Oakland Billy Smith (another 40's/50's underrated fighter)

Oakland Billy Smith (another 40's/50's underrated fighter)

"A lot of good fighters were left hanging around when boxing was still a big deal and made the front page of the newspaper. They compiled honorable careers, beat a lot of good quality men and won the respect of their fellow tradesmen. But never found a way to open the door where the elite gathered to drink from the high table and wear their championship medals."

Charley Burley, Lloyd Marshall, Cocoa Kid, Bert Lytell and Jack Chase all hung around. So did Oakland Billy Smith, the erratic and dangerous light heavyweight with the thunderous right cross, who fought all five of them. These were the so-called pro’s pros who occupied their own little world in the shadowlands of a sprawling and chaotic game. Oakland Billy was more commonly known in his time as “Boardwalk Billy” after transferring his base of operations from his hometown of Oakland in California to Atlantic City.

Vs: Charley Burley
Yeah I think it was during this fight that he told his manager that "I'm too pretty to fight Burley". Its a damn shame that we never got to see that fight or that this is the only footage of a Charley Burley fight. In any case, I am grateful that we at least get to see this at least.
This is the only footage the exists of the legendary Charley Burley ?. Eddie Futch once said Burley was the best all around fighter he had ever seen.

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Vs Moore
A fourth fight with Moore brought no joy either, with Smith being stopped in the eighth round in Portland, Oregon, in 1951.

Not everyone was happy with the way that fourth bout ended and no wonder. In the deciding eighth round, Smith suddenly stopped fighting, ducked through the ropes and walked back to his dressing room. How he needed the inspirational Sheriff Gerry Gormley back then. Smith later said, “That is one incident I’ll never talk about until I finish fighting for good.”

But he couldn’t resist adding a bit more. “All I will say is that if my manager didn’t know enough when to quit, I did.”

Vs Ezzard Charles
However, the one opponent to whom he gave every credit was his old friend, the guy he called “Snooks” – the amazing Ezzard Charles. Ezzard outpointed Smith in their first meeting in 1946 and then stopped Billy in the fifth round of their 1947 return. Both fights were held in Cincinnati.

“Snooks is the hardest puncher I ever fought,” said Smith. “I’ll never forget the fifth round of our (second) fight in Cincinnati. I saw him pull back his right as he always did, and I moved a step back. Next thing I remember, I saw the same punch snaking its way for my face. I put up both my hands, but everything else is a blank. I didn’t wake up until two hours later when I was all dressed and eating a steak in a downtown restaurant. Man, could that Snooks hit!”

A great Boxing Story:
The good Sheriff (mgr) Gormley was left wondering if he had made a massive mistake. “I never saw Willie Bean until he climbed into the ring,” Gormley said. “When they pulled off his robe, I nearly died. The guy had a build that made Max Baer look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. He was the most beautifully constructed human being I ever saw.

“Smith seemed out of place alongside him and when they came to the center of the ring for instructions Billy had to look straight up to see the guy’s face. When I shook Smith’s hand to wish him good luck, I felt I was saying goodbye.”

Oakland Billy’s formidable right cross canceled out the size differential when it put Willie Bean to sleep in the fifth round.

 

No ^.