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– but they also knew they would be paid handsomely, thanks to the huge crowds and gates the popular middleweight slugger produced. TV was a new medium in this decade. Networks weren’t paying out large license fees to broadcast boxing and there were no casinos or billionaire benefactors subsidizing promotions. The only way anyone got paid back then was
that the man did not sell a lot of tickets. Unlike Robinson, Burley was not appreciated in his time – at least not by the general public. By all accounts, he was a brilliant boxer-puncher but also careful and patient to a fault. Burley had power and the sublime technique and timing to land fight-ending punches, but he didn’t hunt for knockouts. He was a matador,
were during the 1940s. I think it’s an indication of how promoters in those cities perceived Burley. Robinson, on the other hand, was the toast of New York City as an amateur. He made his pro debut at Madison Square Garden where he quickly developed into a headliner, starting with his 1941 bout against Maxie Shapiro. More than 10,000 paid to see the skinny 20-year-old overwhelm the veteran in three rounds. Robinson’s popularity and purse demands (which sometimes included a percentage of the gate) only grew from that point on as fans clamored to see the Harlem sensation in NYC, Detroit, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago and Boston. At the time of Robinson’s first MSG main event, Burley, who turned pro in 1936, already had 45 pro bouts under his belt (compared to Ray’s 24 bouts). Robinson, who turned pro in late 1940 and fought at lightweight until the end of 1941, would need a little time before being ready for such a seasoned and skilled potential opponent. However, by the time Robinson grew into the welterweight division in 1942, Burley’s days of making 147 had clearly passed him by. Burley fought an astounding 17 times in 1942 but dipped under 150 pounds for only one of those bouts. He weighed between 152-158 in 1943 and entered The Ring’s middleweight rankings in 1944, occupying a top-three spot until being removed for inactivity in 1947. Robinson’s 14-0 campaign in 1942 earned him The Ring’s Fighter of the Year award. One of his victories was against crosstown rival Jake LaMotta, a fearsome young middleweight contender who Robinson would fight four more times between 1943-1945. If Robinson was willing to roll the dice against The Bronx Bull, couldn’t he have fought Burley during this period? Yes, of course. But did any major promoter or venue want that
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not a bull; a ringmaster, not necessarily a ring general.
Burley’s brand of boxing was only celebrated by the purists of his day and the other avoided contenders who shared the ring with him. The great trainer Eddie Futch maintained that Burley was the best he ever saw. Archie Moore, who Burley dominated over the 10-round distance in 1944, said the wily Pennsylvanian was the toughest he ever fought. Those endorsements carry a lot of weight. And since his death in 1992 – the year he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame – Burley has gradually become something of a cult figure to a new generation of boxing purists, amateur historians and hardcore fans who take pride in contrarian takes via social media posts. But in the 1930s and ’40s, it took more than hipster adulation, “insider cred” and elite skills to move the needle. Fierce fighting and stone- cold KO artists are what grabbed headlines and filled arenas. Armstrong and Joe Louis were boxing’s brightest stars in the late ’30s despite being African Americans in a segregated, blatantly racist society. And fans, more so then than now, were unapologetically bloodthirsty. Which is why both Cochrane and Zale sought out Rocky Graziano when they resumed their careers following WWII. Their primes were in the rearview mirror and they knew Rocky would try to kill them – which he nearly did in five brutal bouts that produced The Ring’s 1945, 1946 and 1947 Fight of the Year
by getting lots of butts into those seats. Burley had the ability to outpoint – even outclass – both Zale and Cochrane but not the ability to attract 18,000-plus to Madison Square Garden as Graziano did twice with Cochrane. Graziano’s three immortal wars with Zale were waged at stadiums in the Bronx, Chicago and Newark. Burley, who fought out of Pittsburgh and later Minnesota, was not a stadium fighter and he never fought at The Mecca of Boxing. In fact, Burley fought in New York City just one time during his 98-bout pro career. He fought once in Boston, once in Chicago, and never in Detroit, which is an insane stat given how prominent those fight towns
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