Why did Sugar Ray Robinson duck Charley Burley

We're very fortunate in the respect that the action footage we do have is of a 28 year old Burley in early 1946. If not peak, at least he's still prime, and closer to his best than Greb was for Walker. (For some perspective, Harry was just on the brink of turning 28 when he defeated Tunney.) Burley-Oakland Billy Smith II is just one fight, but still can serve as valuable reference material for assessing Charley in general. (It's also useful to be able to see Smith knock out Harold Johnson in his penultimate career win. That's an excellent fighter Burley is seen boxing against.)

 

Perhaps, but it would certainly have improved his record. Burley may well have been the best fighter he ever fought if he had done so, definitely would have been in the top 2 for me anyway.

To get back to the point i think it was mainly because he never had too, or forced too. I have no doubt that if Burley had been welterweight champ sugar would have faced him. I'm pretty sure he would have fought him if he had been number 1 contender for his belt too. I also believe he would have beaten burley, certainly by the stage the fight was being discussed.

It cannot be overlooked though that robinson was not keen on fighting burley though. He turned down serious money and whilst burley was never a direct challenger for his title i do believe he should have faced him. Robinson for me looked at it as hassle he did not need and a fight he was in serious danger of losing, the risk, reward was just to high. It does reflect quite poorly on robinson if you are comparing him with someone like greb.

 

Burley probably would have won, george gaisford seemed to think so. sometimes a guy's style is tailor made for you, similar to turpin.

 

Go away.

 

Better than Charles?

 

People forget this. Even Ezz needed a long time to finally climb to the top, taking over nine years to get there. He was 60-5-1 when he finally squared off with JJW for the vacated HW Title in 1949. Moore was 132-19-9 by the time he dethroned Maxim at the end of 1952. Joey himself took nine years to get to Freddie Mills in January 1950. Burley's last great year was 1946.

Frizie Zivic, not Robinson, is the villain of this piece, if anybody is. Charley should have been the welterweight champion going into WW II. In that scenario, I believe Ray would have gone after Angott's LW crown and should have secured that prior to WW II. Then, I do believe Robby would wait until Burley outgrew 147 before moving up.

 

Would hate to make bar bets with you, D.

 

Don't be. I'm armed with record books and almanacs on the desk beside my computer when I type my posts. Anybody can look like a genius with crib notes like these. Nobody is going to knock you off your perch with all those first hand reminisces you have in your vast arsenal of knowledge. (Having said that, Burt's a formidable ESB rookie of the year, with all due respect to other 2010 arrivals like Bukkake.) When you share your immense treasure trove of memories and observations, I'm just another kid listening, wide eyed and open mouthed, at the campfire.

 

Think I'll re-read this for the balance of the day, D.