Charley Burley vs. Oakland Billy Smith

[La_Vibora]

Forgive me if this was posted already, but it is the first time I have seen it anywhere:





Although I have been a fan of him from reading up on him, this is the first time that I had ever got the chance to see him fight. He reminds me a bit of a taller Floyd Mayweather with his movements on defense, as well as his timing, and the way he lands one shot at a time instead of throwing alot of combos. I wish the speed of the video wasn't so off so that we could really see his hand speed and power, but you can still tell that he was pretty fast regardless. Wish there was more footage of him though.

[La_Vibora]

This footage seems a bit better:

[McGrain]

Nice -- this is the fight that lost Burley the Sugar Ray fight. After this display against a light-heavy, Sugar more than doubled his asking price for taking on Burley.

Ah well.

[La_Vibora]

Nice -- this is the fight that lost Burley the Sugar Ray fight. After this display against a light-heavy, Sugar more than doubled his asking price for taking on Burley.

Ah well.

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 greatful that we atleast get to see this atleast.

[danny stash]

what a shame..he even died the year before he got into the hall..

[QueensburyRules]

Nice -- this is the fight that lost Burley the Sugar Ray fight. After this display against a light-heavy, Sugar more than doubled his asking price for taking on Burley.

Ah well.

- -Been well established that Burley had such a boring style that he couldn't draw flies to a promotion independent of how good he was.

Went thru a half dozen mgrs because of it trying to make something of him. The Smith fight is limited useless footage of two guys going thru motions no better than those 19th century Edison shorts.

[Willie Pep 229]

- -Been well established that Burley had such a boring style that he couldn't draw flies to a promotion independent of how good he was.

Went thru a half dozen mgrs because of it trying to make something of him. The Smith fight is limited useless footage of two guys going thru motions no better than those 19th century Edison shorts.

One of the guys over on BoxRec did some research regarding Burley's purses/crowds -- terrible, and I mean terrible numbers, not bad numbers, terrible! -- the only fight that drew any kind of a crowd was the Billy Smith fight and that's because they were in Oakland and it was Smith who drew the crowd.

Burley never made his way to New York and in the end it cost him, money and a title shot.

He was in position to for a shot at Zivic (went a trilogy with Zivic 2-1) but Zivic threw his title away to a ham and egger and there was no reason for Armstrong; Robinson; or Zale to bother fighting him. He was too good and couldn't draw flies to ****.

Can't blame them for ducking him; he couldn't draw a crowd and he wouldn't fight in New York.

[The Old LefHook]

A fight between Burley and Holman Williams was stopped in the middle of the contest and the boys sent to the showers for lack of any fighting. When else have you ever heard of that? Who would want to fight such a bum?

[Willie Pep 229]

A fight between Burley and Holman Williams was stopped in the middle of the contest and the boys sent to the showers for lack of any fighting. When else have you ever heard of that? Who would want to fight such a bum?

They did tangle six times; makes me wonder if there wasn't a betting fix in that the referee had to make a quick adjustment to . . . it was the last round, so why bother . . . LOL

I once saw a kid throw himself on the canvas the moment the bell rang (Milander Arena, Miami FL circa 1988) the referee refused to count and even refused to call it a 'No Contest' -- the ref just stood there and did nothing . . . this way, technically speaking, the fight never occurred, and they announced over the PA that the kid wouldn't be paid.

The fans cheered the announcement; I was sitting ringside and yelled back, will I be getting one-sixth of my ticket price back! The announcer ignored me.