Dont
know how many people are familiar with this term...but I thought I'd
share.. It is a pretty sensual story,indeed..
Talk
about cherypicking opponents..
Boxers
who were so feared that they were avoided by title holders and so
were unable to ever secure a title shot.
Murderers'
Row refers to a group of middleweight boxing contenders in the United
States competing in the 1940s and 1950s, primarily of an
African-American background. Renowned for their toughness and great
boxing ability, at the time they were feared throughout the boxing
world and are categorised as being the most avoided fighters of their
generation. According to boxing pundit Jim Murray, the Murderers’
Row were “the most exclusive men’s club the ring has ever known.
They were so good and so feared that they had to have their own
tournament”.The term ‘Black Murderers’ Row’ was coined by
writer Budd Schulberg, screenwriter of 'On the Waterfront'.
Fighters
recognised under the Murderers’ Row banner include Charley
Burley, Lloyd Marshall, Holman Williams, Herbert "Cocoa Kid"
Lewis Hardwick, Jack Chase, Eddie Booker, Aaron Wade, Bert Lytell and
Elmer Ray . Avoided by many of the famous names of the day, the
nine Murderers’ Row fighters faced each other a total of 61 times,
the fights often classics and grueling contests. None of the fighters
would ever compete for a title, despite being at the top of the
rankings for many years and widespread admiration in the world of
boxing.
The
greatest fighter in Murderers’ Row was probably Charley
Burley, regarded by many in the boxing community as the most talented
fighter never to compete for a world title. Fight writer Tom
Archdeacon, wrote of Burley, “(he was) kept from title shots and
ducked by many of the top fighters, he was reduced to fighting other
tough - and avoided - black middleweights”.
For
nearly a decade Burley defeated everyone put in front of him. In the
mid-1940s, world champions in Fritzie Zivic, Billy Soose and the
great Archie Moore counted as Burley’s conquests. He was ranked in
the top 10 in the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions for most of
the 1940s, without receiving a title shot. (Burley did hold the World
Colored Welterweight and World Colored Middleweight Championship
titles.)
Near
the end of his career Burley took to fighting Heavyweights in a bid
to find meaningful contests, including J.D. Turner and future
Heavyweight champ Ezzard Charles. Eventually, Burley would retire
after winning 83 bouts, without ever being able to meet in the ring
the champions of the time, such as Rocky Graziano, Sugar Ray Robinson
and Jake LaMotta. Burley was inducted into the International Boxing
Hall of Fame in 1992.
Another
member, Eddie Booker campaigned primarily at Light
Heavyweight in the 1940s. Based in California, Booker blazed a path
through the division, he would be victorious in 67 bouts, only losing
on 5 occasions.A physically muscular and durable fighter, he was a
blend of boxing skill and formidable punching power.
In
his autobiography, Light Heavyweight world champion, Archie
Moore, stated that Booker was one of only two boxers who beat him in
his prime and rated him as the best fighter he ever faced. Booker
would compete in 80 bouts without ever being stopped.
Fellow
International Hall of Famer, Holman Williams fought across
three weight divisions. Graduating from the same Detroit gym as Joe
Louis, Williams was famed for his sublime defensive skills and
stylish technique.Highly respected boxing coach Eddie
Futch stated he would rather watch Williams spar than most
fighters box in the ring.
A
popular and exciting fighter, the local New Orleans paper and Ring
Magazine both reported on the large crowds that would attend
Williams’ fights and that he received standing ovations for his
performances. Williams would eventually compete in over 180 bouts,
without ever getting a shot at the title.
Fellow
member Jack Chase, also known as the ‘Young Joe Louis’,
frequently in trouble with the law (he was imprisoned several times
and at one point was arrested for shooting fellow Black Murderer’s
row fighter Aaron Wade, although both men later claimed the
incident was an accident :P ),
became famous due to his demolition of highly rated Heavyweight
contender Lee Savold.
Subsequently,
he struggled to arrange fights against the title holders. This was
despite being ranked second in the world at Middleweight for
several years. The San Francisco Chronicle sports correspondent of
the time, Eddie Muller, wrote that Chase moved around the ring with
speed and skill “every move a picture.” It is reported that he
had at least 48 bouts in the 1930s which are not included in the
official record, but little is known of his career during this time.
Elmer
"Kid Violent" Ray (March 3, 1911 – May 20, 1987) was
an American heavyweight boxer who fought from 1926 to 1949.
