How does Tony Zale perform against: Charley Burley Holman Williams Lloyd Marshall Cocoa Kid Bert Lytell
Bert Lytell would smash that guy out of his own ass. There are some inconsistencies on that list, but if we are imagining some sort of best for best type fights, I would pick all these guys to beat Zale. I'm not confident where CK is concerned, I am confident where the other dudes are concerned. I do not think his chances against Burley and Williams are serious.
I think that Zale has been unfairly maligned as a 'duck'. He lost four years of his prime during the war. If anyone paid attention to the timeline they would find that the heyday of the 'Murderers Row' was really between those war years. He can't be called a 'duck' if he was genuinely unable to fight them. I do think he should've been stripped of the MW championship when he was deployed.
It's been hard for me to find reporting that though the Abrams decision was any good. He was clearly the better fighter, even given the decision, having lost a couple of rounds for low blows in keeping with the scoring mores of the day. But yeah, most sources seem to have Burley winning a close fight or winning clearly. If there was questionable judging in place, I think Zale could maybe beat Burley, yes.
From what I read Zale beat Abrams pretty convincingly after getting knocked down in the 1st round. I haven't read anything with regards to the Burley-Abrams draw. I'm sure Burley would've won but Zale was no pushover, he would've had to earn it.
I mostly agree with your comments about the pre-war version of Zale vis a vis the "murderer's row." I actually think that a prime Zale would have been competitive against any of the murderer's row fighters. He probably would have won some and lost some just like they did amongst themselves. If you think Zale should have been stripped of his title during WWII then you must also think that Louis (HW), Lesnevich (LH), and Cochrane (WW) should have been stripped of their titles as well. That may have been an alternative way to handle the situation, but freezing the titles was another way that I find at least equally defensible. WWII was a catastrophic event that put most of people's normal lives on hold. People involved in boxing were no different. The ranks of fighters and other athletes whose lives were affected prevented any normal continuation of sports activity. Even relatively active fighters like Pep, Armstrong, Zivic, Robinson, Charles were in and out of the military service and were taking fights when they were not necessarily in top fighting condition and often they fitted fights in while they were on leave. Boxing during the war was anything but "business as usual" and the military service of the fighters was the major component of the confusion.
Zale is being underappreciated here I think, and the Row being perhaps over appreciated in context. I agree Zale would have won some and lost some too, but back then that was Boxing, top men are top men and they were expected (usually), to meet one another where a loss was not career ending crisis at all... I always think Lloyd Marshall is a pretty good Gage of the Murder's Row... and of the other Fighters too.