georgie abrams/vastly underated top boxer

[burt bienstock]

A forgotten top notch midleweight of the 1940s Today would easily be champion...Opinions?

[burt bienstock]

A great and tough middleweight contender in the 1940s,who is largely forgotten today but was one hell of a fighter, who would have been champ today and many other times... I saw Marcel Cerdan ,in his first fight in America,1946 MSG, against Georgie Abrams,with Cerdan winning a split dec.Close ,close fight...Abrams foughta draw with the great Charley Burley,in 1940,beat Billy Soose ,Coco Kid,,etc...In 1941 he fought a prime Tony Zale to a very close dec,which Zale eked out,after Zale was dropped in the first round by Abrams...His most memorable fight wasin 1947,MSG against the great Ray Robinson,losing a very controversial dec.to the great Robinson,and the crowd booed,the verdict vociferously...Yes Georgie Abrams fought in the wrong era,otherwise he would have been a middleweight Champion...That's life I guess...

[My2Sense]

He was never given the chance to fulfill his full potential because the war robbed him of what should've been his prime years. When he came back, he was reportedly never fully the same fighter, yet he still managed to score a few good wins and give HOFers like Robinson and Cerdan hell. Zale is probably the only fighter to beat him when he was actually at his peak.

[young griffo]

I remember an obituary piece in Ring magazine about him written by a friend of his (whose name escapes me) which said he was robbed against Robinson and Cerdan but also that he was an absolute gentleman who was never bitter about it.

He was another great fighter from probably the most talent rich era for the Middleweight division.Robinson,Zale,La Motta,Cerdan,Olsen,Sands,Yarosz,Burley,Turpin,Villemain.....etc etc...WOW.

[GPater11093]

Theres a wee bit of footage floating around about him, I have seen it but cant remember much about him.

[scartissue]

This is the write-up on the fight from Boxrec.

Scartissue

1947-05-16 : Sugar Ray Robinson 150¾lbs beat Georgie Abrams 162lbs by SD in round 10 of 10
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA
Referee: Eddie Joseph

"Sugar Ray Robinson, world welterweight champion was awarded an unpopular split 10 round decision tonight over middleweight veteran Georgie Abrams after their non-title brawl at MSG. The fans indicated loudly that they thought Abrams had won the fight, particularly after Robinson had been penalized in the 7th and 8th rounds for fouling his heavier opponent with low blows. Robinson hurt Georgie with a hard right to the chin in the 2nd round and had him groggy with two following left hooks, but the game veteran fought back fiercely. The aggressive, compact Abrams staggered Robinson with hard straight rights to the head twice in the 6th round and once in the 9th. Robinson left the ring bleeding from a deep gash at the corner of his right eye and from a slight gash on his left brow. Abrams was bleeding from cuts on his right brow and lower lip." -United Press

Scorecards

Referee Eddie Joseph - 6-4 Robinson
Judge Frank Forbes - 6-4 Robinson
Judge Marty Monroe - 6-4 Abrams
Unofficial UP scorecard - 6-4 Abrams
Unofficial AP scorecard - 6-3-1 Abrams



Cuts suffered by Robinson in this bout postponed his scheduled defense of his 147 lb. title against Jimmy Doyle from the original May 30th date.
Abrams faced a 30 day suspension for weighing in at 162, which was 1 lb. over his contracted weight.
Attendance - 15,064
Gate - $80,772.00

[GPater11093]

The footage of the bout IMO showed SRR getting the better of it.

[TheGreatA]

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Abrams looked like an old man in appearance but he was actually fairly quick, a solid boxer and an adept spoiler.

Here's his fight against former middleweight title holder Fred Apostoli when both fighters were well past their true prime:

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I can definitely see why he gave Robinson some trouble, especially considering that he had a 12 pound weight advantage over Sugar Ray.

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It seems like the judges may not have appreciated Abrams's clinching tactics which is why he didn't always receive the decisions even if he arguably deserved them.

[johnmaff36]

The footage of the bout IMO showed SRR getting the better of it.
Yeah, same here mate. Maybe the footage that i seen had been edited to make SRR look better against 'scrappy' georgie abrams than he actually did? just a thought.

[SLAKKA]

I love Georgie Freedom but the draw with Burley was very dubious!!

Burley Beats Abrams Easily; Only Gets Draw
The Pittsburgh Courier (1911-1950) (City Edition). Pittsburgh, Pa.: Aug 3, 1940. p. 16 (1 page) Citation Page map Article image - PDF (15 K)

[My2Sense]

The footage of the bout IMO showed SRR getting the better of it.

I thought so as well.

[GPater11093]

I thought so as well.

But as Johnmaff says it is highlights so does not tell the full story

[My2Sense]

Here's his fight against former middleweight title holder Fred Apostoli when both fighters were well past their true prime:

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This was a fight that should've happened almost a decade earlier.

[bman100]

That picture is great, Robinsons physique is great, you can tell how hard these guys worked to get in top shape for fights. I always thoguht Robinson owned Abrams but the footage is not that great not enough to get a proper conclusion on the thing. Didnt knw Abrams took on Burley and DREW with him, that shows he musta been pretty impressive, coming up with the best and still arguably winning one fight and drawing another, top man.

[SLAKKA]

The draw with Burley was dubious. I'll repeat as necessary.

Burley Beats Abrams Easily; Only Gets Draw
The Pittsburgh Courier (1911-1950) (City Edition). Pittsburgh, Pa.: Aug 3, 1940. p. 16 (1 page) Citation Page map Article image - PDF (15 K)

[bman100]

still to take him on and go the distance, a great achievement.