He
was born in Federal Point, Florida. Ray was known as a hard puncher
and had a career record of 86 (with 70 knockouts)-13-1. Ray never
fought for the title, but did fight future heavyweight champions
Ezzard Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott. In three fights with Walcott,
Ray suffered a three round knockout on September 25, 1937, rebounded
to outpoint Walcott on November 15, 1946, and lost the third fight by
decision (April 3, 1947). He defeated Charles on a split decision on
July 25, 1947, but was knocked out in the 9th round of their rematch
on May 7, 1948. He also boxed light heavyweight champion John Henry
Lewis, but was stopped in the 12th round on May 19, 1938. In
2003, Ray made the Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of
all-time at number 44.
Charley
Burley
Charley
Burley (September 6, 1917 – October 16, 1992) was an African
American boxer who fought as a welterweight and middleweight from
1936 to 1950. Archie Moore, the light-heavyweight champion who was
defeated by Burley in a 1944 middleweight bout, was one of several
fighters who called Burley the greatest fighter ever. Burley was the
penultimate holder of both the World Colored Welterweight
Championship and the World Colored Middleweight Championship, the
only titles he held.
The
5'9 ½ Burley fought at a weight of between 145 and 162 lbs. He made
his pro debut on September 29, 1936, fighting as a welterweight at
150? lbs., at Pittsburgh's Moose Temple. He knocked out George
Liggins in the fourth round of a four-round bout.
Less
than two years later, on August 22, 1938, Burley met the Cocoa Kid at
Hickey Park in Millvale, Pennsylvania for the World Colored
Welterweight Championship. He won a unanimous decision in the
15-round bout, knocking the Kid to the canvas three times and
defeating him decisively, taking his title.
Burley
did not defend that title, possibly as part of a strategy to win a
shot at the title or world welterweight champ Henry Armstrong, an
African American. He won the World Colored Middleweight Title in a
match with Holman Williams at Victory Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana
on 14 August 1942, winning via a technical knockout in the 9th round
of a scheduled 15-round bout. In their rematch for the title held at
New Orleans' Municipal Auditorium on October 16 of the same year,
Williams won on a 15-round decision, though Jack Kincaid of the
Times-Picayune reported that some observers believed Burley had won
nine rounds of the fight. He had been the aggressor throughout the
bout.
A
formidable fighter, Burley was never granted a world title shot by
any of the world welterweight and world middleweight champions of his
era and also was avoided by many of the top white contenders. Among
the fighters who "ducked" Burley were Hall of Famers Billy
Conn (who fought Joe Louis for the heavyweight title), Frenchman
Marcel Cerdan (who was supposed to face Burley in his American debut)
and even Sugar Ray Robinson, considered by many boxing historians as
the best pound-for-pound fighter of all time.
Of
course, not everyone ducked the slick Pittsburgh warrior. Burley won
two out of three matches against future welterweight champion Fritzie
Zivic, defeated the great Archie Moore by decision, and easily
defeated future NYSAC middleweight king Billy Soose.
Burley
also faced future heavyweight champion Ezzard
Charles,
but dropped two 10 round decisions to him (the bouts were contested
within a five-week period, sandwiching a fight against Williams).
Another notable Burley fight was the one against heavyweight J.D.
Turner, who outweighed him by around 70 lbs. "Turner, face
beaten to raw beefsteak in six rounds, failed to answer the bell for
the seventh." (The Ring, June 1942).
Burley
himself was never stopped in 98 bouts. He
compiled a record of 83 wins (50 by knockout) against 12 losses and
two draws with 1 "no contest". He also battled financial
problems at times during his career (which is why he's thought to
have lost some of the fights he did) and
was forced
to work as an aircraft mechanic and garbage man in
order to earn enough money to live off of.
Burley's
former sparring partner A.J. "Blackie" Nelson offers this
comparison: "I see a lot of Charley in this kid, Roy Jones Jr.
Both had unorthodox styles, could hit you from any angle, both hard
to hit. Charley jabbed more than Jones, if Jones would concentrate on
boxing as Charley did, he would become an all-time great."
Eddie
Futch, the great trainer, called Burley "the finest all-around
fighter I ever saw."
Burley
was named to the Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all
time, elected to the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1983 and the
International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992.
Burley
was ranked 39th on Ring Magazine's list of the 80 Best Fighters of
the Last 80 Years
Holman
Williams
Holman
Williams (born January 30, 1915 in Pensacola, Florida —
died July 15, 1967) was a world welterweight boxing contender.
Williams began
boxing as an amateur in 1928 as a bantamweight and had a successful
38-bout career. In 1932 he turned pro as a featherweight and would
eventually be recognized as one of the cleverest welterweights and
middleweights of his era.
