Charley Burley and the Black Murderers Row

Harry Otty

Biographies & Memoirs

Tora Book Publishing

The authorised biography of one of the greatest fighters who ever lived. "Too good for his own good" a statement that was made by many boxing managers and promoters of the 1940s when referring to Pittsburgh's Charley Burley. Arguably the greatest boxer never to win a world title, Burley was the most feared fighter of his generation and one of the most avoided fighters in the history of boxing. Charley Burley and the Black Murderers' Row follows a trail from the 1936 Barcelona 'Friendly' Olympics in war-torn Spain to top ten contender status for world title honours during the 1940s. From the disappointment of being avoided by Henry Armstrong, Fritzie Zivic, Tony Zale, Jake LaMotta, Rocky Graziano, Billy Conn and Sugar Ray Robinson to hauling garbage for the city of Pittsburgh for over thirty years and induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Charley Burley was forced to fight out of his weight class with monotonous regularity (by today's standards he would be a light-middleweight), yet he knocked out fighters from welterweight to heavyweight. Burley beat three world champions in three different weight categories, but was denied a chance to fight for any title. Charley Burley and the Black Murderers' Row was written with the co-operation of Charley's family and friends. This revised edition has an expanded record for Burley that includes amateur bouts, a 'Tale-of-the-Tape', venues and weights for Burley and his opponents.

Charley Burley and the Black Murderers' Row

Otty, Harry

Cleveland's Jimmy Bivins fought in one of boxing's toughest eras. He beat eight world champions in three different weight divisions, yet was never given a shot for any world title. Author Jerry Fitch tells the real story of his friend of 40 years, Jimmy Bivins, and details his fights with Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, Charley Burley and many others.

James Louis Bivins: The Man Who Would Be Champion

Fitch, Jerry

Jerry Fitch has written five books on boxing including Cleveland's Greatest Fighters of All Time, and James Louis Bivins...The Man Who Would Be Champion. Now he offers up this collection of anecdotes that tell of his travels through the world of boxing covering over fifty years and his meetings with some of the greatest fighters of all time including Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Tony Zale, Jimmy McLarnin, Billy Conn and Carmen Basilio to name a few. Some stories are serious, some quirky but all are personal stories of a special lifetime of boxing adventures.

50 Years of Fights, Fighters and Friendships

Sports & Outdoors

Individual Sports

The Gods of War

"The Gods of War is filled with beautifully-written essays about a sport that is considered anything but beautiful." --Jeremy Hobson, NPR. Award-winning essayist and boxing historian Springs Toledo tells the world that "the greatest of all time" is neither Muhammad Ali nor Sugar Ray Robinson. The greatest - the 'god of war' - is someone beyond their reach, a true anomaly of the ring. The evidence is compelling. See it and decide for yourself. This countdown of the top-ten fighters of the modern era is a literary experience like no other, and it isn't all readers will find in this book. Toledo's writing has been described as "warrior poetry"; he goes beyond the usual factoids, dry text, and threadbare yarns to conjure up legendary fighters as they were. Some of them will punch holes through the pages; others will touch your heart. Reading enthusiasts, sports fans, and boxing's critics are invited to take a new look at the sweet science. It's worth the price of admission.

Toledo, Springs

In his latest collection of award-winning boxing essays, Springs Toledo takes a hard look at the hardest game from a seat next to yours. Where the widely-acclaimed The Gods of War (Tora, 2014) zoomed in at the greatness of the golden era, In the Cheap Seats zooms out for a panoramic view of the wild world of boxing: the true champions and contenders, the stumblebums trying to make a buck inside of six rounds, the fans who swear by it and sometimes swear at it, and the rich assortment of characters large and small that inevitably gather around the ring. Whether you're a purist or a critic, a casual fan or a toe dipper, Toledo proves to be the perfect companion at the fights.

In the Cheap Seats

Boxing historian Jerry Fitch, called "the dean of Cleveland boxing historians" by the Cleveland Public Library, brings us the story of a very unique and special heavyweight contender from the 1920s and 30s, Johnny Risko, also known as the Cleveland Rubber Man. Risko fought in one of the toughest eras in boxing and his career record contains the names of such boxing luminaries as Sharkey, Tunney, Godfrey, Schmeling, Baer, Slattery, Stribling, Berlenbach,Galento, Walker and Delaney. This volume, the first book written about this Cleveland boxing legend, contains numerous first-hand accounts of his famous battles at the Cleveland Arena, Boston Garden, Detroit Olympia and Madison Square Garden.

Johnny Risko: The Cleveland Rubber Man

Murderers' Row: in search of boxing's greatest outcasts

There used to be a particularly dangerous and crime-ridden alley located in what is now the SoHo district of New York City; it ran between ramshackle tenements in a black neighborhood known as Darktown in the early 19th century. "Murderers' Row" was no place for the decent or the delicate. By the 1870s, the term was used in direct reference to the second tier of the Tombs prison, which loomed a half mile from the alley. In 1918, New York was cheering six sluggers in the Yankees batting order who were bringing fans to their feet; "murderers' row" they called them.  Boxing is to baseball what a film noir is to a musical. It's the bad neighborhood of sports. It's no place for the decent or the delicate. It too has a murderers' row: eight elite and notorious fighters from the 1940s who evoke the shadowy origins of the name. One of them was mobbed-up to his eyebrows, another was an unsolved mystery until Springs Toledo exhumed and escorted him into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. The oldest, an ex-con, ended his prime in a San Francisco jail after shooting a rival in an all-night restaurant; that rival stood five feet five and fought light heavyweights--while drunk. Two of them were killers. They were the best of boxing's underclass, barred from title shots because of the danger surrounding them and the color of their skin. No less than Sugar Ray Robinson and Henry Armstrong steered clear of them. Their remarkable stories before, during, and after their bloody ring careers are quintessential Americana--after hours.

History

Americas

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