What can you tell me about Ezzard Charles' two victories over Burley? Burley, the greatest Murderer's Row fighter, was said to be the most talented fighter to not be world champion and was one of the most avoided fighters. Then you have Charles, one of the greatest fighters to ever lace 'em, who actually holds 2 victories over him on his record. Were those wins convincing or was Burley on the tail end of his career when he got to him?
Burley was actually at the height of his career at that time, whereas Charles was still only on the way up and not yet considered great. In effect, those wins are probably what "made" Charles. The first fight was considered a big surprise - I believe one of the fighters came in as a late sub, but I can't remember which one. In the second fight, as I've read it, Charles basically shut him down and outclassed him.
From what I understand, they were legitimate impressive wins. Of course, Charles outweighed him by a fair 10+ lbs and not only that, Burley had fought Holman Williams (and won) six days prior to the second Charles fight, which itself was only five weeks after their first encounter.
Charles was a late sub for Overlin the first time around, which seems to have been a great fight, with both guys managing to hurt each other badly at times and Burley hitting the deck in the final round. The 2nd, as My2Sense stated, was basically a dominant showing by Charles . Extremely impressive wins, especially when you consider Charles was only 20 at the time. In his first 25 fights Charles battled Burley 2x, Yarosz, Overlin 2x, Christofordi, Tunero, etc. Ridiculous.
100%. Because he showed in his subsequent performances (within the year) that he had what it took. Who was that Heavyweight he was sparring with? I seriously forget his name. Big punch. Broke a rib. Or two.
Curtis Sheppard! That's who it was. Broke Burley's rib prior to the first fight (I think it was the first fight, anyway). Who knows, though? Just got back from the bar.
His manager said he hurt Burley to the body in sparring before one of the Charles fights and blamed that for the loss. I've never seen where he said anything about a broken rib. What were ya drinkin' at da ba'? :smoke
A lot. My spelling and grammar are always impeccable on here after a night on the sauce. It's something I pride myself on.:yep
If Charles had not won the heavyweight championship, we would be talking about Ezzard Charles and the Black Murders Row.
Can't remember who it was but I'm sure it was Ray Arcel who said something like "the word 'great' is misused today - Charles was naturally great at middleweight I don't know if even Ray Robinson could've beaten him?"