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Originally posted by Ivich
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Charlie was approached by promoter Jake Mintz on March 14, 1946 before Charley’s fight against an unheralded, but game John Dodson. The bout against Sugar Ray would be held on May 10th of that same year in Pittsburg at Forbes Field. In the meantime Charley faced Oakland Billy Smith in Billy’s back yard for a second time on April 24, 1946. Charley had handed Smith quite the beating in their first go around, however, Smith had an upset win over Lloyd Marshall by a su****ious knock out in the ninth round. Promoters in California felt a second meeting between Burley and Smith could fill some seats, and Charley viewed this fight with Smith as a way to campaign for his dream match against Sugar Ray Robinson. After Burley defeated Smith, Ray upped the original price of $25,000 to a $50,000 guarantee along with a percentage of the gate. Interestingly enough, in 1949, Ray fought for a small purse of $8,938.
As Charley neared the end of his life he became much more vocal about the failed match against Sugar. Not too long before passing he was quoted as saying:
“Ray ducked me. George Gainford (Robinson’s manager) admitted that much. But, I can’t say I blame him.
“Jake Mintz came to me one time and said I might be able to get a contract for three fights with Ray Robinson. But he told me that part of the deal would be that I’d have to go down in the first one. I questioned whether I’d get a rematch after the first fight. He didn’t give me a definite answer.”
Charley claims this second meeting took place just before Sugar Ray’s bout with Ossie Harris on March 4, 1948. It seems Charley believed he had the skills to hand Robinson a loss.
According to Harry Otty, Ray and his team rarely took risks and even had a way of policing potential opponents. A man by the birth name of James Tufts, who fought under three other pseudonym’s, was a skilled fighter with power in both hands. He was an avoided fighter who acted as something of a gate keeper for Robinson, with prospective opponents having to face Tufts first to see what they were capable of. One such example of this would be Burt Lytell, who would drop a split decision to Tufts in 1950 thereby sacrificing a potential match up with Ray.
With new management Burley’s team was able to raise $60,000, and offered it to every champion they could find. None, including Robinson himself, took the offer despite it being $10,000 more than Ray had previously asked for.
Robinson, supposedly watching Burley ringside, told his manager, "I'm too pretty to fight Charley Burley." Robinson avoided Burley and Burley always believed that he was the better fighter and of course, we would never know if Burley was right.
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