Bobby Crabtree in the 30's and 40's

[mr. magoo]

For those who don't know, Bobby Crabtree was a journeyman heavyweight who's career stretched 20 years between 1982 and 2002. I used to watch this guy on TV, in some of the last regular broadcast figthts. Crabtree was best known as being " an opponent " For young prospects, contenders, or fallen stars coming back from a defeat. The fact however is, you pretty much had to be a class fighter to beat him. Although he had 35 career losses with 24 of them via knockout or technical knockout, he also had 56 wins, and KO'd 51 of his victoms. He had losses to such fighters as Michael Dokes, James Tillis, Tony Tucker, George Foreman, Kenny Keene, Boris Powell, Michael Moorer, Alex Garcia, Trevor Berbick, Tyrell Biggs, Renaldo Snipes, Rodney Frazier, James Broad, Francesco Damiani and numerous others.

Crabtree stood about 6'2", and on an average night of his career weighed between 199 to 210 Lbs. His pro record was 56-35-1-51. Not exactly a beauty, but he had a good punch, and as I said lost mainly to good fighters. Given that Jow Louis fought a lot of guys of Crabtree's general description, could Bobby have been a contender for Louis in the 30's and 40's? More likely than not, he would have been a member of the honorary Louis bum of the month club, along with Roper, Mccoy, and a number of other Brown Bomber bombs.

[Russell]

Wow, Crabtree. Interesting fighter.

Sad how he floated in-between heavyweight and cruiserweight back when the cruiser limit was 190. He could of been a lot more if he could of competed at the modern day 200 limit.

He did have serious power though. Watching his fight with Berbick has convinced me of that.

[mr. magoo]

Wow, Crabtree. Interesting fighter.

Sad how he floated in-between heavyweight and cruiserweight back when the cruiser limit was 190. He could of been a lot more if he could of competed at the modern day 200 limit.

He did have serious power though. Watching his fight with Berbick has convinced me of that.

Jesus Russell, I posted this thread 14 months ago, and basically forgot all about it. Where did you dig this up from?

[Russell]

I googled Bobby Crabtree after watching the Berbick fight! :)

[mr. magoo]

Yeah he was something else to watch.

[Russell]

How many of his fights have you seen, Magoo?

He seemed to have a massive set of balls and a damned good chin. He had literally no defense and just in the first two rounds against Berbick he ate dozens and dozens of max power shots from Berbick.

Were most of his losses TKO's with the ref saving him from a further beating? Can't imagine him getting sparked all 35 times or however many it was that he was stopped.

[mr. magoo]

How many of his fights have you seen, Magoo?

He seemed to have a massive set of balls and a damned good chin. He had literally no defense and just in the first two rounds against Berbick he ate dozens and dozens of max power shots from Berbick.

Were most of his losses TKO's with the ref saving him from a further beating? Can't imagine him getting sparked all 35 times or however many it was that he was stopped.

Of Bobby's 35 defeats, he failed to make it to the final bell on 24 occasions. Most of his losses were stoppages of kind or another. I remember watching Tyrell Biggs beat him when coming off his loss to Gary Mason around 1989 or 1990. I've probably seen him on 6 or 7 occasions I imagine. He was a rather crude fighter who lacked in skills, but could certainly whack and had a lot of heart and guts when he wanted to. Al Albert and Sean O' Grady often termed him as " everybody's favorite opponent." They were referring to other fighters of course, and not fans. The man had some funcky hair styles at time too. He was fun to watch as well. I think he could have somehow ended up as one of Louis's bum of the month club fighters had he been around in the late 1930's.

[tommy the hat]

I tell you what, sometimes I have more respect for the Bobby Crabtrees of boxing than I do for some of the world champions. They have tons of heart and guts and huge balls. They don't have the skills and abilities of the top ranked guys they fight, but they still have the courage to go in there and give it their all. Many of these guys do so in spite of having a full time job and not having an opportunity to train like the world class guys get a chance to. The world class guys never have to worry about getting good sparring, having a top trainer working with them and pushing them every day, or management getting them the right opponents. I have more respect for a Bobby Crabtree who always fought hard in spite of being undersized and overmatched than I do for someone like an Aaron Pryor or Michael Dokes who had tons of God given ability you can't teach but piss it all away.
As for the original question, Crabtree would probably fare the same in the 1930's and 1940's. Would have given it his best shot but be overmatched against a Max Baer ,Max Schmelling, Joe Walcott, and of course a Joe Louis.