In
his career as a welterweight and middleweight divisions, he fought
such notable fighters as Cocoa Kid, Charley Burley, Eddie Booker, Bob
Satterfield, Archie Moore, Marcel Cerdan and Jake LaMotta.
When
the World Colored Middleweight Championship was revived in the early
1940s, Charley
Burley,
who had been the colored welterweight champ, fought Williams for
the title on 14 August 14, 1942 and won on a 9th round TKO. Williams
won the title on a decision in their rematch on 16 October 1942, then
lost the title on 15 January 1943 to the Cocoa
Kid in
a 12-round decision.
Williams
retired with a 145-30-11, 1NC (35 KOs) record.
On
July 15, 1967 Williams was killed in a fire while asleep in the club
where he worked.
Williams
was elected into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1996 and elected
into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2008.
Herbert
Lewis Hardwick Arroyo a.k.a. "Cocoa Kid" (May 2, 1914 –
December 27, 1966) was
a Puerto Rican boxer of African descent who fought primarily as a
welterweight but also in the middleweight division. Hardwick won the
World Colored Championships in both divisions. He was inducted into
the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012.
Hardwick
began to box in Atlanta when he was fourteen years old under the
tutorship and management of Edward Allen Robinson. He fought for the
first time as a professional
at the age of fifteen,
on May 27, 1929 at the Elks' Restaurant, in Atlanta, against a boxer
who went under the name of "Kid Moon" and was victorious in
that encounter.
In
1932, Connecticut State Senator Harry Durant was among those present
at one of his fights in West Palm Beach. The Senator was impressed
with Hardwick and sponsored his trip to New Haven where Hardwick
began to fight under the name of the "Cocoa Kid." The name
printed on his boxing license was that of "Louis Hardwick
Arroyo."
Hardwick
used various names during his boxing career, besides using "Louis
Arroyo," he would also fight under the name of "Louis Kid
Cocoa".On April 4, 1932, he won his first fight in Connecticut,
against a boxer named Joe Miller
During
his career in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Hardwick fought the top
African-American fighters of the era in the Welterweight and
Middleweight divisions. This group included, but was not limited to
Charley Burley, Holman Williams, Jack Chase, Lloyd Marshall, Bert
Lytell and Eddie Booker.Hardwick
fought Williams thirteen times, winning eight, losing three, and
drawing in two.
The
group was known as the "Black Murderers' Row." This group
was made up primarily of African-American highly rated boxing
contenders in the 1940s and 1950s, who competed around the
Middleweight and Light Heavyweight divisions. Hardwick was the only
Hispanic of African descent in the group. Renowned for their
toughness and great boxing ability, they were feared throughout the
boxing world and were the most avoided fighters of their generation.
According to boxing pundit Jim Murray, the Murderers’ Row was the
most exclusive men’s club the ring has ever known. They were so
good and so feared that they had to have their own tournament.The
term "Boxing Murderers’ Row" was coined by writer Budd
Schulberg, screenwriter of On the Waterfront.
Amongst
the many boxers whom Hardwick fought and defeated during his career
were Louis "Kid" Kaplan. The fight occurred on February 2,
1933 at the Arena in New Haven. Kaplan was a former champion who held
the World Championship title in the Featherweight division until
1927. On December 5, 1933 he faced Lou Ambers and lost the match.
From
April through September 1940, Hardwick was the number one
welterweight contender in the world. However Henry Armstrong, who
held the World Welterweight Championship, refused to give him a title
shot.On October 9, 1943, Hardwick made the cover of Knockout Magazine
as "The Cocoa Kid''
In
1944, a controversy erupted between Hardwick and a boxer named
"Oakland Billy Smith." When the fighters met on November
24, in the Civic Auditorium of San Francisco, California, the betting
odds favored the Cocoa Kid over Smith by 2 to 1.When Hardwick was
knocked down four times, referee Frankie Brown became suspicious and
stopped the fight, declaring it a "no-contest." During
an investigation carried out by the California Boxing Commission,
Hardwick claimed his poor performance was due to personal anxiety
about his “sick mother” (meaning his aunt Antonia). According to
the Oakland Tribune, the commission felt that Hardwick threw the
fight. In addition to withholding his earnings, the commission fined
him $500, and suspended him from boxing for six months.
On
September 17, 1945, Hardwick fought
and lost to Archie
Moore.
He lost his last professional fight on August 24, 1948, against Bobby
Mann at Ball Park in Trenton, New Jersey.
