The way Burley taps gloves as a gesture of handshake, the way he handles the clinch super cleanly, the way he seems to prefer squaring off as opposed to blind-siding or throwing a punch as soon as the bell rings to start the round tells me this is a boxer who has a deep respect for his art. His positioning certainly is a thing of beauty, so is his balance, weight transfer, counter, stick n move, etc, wow. The last round is perfect sportsmanship, total class act and they still go at each other.
Thank you so much for making footage available on youTube, and thanks to all the info and input from viewer's comments providing additional insight about Burley.
It was almost impossible to hit Burley with a solid punch. He could stand right in front of you and slip punches. It's a shame he never got a shot at the title.
Even just in the limited footage you can tell this guy was a great fighter. Wish he had gotten a shot at SRR the best there ever was... they'd have an epic fight! Burley had great defense but he went after Oakland like an animal in that last round. Definitely a complete fighter. No flash or clowning but all business and efficiency.
Burley's in and out movement is exceptional,together with his wide variety of left leads,especially his "rising left jab". Oakland Billy Smith looks pretty good here too, notwithstanding his 58-24-4 record.
A record of 58-24-4 is much more impressive against superior competition, with multiple losses coming against the likes of Archie Moore, Ezzard Charles, Bert Lytell, Bob Satterfield, and Charley Burley, than a record of 49-0 fighting inferior competition. Of course I'm referring to Mayweather, not Marciano. Marciano never claimed he was the best ever. My point is I'm much more impressed with Smith than I am Mayweather or Roy Jones Jr.
judging from the film ive seen of these fights on youtube, I would say it's not that burleys defense is better than floyds, as it is that he's more all around defensively complete. when floyd fights on the inside, for example, he often closes half of his offense so that he roll shots with his left shoulder. but burley, as you can see around the 8.50 to 9 minute mark, doesn't close his shoulder like that on the inside, he opens up on the inside, and rolls punches off both shoulders, which leaves his left hook available at all times. And you'll notice, he is able to left hooks at any time he pleases, he even leads with left hooks. This is something floyd is completely unable to do. As they say, sometimes a good defense is a good offense, and I think the fact that floyd closes his shoulder so much forces him to over depend on his defense, which ultimately makes him vulnerable.
Mayweather is too defensive minded which is why he is not a complete fighter. Burley's defense is far superior to Mayweather. What you're seeing is a welterweight/jr. middleweight defending against an aggressive Light Heavyweight, without doing ANY running or dancing. When is the last time you saw Mayweather defend against a Light Heavyweight? Oh, never? Much less to the likes of an Ezzard Charles, Archire Moore, or Jimmy Bivins? When is the last time you saw Mayweather defend against a middleweight champion or contender? Oh, never? Much less the likes of a Holman Williams, Bert Lytell, Jack Chase, Aaron Wade, Loyd Marshall, or Shorty Hogue? When is the last time you saw Mayweather use his defensive prowess against Welterweights such as legendary fighters Cocoa Kid, Fritzie Zivic, and Georgie Abrams? Burley fought many of these monsters several times each. Burley even fought a Heavyweight on short notice. Burley was never stopped. You simply cannot compare a man's defense who fought the likes of Mayweather's competition to that of Burley's and say that "...it's not that Burley's defense is better than Floyd's...". Yes, IT IS BETTER THAN FLOYD's. I think Roberto Duran had a superior defense to Floyd. I think Julio Cesar Chavez did as well. Before you laugh, you should understand that an aggressive defense is far superior and requires much more skill and craft than that of an almost purely defensive stand. The men I've stated here are much too skilled and aggressive for Floyd to have ever won a decision against as he enjoys against his competition today. Floyd pales in comparison to every fighter I've listed here.
+Hav Risen Floyd fought as a featherweight in the Olympics and began his career at 130. He is a lot smaller than Burley who spent most of his career at Middleweight. Has Floyd done that to fighters bigger than himself, Yes.
As to your technical analysis. I would agree that it prevents him from firing his left hook at full power but he still makes great use of it. His lead left hook is almost as prominent as his lead right hand and his body jab.
