Manley wasn?t up there with light heavy legends Archie Moore, Billy Conn, Philadelphia Jack O?Brien, or even ?Slapsie Maxie??
A great reckoning in a little room.??As You Like It
Unknown to a generation of fans whose idea of boxing history is Leonard (Sugar Ray, not Benny), George Manley was a light heavyweight who fought from 1920 to 1935, with an official record of 92 wins, 34 by knockout, 22 losses, and nine draws.
The manly Manley was stopped only four times, by KO Christner by second-round KO in 1930, Adolf Heuser by fifth-round TKO in 1932, Young Firpo by first-round TKO in 1933, and Wesley Ketchell by second-round KO, also in ?33.
?Good Time? beat some of the toughest, including Johnny Risko, Yale Okun (twice), the never-stopped Lou Scozza, Owen Phelps, Leo Lomski (twice), Light Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1932 to 1934 Maxie Rosenbloom (twice), Pete Latzo, and Harry Smith.
Manley became Colorado?s heavyweight champ by beating Carl Walker by unanimous decision at Denver?s Olympic Stadium on October 8, 1934, losing the title on points to Emilio Martinez, who was also the state?s middleweight and light heavy champ, at Pueblo?s A.C. on August 16, 1935.
All right, so winning the Centennial State?s heavyweight champeenship don?t even hold a pink birthday cake candle to being prize inside Cheerios box interim tin titleholder, but what you gonna do? Where the boys are? Chasing after them Lucky Charms ?cause they?re so magically delicious. Mixing up my cereals, you say? Don?t matter?it?s kid stuff no matter how much soy milk you pour on it.
Manley was a locomotive engineer who eventually opened a steakhouse in his hometown of Denver. Around until at least the late 1950s, the restaurant had to have a Bamboo Room to go with its charbroiled steaks. I don?t know about the rest of youse, but I don?t much care for a restaurant that don?t have a Bamboo Room. What the hell?s a restaurant without a Bamboo Room anyways? Why, ?tain?t no kinda restaurant at all.
Speaking of rooms, I don?t know if Manley was murdered in a little one, just that he was murdered. He was found shot to death on September 3, 1968. He was 67. Yeah, so much for that moniker of his.
Okay, so Manley wasn?t up there with light heavy legends Archie Moore, Billy Conn, Philadelphia Jack O?Brien, or even the bizarrely underrated ?Slapsie Maxie,? despite beating him twice. But he was a rough-and-tumble fighter from the rough-and-tumble ?20s and ?30s, and that?s reason enough to know who he was. It?s all the reason in the world to know who he was.