In
1949, Sugar Ray Robinson entered into, and then broke, two agreements
to fight against Hardwick.
That
same year of 1949, Hardwick was Robinson's sparring partner at the
welterweight king's training camp in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.
Robinson was training for a fight with Steve Belloise and was at his
peak. In one session, Hardwick landed a short overhand right to
Robinson's chin and dropped him in the second round.
By
the end of his boxing career, Hardwick had fought a total of 244
professional fights, of which he won 176 with 48 knockouts (KO).
He lost 56
fights, 7 by way of KOs and 10 of his fights were classified as draws
(ties).
Among
the Champions which he faced during his career were: Louis Kaplan,
Johnny Jadick, Lou Ambers, Christopher "Battling"
Battalino, Chalky Wright and Archie Moore. Of these he defeated
Kaplan, Jadick and Wright in non-title fights.
After
retiring from the ring in 1950, Hardwick found himself homeless and
penniless in Chicago. Marguerite
Winrou, his wife, divorced him and gained the custody of their
children.
According to the Naval Record Management Center in St. Louis,
Missouri, Hardwick had served in the United States Navy during World
War II. He
was honorably discharged after being diagnosed with pugilistic
dementia by military doctors. He kept his diagnosis a secret during
his days as a boxer in order to continue boxing.
Due
to his long and difficult boxing career, Hardwick suffered
from pugilistic
dementia in
his last years. In 1955, he wrote to the Navy asking for a copy of
his discharge papers which he claimed were stolen with his Social
Security card and was later admitted to the Veterans Administration
Hospital in North Chicago. He
died there on December 27, 1966 and is buried in Wood National
Cemetery, section 36a, row 11, site 3, located in the state of
Wisconsin.
In
2011, Hardwick was inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame
in 2012.
Jack
Chase
Jack
Chase was
an African-American middleweight, who boxed in the 1930s and 40s. He
was born in Texas and fought mainly on the west coast of the United
States. He boxed under the name ‘Young Joe Lewis’ for the first
part of his career, before changing to Jack Chase in 1942. His
official fight count stands at 122, but it is believed he competed in
an additional 40 plus fights prior to 1936, during which time his
full record is unknown
He
was ranked second in the world in his division, but never took part
in a world title fight
Jack
Chase did win several regional belts in the US, including the
Colorado state title, the Rocky Mountain Regional Middleweight and
Welterweight Titles in the 1930s and the California State's
Middlweight and Light Heavyweight titles in the 1940s. He retired
from boxing in 1948.
Chase
had several run ins with the law during his life, including serving
jail time in Colorado on a few occasions and being arrested for
shooting fellow boxer Aaron Wade in California...
Bert
Lytell
102
bouts. 71 Wins - 23 Losses - 7 Draws.
One
loss by TKO and that by Deacon
Johnny Brown which
he later beat.
Calvin
Coolidge Lytle (born January 24, 1924 in Victoria, Texas), better
known by his stage names Bert Lytell and Chocolate Kid, was an
American boxer and middleweight contender in the 1940s and early
1950s. Recognized as a member of the famous Murderers' Row, the 5'8"
Lytell fought (and often won) against other top black middleweights
of his time, including Charley Burley, Herbert "Cocoa Kid"
Lewis Hardwick, Holman Williams, and Charley Doc Williams, as well as
other notable fighters including Archie Moore and Sam Baroudi.
Lytell
enlisted in the Naval reserves in 1942 in San Antonio, Texas, and was
discharged in 1944.He resided in New York City for most of his
career, later moving to Oakland, California to be closer to his
family, including brother Loyal Lytle.
During
his career, he was known as The Beast of Stillman's Gym,one of the
members of the famous Black Murderers' Row.
The
Chocolate Kid died on January 26, 1990, two days after his 66th
birthday.
Hilton
Edward "Eddie" Booker (November 5, 1917 – January 26,
1975) was an American boxer who was active during the 1930s and
1940s.
Booker
compiled a record of 66-5-8,
which included wins over Williams,
Chase, Archie Moore(being
the first to knock him out) and Lloyd
Marshall,
although he never fought for a world title, and was
forced to retire prematurely due to an eye injury.
He
is an inductee of the World Boxing Hall of Fame.
Quite
a few of these fighters would only receive the official recognition
they deserved years after their careers. Five of the members of
Murderers’ Row have since become International or World Hall of
Famers.
Σχόλια
Δημοσίευση σχολίου
What's YOUR take, brother?(sister)