What does where Floyd fought in the Olympics, where he began his career, and that he was “a lot smaller than Burley” have ANYTHING to do with the point I made? Nor did Burley “spend most of his career at middleweight”. Burley, for most of his career weighed about “150 lbs”. That’s a quote from Allen S. Rosenfeld who happens to be an authority on The Black Murderers Row and THEE AUTHORITY on Charley Duane Burley. Burley fluctuated from welterweight to middleweight because he was SIMULTANEOUSLY a top ranked contender in both divisions but he usually only weighed about “150 lbs”. This video you see here is near the end of his career and he isn’t even in shape as scary as it is. It says he weighed 160 lbs in that fight but I highly doubt it. Anyway, the POINT IS Burley HIS ENTIRE CAREER fought men that outweighed him by 10,20,30, or in the case of JD Turner-70 lbs! When did Floyd EVER do that? You said he fought men bigger than him. Who? Now you’re starting to sound like the Duran fanboys and Roy Jones fanboys. When you naturally grow into a division from age or unnaturally from peds or roids, and you weigh-in the day before a fight the same weight as your opponent then you are the same weight class. Just because you start your career at 20 yrs old at Super Featherweight and are fighting a guy 10 years later as a 30 yr old at welterweight, it doesn’t mean you’re a natural super featherweight fighting a welterweight. That’s always been the dumbest and lamest excuse and for “any reason” I’ve ever heard. Floyd NEVER fought outside his weight class against bigger men that outweighed him naturally the day of a weigh-in. These aren’t men carrying 20 lbs of water on them like we see today because of the stupid day before weigh-ins. No, the men Burley fought were ACTUALLY bigger men from other weight classes. There’s a huge difference. Figure it out.
@JcLeopard As far as your comment on comparing Floyd’s offense to Burley, well, ha ha, to be as respectful as I can here...I’d say you’re reaching quite a bit, ya think? That’s young prime Floyd, right? Surely you’re not talking about the “Money Mayweather” act Floyd? I’m only asking as to give you an opportunity to rephrase what you said and to redeem all and if any respect you may or may not have enjoyed from our fellow commenters here. For god sake man, call it a loss, wash up and eat your supper like a good boy. Tell momma you love her and give her a hug. Shake your fathers hand and challenge him to an arm wrestle. Go to bed and sleep without the night light. Progress.
Yeah Burley is the best defensive fighter I have ever seen! I haven't seen other film of him except this one but this is pretty convincing. I don't think there is no other defensive fighter that I have seen that is as elusive or better at avoiding getting hit than Burley and that inlude the great Pernell Wittaker, Wilfred Benitez, James Toney and Floyd Mayewather some of the greatest defensive fighters of all time.
Just started taking a look a Burley recently and it's not hard to see that the things said about him and his ability/style are accurate. There's a passion and respect level in this fight that is obvious. There's definitely a chess match happening, neither fighter wants to throw an abundant flurry because of being countered and also to not open-up too much and lose defensive position. But they steadily pick up the pace as the rounds progress.
did you really analyze the thing he was doing in there? the sense of distance and timing was almost perfection. he wasn't incredibly powerful but as far as the pure form of boxing (hit without being hit) he can only be compared to floyd Mayweather and Pernell Whitaker. Archie Moore was even quoted as saying he was one of the slickest fighters he ever faced.
There definitely is very little footage circulating or publicly available. This fight had been mentioned in articles and stuff as the best footage available. I haven't seen much else.
I think so, But he was About 29 years old And probably Was close to his His peak in this match... Even though this is probably the only Boxing match that will ever see Of Charles Burley, There is no doubt that he had exceptional Skills and was a great Counter puncher.... It was said that Sugar Ray Robinson Didn't want a piece of Him? I can See why if he Really said that!
The film I have seen of Burley suggests he was a very good defensive fighter, but let's take it a little easy with "greatest ever" and "most elusive ever." from what i have seen he is not nearly as elusive as panama al brown or prime rjj. As far as defensive technique, it seems solid but i see nothing that seperates him from the likes of sweet pea
rjj was fast (god gifted) speed,but when u lose speed and have bad technic then u start to get KO.Simple movements means short with no wast in time and economical means better endurence.Check and see how many times Burley got TKOed.Not just one category but had and all around game.
Burleys problem was that he was 2 good, personally he is the most correct boxer iv seen on film, more correct then Floyd, the only reason Floyd was champ & is famous but burley never was is because while both of their styles is enjoyed by boxing purist, not so much by mainstream, Floyd has a personality, he sells & brings attention, Burley not so much. Also; Floyds is faster then Burley, but burley had better body-movement, faints, etc. Burley was 2 good [physically/personally] 4r his own good.
