Extremely possible. Ray admitted to carrying many opponents (in non-title bouts) to drum up a bit of hype if / when the title fight occurred.
I guess I favour Sugar too, marginally. The thing is, Burley has advantages in strength (whilst giving away very little in terms of balance and craft, certainly combining strength and guile to a greater degree than LaMotta), possibly pure power, reach, probably bulk, defence and speed in certain departments (I think he is faster with his longest, hardest punches). Robinson meanwhile is a better combination puncher, but might find himself a little reticent and killer instinct (which I don't think will matter taking into account Burley's defence, style and chin). He's a better combination puncher and that is exactly where his chances lie, but I am not as confident as you are that he could get off in his normal way. It's guys like you and BB who make it live and breath most days, though.
I agree on all the advantages you've highlighted of Burley's, but i do think that Robinson has better footwork also, and better multi-directional movement. I think his handspeed in full fluid combo is better also. The question of who is the better ring general is the hardest for me, both controlled fights in different ways, but both methods would class in their own right as being 'ring generalship'. Burley though, is one of the most appropriate examples of the 'ring general', that's what he was, it's a perfect description of him imo, one of the best in that regard. I do think that Robinson was a better fighter though if i'm honest.
Robinson might be better than Burley, yeah. Put it this way though. He would be the best, or second best man that Robinson would ever have met, in my opinion. Taken in tandem with his advantages, that's a thought, isn't it? I agree that Robinson had more variety in footwork but i'm not convinced he had better out and out footwork. It's like the Ali-Louis problem, everything is screaming at you that Ali's footwork is better, but Louis's is perfect for his style. Burley was superbly balanced, could generate a really hard punch turning on little more than a dime, and, in a nice parallel to Louis (though he may have been even better), nearly always in punching position.
I see your sentiment with the comparison to Ali-Louis on footwork, but whereas Ali was very mobile, Robinson has footwork in a technical sense in addition to mobility. Ali employed exagerated lateral movement. Robinson had tremendous balance, poise, i think his footwork was tremedous in small shuffles, cutting the ring, and backfoot fighting. I think if the typical Ali-Louis footwork debate is applied to Robinson-Burley on a paralell (spellcheck?), then Robinson comes out much better than Ali. Robinson wasn't just mobility, he was footwork. On a sidenote, the Ali-Louis debate can be applied truly to Jones-Hopkins imo. Jones had mobility in abundance, but from a technical standpoint, Hopkins was/is footwork 101.
On the Louis-Burley observation, well it seems that way to me from my own research, Burley seems to have been more complete with his variety of foot placement and footwork. Even the small bit of footage we have of him shows that. It's all about effectiveness though really, the subjectiveness hurts my brain sometimes.
Robinson came into his own about 1942 and still very effective up to 1958 with his prime ending in 1956 . Some might say 52 after he lost to Joey Maxim, but I dissagree. Yes you are right The Black Murderers' Row were at the end of their careers. However Charley Burley along with Bert Lytell, Holman Williams and Lloyd Marshall were all active and still danguress with in this time. Being that Ray Robinson more or less stopped being a welterweight in 1949 and had fights above the 147 limit as early as 1945. I don't see why a match with any of them could not or should not have been made.
What GPater clearly said is that he doesn't see why certains fights HAD to be made. Yes, it would have been nice though.
I'd say he started slipping a while before he lost to Maxim. He'd lost a lot of interest in boxing, saying he was plain tired of fighting and that he didn't even watch boxing anymore now that Joe Louis and his other friends quit. Gainford noticed the change in him, although he was still asking questions about fighters he was seriously considering a career in acting or making music and touring America.
Mayweather/Pacquiao dosen't have to be made either. I'm not saying it shouldn't be made. In fact I think it should. In both cases a lot of questions would be answered.
No, from a purist point of view, Mayweather-Pacquiao does have to be made. Mayweather-Williams doesn't, but it would be nice.
