MARCH 1965 Ratings

I recall this fight as it was shown live on UK TV. London stormed out of his corner & completely blitzed Rischer, dropping him 3 times.Rischer was completely shell shocked.

London was very much an 'on top' fighter who blew hot & cold. If he thought he could beat his opponent he usually did.At other times he went into a shell & just folded up.

Rischer was a useful heavy, not good enough to beat the top men of the division, his best win being the upset over a very lacklustre Cooper, though not a great puncher he floored Cooper twice. The normally popular Cooper was booed out of the ring on this occasion.

The knockout by London more or less put paid to any ambitions he may have had. After the fight he bemoaned the fact that he was "a couple of fights from a title shot & then this guy London came charging at me".

 

Billy walker KO'd cornelius perry in about 10seconds, that was amateurs of course but it made Walker

 

Funnily enough i just finished a book about boxing characters old and new. Yeah , billy had a colourful career and made himself a lot of money, and he never even won a british title. Retired quite youngish for a heavywieght, he was only 29 or 30yr old. Coincidently, for recent threads ive been reading, his last win was a KO of Thad Spencer. He also KO'd Floyd Pattersons brother Ray, who in turn had beaten Prescott previously.

Him and his brother george invested their money wisely (until some big crash a few years back, if i remember) and they ended up producing movies (Brent Walker)like 'The Stud' and 'The *****' with joan collins. Safe to say Orson Welles wasnt losing sleep.

There was a claim Billy Walker made in this book, that i was thinking about asking on here to see how authentic it was. He was fighting a guy (forget who) on a howard winstone undercard in london in 1967, and he said it was a night of 2 firsts.
1. It was the first time a boxer could wear white shorts in the ring and
2. It was the first time a fighter could have a member of his family in the corner, his brother george doing cornerman.

He wasnt clear on this but i suspect he means a british ring as im sure ive seen plenty fighters wearing white shorts, but is he correct on the sibling claim??

 

Oh yeah, i forgot to say. Liston was a guest at his fight against Prescott and Walker didnt speak too highly of him. He said he was great with the punters, got in the ring and took his bow and happily chatted to everyone and anyone. But he reckons Liston trained in his gym for a while and was a bit of an ******* sometimes, his main thing being to slap or flick or hit a persons crotch after calling them over to speak - thats what he claims anyway.

Having said that, i know a family had Liston stay with them in belfast and they couldnt speak highly enough about him. Their word is good enough for me , no harm to Mr Walker

 

When i first read your opening line, i took it he was sleeping with the pop group/soul sisters. Dont think ernie terrell woulda been too happy

Have you any info on Walkers claims that i asked ya?

 

bump

 

I was going to say "Who's Roger Rischer?", but you guys already covered that. Nice!

 

Well, London actually laid Ingo out cold in the last round of their fight. He was only saved by the bell. That was the last thing that happened in Ingo's pro career.

 

wow great ali interview vid - haven't seen that before. said he would retire. interesting.