Ezzard Charles — Marshall
Jake LaMotta — Marshall
Joey Maxim — Marshall
Tommy Farr — Marshall
Fritzie Zivic — Burley, 2 of 3
Billy Soose — Burley
Billy Conn — his manager: never mention Burley’s name again
Fritzie Zivic — his manager bought Burley’s contract after Burley won 2 of 3
Marcel Cerdan — listed among those who ducked Burley
Jake LaMotta, Rocky Graziano — never met Burley in the ring
Henry Armstrong — his camp avoided a defense against Cocoa Kid
Eight fighters, working roughly from 1930 to 1951, mostly at middleweight and often at welterweight and light heavyweight. Budd Schulberg gave them the name. His original list was Eddie Booker, Charley Burley, Jack Chase, Bert Lytell and Lloyd Marshall. Cocoa Kid and Holman Williams were added, and Aaron Wade completes the eight as the Row is usually listed. They fought each other 62 times. That number is the point. When nobody outside the group will take the fight, the group fights itself.
The avoidance is on the record in the managers’ own words. Sugar Ray Robinson’s manager, George Gainsford, admitted they by-passed Burley because of his style. Sugar Ray Robinson reportedly doubled his price to face Burley, and the fight died on the number. Billy Conn’s manager told matchmaker Art Rooney to never mention Burley’s name again. Fritzie Zivic’s manager, Luke Carney, took over Burley’s contract so that Zivic would never have to fight him. Those are not rumors. Those are people protecting a champion from a man they knew was better than the risk was worth.
Look at who they beat. In January 1944 Eddie Booker stopped Archie Moore in eight rounds and put him down four times. Three months later Burley knocked Moore down four times and won the decision. Moore went on to win the light heavyweight title. He called Burley “the best fighter I ever fought, and the best fighter I ever saw.” Lloyd Marshall beat Ezzard Charles, Jake LaMotta and Joey Maxim. Charles became heavyweight champion and LaMotta middleweight champion. Bert Lytell was ranked the No. 1 middleweight in the world by The Ring in 1948. Cocoa Kid was ranked No. 1 at welterweight in 1940, and Henry Armstrong’s camp avoided a defense against him. Not one of them got a title shot.
The ring paid them in damage and the sport paid them nothing after. Booker retired at 27 with eye trouble, went blind, and died in 1975 at 57. Cocoa Kid fought on with dementia pugilistica, ended up homeless, and died in a Veterans hospital in Chicago on December 27, 1966, at 52. Holman Williams worked as a club janitor and died in a club fire in 1967, also at 52. Burley hauled garbage for the city of Pittsburgh for more than thirty years. Jack Chase died in 1972. These were among the best fighters in the world in their era. Nobody built a safety net under them when the fights ended.
Recognition came late. Burley went into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992, Williams in 2008, Marshall in 2010, Cocoa Kid in 2012 and Booker in 2017. The Blotter does not treat the Hall as the correction. A plaque does not fix a title shot that was never given.
This is the Unsung companion to the Historical Unfought file. That page documents the fights that were never made. This one documents the men who were left waiting for them.