Rank the Black Murderer's Row of the 30's and 40's

I'm going to have a go (excluding the future HWs Charles/Moore/Bivins), with resume and achievements in context. I have a bias towards Burley though

Charley Burley (Moore, deserved the series against Holman and Zivic, Chase, Smith, Wade multiple times despite being the natural WW held his own against Charles/Bivins/Marshall)

Holman Williams (extra points for starting at LW and holding his own in the Burley series, beat Marshall (winning the series 2-1), Chase, Cocoa Kid, going 1-1 with Archies Moore, 146wins. 34 and 150+ fights behind him when he gave Lamotta and Cerdan closish fights

Eddie Booker - stoppage win over Moore (before Burley) and a draw, 1-1-1 with Williams, beat Marshall

Lloyd Marshall - some may argue he should be higher with wins over Young/Green Ezzard Charles (before being ko'd twice by Ezzard), SD against Burley, Lamotta, Old Williams (lost 1-2), Chase, BUT Marshall was a natural SMW/LHW so had a weight advantage and when Moore and Charles were coming into their own was dominated twice by each

Bert Lytell - went 1-1 with a fading Burley, twice beat Williams (past prime but drew and lost prior to that), wins over Cocoa kid and Wade, other than that didnt face the other top fighters of the day

Cocoa Kid - got the better of Holman Williams time and again, for the most part seemed to lose against the better fighters, did start as a LW and then WW and kudos has to be given for fighting the big names from LW to LHW

Jack Chase

Aaron Wade

 

i will have a look for it

 

Will second that, probably the best boxing book i've read and gives a brilliant overview of the period.

 

i will definitly look for it then

 

This is tought to rank but I have a go
1. Charley Burley
2. Holman Williams
3. Lloyd Marhsall
4. Cocoa Kid/ Eddie Booker
5. Jack Chase
6. Bert Lytell
7. Aaron Wade

If you include Bivins he would be number 4 the top three are very close pretty much interchangeable.

 

I'd probably rate Marshall and Williams as the best of them.

Then Burley and Booker right after them.

Then Chase, and then the rest.

If Bivins was on that list, he'd be the best of them all IMO.

 

I got Burley the highest to tell you the truth. Around 30-35 from memory.

Williams and Marshall make my top 100..Cocoa Kid and Booker made it into my top120 but got pushed out. Whether they deserved to be or not Im not sure because I dont know enough about them..So I was probably being a little unfair and uninformed by putting some guys Im more familiar with in front.

I really do not know much about Wade or Lytell, other than just being familiar with their names...Ive been inspired to look into them more now.

Interesting thread.

 

Booker is the most underrated of them IMO. He might well have been on his way to being the best of them, except his career ended abruptly on an eye injury. Even with the eye already injured, he KO'd Archie Moore in one of his last fights. He was never stopped or KO'd himself, and reportedly was undefeated in his first 40-50 fights or so.

I always found it strange and a bit unfair, that Charley Burley gets so celebrated for his decision win over Moore (it really is the backbone of his legacy), yet Booker's own win over Moore - the first time that Moore was ever KO'd - a couple months before Burley beat him, is almost totally forgotten. You'd think the story of a "one-eyed" fighter KOing Archie Moore shortly before being forced to retire is something that would be talked about a lot more than it is.

 

Charley Burley was an exceptional fighter. Definately cracks my top 25 of all-time.

Ridiculous that Lloyd Marshall isn't in the IBHOF, his resume is outstanding.

 

And Barry McGuigan is..:-(

The credibility of that particular organization is quickly dissipating in my eyes.