douglas was throwing back but he was definitely the more tired of the two. He had been swinging drunkenly for 2 1/2 rounds. The ref was justified no doubt but he would have been just as justified stopping Saad and once Saad was hurt he wasnt punching back. He was covering up on the ropes getting hammered. That was kinda the story of the fight. Douglas, though losing and hurt, would just unleash with these bombs. Some landed and some didnt but he was definitely throwing back. It was those hail mary swings that kept the fight going otherwise the ref would have stopped it sooner because Douglas was punch drunk or exhausted several times.

 

One of those rare gems of the 70s that I would kill for.

 

http://a.espncdn.com/boxing/s/1999/1013/111321.html

Heres what J Russell Peltz had to say about Douglas.

 

There is a fight footage of him knocking out Billy Boyd in the 1st rd