If charley burely had been given the chance to fight to the title?

Question

Charley burley is considered by many boxing historians to be the greatest champion that never was, for years he terrorized the welterweight and middleweight divisions demolishing every single opponent that stood in his way, he destroyed, welterweights,middleweights and even heavyweights, his power was matched only by his speed and skill, he was so good that even legends like sugar ray robinson , billy conn, marcel cerdan and jake la motta refused to fight him....a fighter was once quoted as saying "give me any opponent any day,any time, but please keep that charley burley kid away from me!", the great eddie futch called him the finest all-around fighter he ever saw. My question is....., if he had been given the chance to fight for the title would he be considered the greatest pound for pound fighter ever?

Answer 1

Young Stribling was the greatest champion that never was.

Answer 2

like la motta, burley could've probably beaten robinson, but it would only be in one fight out of 5 or 6.

robinson aside, he could've & should've been champ at 147, however, the middleweight division is another kettle of fish.

prior to robinson taking the 160 pound belt, you had la motta, cerdan, and tony zale, which would not be easy fights......and these matchups would be great "what if" questions to ask here.

Answer 3

Probably would've won, if the champion was not Ray Robinson.

Answer 4

I think if he had been given the chance to fight for the title, and won, there's a good chance he would be considered one of the greatest P4P.

I agree eric, I also feel Ray Robinson was better. In the fight film of Burley vs. Smith,Burley fought quite alot using one hand/punch, the left, waiting for the right time for the right hand. (With this style, fighting today,, he may not have done as well due to the judge's viewing his style as lack of aggresivness. (?) ) Yet Ray was very fast and threw multiple combo,s from all angles and could eventually find the distance and timing on Charley.

If Burley beat Ray the first fight, I dont see him doing it a 2nd(or 3rd.) time.  Ray was known for almost always winning his rematches, he had their number from then on.

Also Burley, I feel, would have a tough battle with Tony Zale, who was a vicious body attacker and mixed it well with body and head attacks. This may have been a goodsee-saw battle.

With Charley Burley's credentials, he should be on the P4P list.