Sad news out of Philadelphia as to the death of former middleweight contender Bad Bennie Briscoe.
The clich? about Briscoe is that he was one of the best boxers ever to not win a world title.
Drop the ?world? part, really, because Briscoe held a title and that was that of a consummate professional, a boxer who asked no quarter, gave none and who could box and punch.
In a spoiled boxing world, in which fighters and their handlers hand pick opponents and boxers refuse to go to another fighter’s city or country for a fight, Briscoe would have never fit in.
Briscoe was ?Old School? in all the positive senses of the label.
Briscoe wasn’t called ?Bad? for nothing as he was one of the most reliable 160 pounders in a 20 year campaign as a professional.
I don’t say that Briscoe would have beaten his hometown’s current ageless wonder Bernard Hopkins but I am of the considered opinion that they would have gone the distance and the scoring would have been close.
Don’t judge Briscoe by his 66-24-5 record.
You have look at his pro log line by line, name by name and you will learn that he was a great example of an era when fighters were not coddled, when they fought whoever a manager and/or a promoter put in front of them and also when they fought a lot more often than today’s breed.
Always a fistic mecca, Phillly once boasted of having not only Briscoe as a premier middleweight but also Eugene ?Cyclone? Hart, “Boogaloo” Watts and Willie ?The Worm? Hagler.
Philadelphia was such a great fight town, with such top talent, that an up and coming kid out the Boston arena, name of Marvelous Marvin Hagler, traveled there to test himself against both Briscoe and Monroe.
Briscoe’s greatest nights in the ring, it could be argued were his losses to two superior talents, all-time great Carlos Monzon and Colombia’s sadly underrated Rordigo Valdes. Valdes beat back Briscoe thrice.
Other well-known foes Brisco crossed gloves with included Luis Rodriguez, Philly’s Stanley ?Kitten? Hayward and Philly’s Charley Scott, Billy ?Dynamite? Douglas, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Vito Antuofermo, David Love and Georgie Benton.
Briscoe fought too long and lost eight of his last 14 bouts, many against guys who could not have carried his gym gear earlier.
From 1962 to 1982, Briscoe fought everyone they asked him to fight.
Briscoe was 67 years old.
