Interesting......... Scott was tuff, but also hindered.... In my view, Williams was and is often over-looked.......... Charlie Williams wins a decision over a tuff but mechanical Jim Scott....... Peace.... MR.BILL
I thought the Jerry Martin fight was an aberration and wouldn't have been repeated if they fought a hundred times. The Qawi fight always seemed suspicious to me in its origins and I remember thinking at the time of the fight that Scott was definitely motivated (think Mean Machine motivated) to not try too hard to win that fight against an esteemed Rahway honor graduate. My impression is that he would've clobbered both the 175lb Muhammads in brutal fashion if given the chance. I thought he was a monster in his day and could do it all. Prince Charles was slick, strong and talented, probably beyond his reputation at the time, but my perception was that he was more generally vulnerable than Scott to both wear and tear and the straight kayo punch. He might be close in technical ability and could keep rounds close, but my guess would be either he loses a fairly close decision or falls off the edge and gets stopped suddenly. No knock on PCW, I just have always thought Scott was one of the great "Paradise Lost" fighters in boxing history.
Two losses and two excuses. I'm not buying what you're selling sorry. Speculating the Martin loss was a one in a hundred occurance is an incredible stretch, to put it mildly. The Braxton scenario is also a very very hard one to swallow. I find it hard to believe a guy with such limited opportunities living in Scott's situation would let a fight like that slide on by without giving 120%. Lets also look at the flipside. Eddie Mustafa said he had a woeful time upstairs when fighting Scott on his formidable home territory. He said he was intimidated and didn't perform anywhere near his best. It's a lot easier to palate than the above scenario's IMO. Eddie totally dominated Martin right after Martin had beat Scott, solidly. 1980 was the best we ever saw Eddie. I don't think he would have clobbered either. I think if Eddie fought him anywhere but at Rahway he would have rolled him, especially around the time he decimated Scott conqueror Martin. Saad would have been an interesting fight. Scott was a top technician and it would have been entralling. Scott may outbox him over 10, but over 15 Saad would be coming on like a runaway train. Could Scott survive? When the competition standard rose Scott didn't stop many. His KO % is nothing special overall, and he really did not have many fights unfortunately. I have a very old story on Scott somewhere, i'll have to revisit it. It'd be a top fight for sure, quite close. I'd make Scott a VERY narrow fave off the top of my head. Yeah, it would have been rather interesting to see how Scott would have progressed given normal conditions. He was certainly a top fighter even as it was.
JT-excellent points. 'Great' Scott versus Williams would have been interesting. Williams was very much overlooked as a 175 champion, often fighting in rather obscure venues and for small purses. Still, his ability merited more attention than he got. It's tough to say how this fight unfolds, because Scott has a pretty unique advantage fighting at Rahway. I think it was Eddie Gregory who said he was positively scared stiff fighting Scott there, and it didn't help that Scott apparently roared like an animal just as the first bell rang. At a neutral venue, Scott's 'home turf' advantage would be gone. I still think he had the ability to give Williams a lot of problems though...Williams was more versatile but for my money Scott was stronger. For the sake of sentimentality, I'd lean toward Scott to pull out a split decision win.
Actually the Scott who lost to Martin was already on the downslide and aproaching mid thirties in age. For a couple of years previously Scott was the top contender who had defeated a couple of top notch fighters at LightHeavyweight. However due mainly to his circumstances he was not given a title shot. The Scott who defeated Gregory would no doubtedly have beaten Martin. But not so sure about Braxton. Who is a very underrated fighter in his own right.
He was declining maybe, but he sure wasn't shot. He was actually 32, and he'd only had 19 or so pro fights and never been severely beaten. Not much wear and tear there. Remember, Scott was coming off two excellent wins leading into the Martin bout. Indeed he'd yet to lose. "A" top contender? He could have got to number 1, i'm not sure? Little doubt tho given free reign he'd have got a shot. Everyone else pretty much did around the time. Unfortunately he couldn't help himself. He'd never ever beat Braxton IMO. Braxton is a ball tearer at his best. As for Jerry, probably but i'd sure not put my life on it. Good to see a fellow Braxton fan. I hold him in very high regard.
I believe he was number one for a spell - certainly he was number two, that much I know for sure. But as you say he was unable to help himself, as the prison regulations as they were (maybe still are) was that an inmate could not participate in activites outside of prison walls. The only way to achieve that was to obtain what was known as 'full minimum' status, which allowed inmates to undertake activities outside of prison from time to time. That would have allowed Scott to fight for a world title, as no champion would fight him inside Rahway, obviously. Scott was never able to obtain full minimum, and I suspect that the 'system' made damn sure of that.
