Ben Skelton/Ring Record/Boxrec

[Brutu]

Did Boxrec ever sort out his actual ring record that he claims in the newspaper article?
from the Las Vegas Review-Journal
May.12.2008.

http://www.lvrj.com/sports/18854774.html

[Brutu]

Here is a short article about Ben Skelton,from the Sept.1962 issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... index.html

[John]

I don't know what you can expect us to do about it ?

[Matt]

The guy just exagerrated about his career, as that record has no issues that I can see, other than missing fights. When he constructed his story years ago, there was no boxrec to call him on his b.s. There was a guy Elmo "Tex" Henderson a few years back who did the same thing. We've also had relatives of fighters come here, wondering why our record didn't fit the tall tales they were told.

[Brutu]

Maybe Boxrec can contact Freddy's Fabulous Car Wash
and ask them if his family can fax any documentation
photographs,newspaper articles that they may have concerning his professional boxing career.
Did he fight also under a different name?
here is the link to Fabulous Freddy's Car Wash web site.

http://www.fabfred.com

[Brutu]

The 2008 article mentions that Ben Skelton was the light-heavyweight champion of the U.S Navy during World War II.
Has that been confirmed?

[John]

The evidence is conclusive, he made his record up, we can't waste time trying to track down the figment of someone's imagination.

[Brutu]

I suspect that Ben Skeleton fought a lot of smokers in Pittsburgh,against a number of boxers
that no one has ever heard of.
I remember Jack O'Halloran saying in an interview that a lot of his early pro fights
in Boston were never documented back then.

[Brutu]

Well that fact the he sparred with at least two world heavyweight champions,Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston should give him some credibility.
I just did a cursory check over at the newspaper archives and came across several fights of his
that are not listed on Boxrec.

A Loss to George Clark in July 1946
A one round KO win over Nate Smith in February 1953
in same article he was scheduled to meet Howard McMalory next in Johnston Pa the same month.(was unable to find who won tho)

[Brutu]

The guy just exagerrated about his career, as that record has no issues that I can see, other than missing fights. When he constructed his story years ago, there was no boxrec to call him on his b.s. There was a guy Elmo "Tex" Henderson a few years back who did the same thing. We've also had relatives of fighters come here, wondering why our record didn't fit the tall tales they were told.

The newspaper article was published in May 2008.
That was less then 2 years ago.
Its too late now to interview him of course.

[John]

George Clark is an alias for George Siebert, I have added a reference to the Alaskan Light Heavyweight title to his bio http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Ben_Skelton

[Matt]

The guy just exagerrated about his career, as that record has no issues that I can see, other than missing fights. When he constructed his story years ago, there was no boxrec to call him on his b.s. There was a guy Elmo "Tex" Henderson a few years back who did the same thing. We've also had relatives of fighters come here, wondering why our record didn't fit the tall tales they were told.

The newspaper article was published in May 2008.
That was less then 2 years ago.
Its too late now to interview him of course.

Who cares if he said it two years ago, he probably came up with it 30 years ago. People lie about their accomplishments, it's that simple.

[Brutu]

What exactly did he lie about?
Which Hall-of-Famers did he claim to have defeated?

[Brutu]

George Clark is an alias for George Siebert, I have added a reference to the Alaskan Light Heavyweight title to his bio http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Ben_Skelton

The All-Alaskan light heavyweight title Skelton won by default ,because his opponent
was either ill or injured.
Skelton had earlier won the Aleutian Islands light heavyweight title,with a points win over Marine Cpl.Francis Pettit in 1944.

BTW if George Siebert could have an alias,why couldnt Ben Skelton?

[John]

It's possible he fought under an alias and it's even possible though very, very unlikely that he had 38 wins. What is impossible is that his at least 15 losses are going to disappear. He was noted in a newspaper article in March of 1953 as a "preliminary fighter of ordinary ability".

[Brutu]

I did read in the 1953 newspaper article,he wasnt too popular of a fighter due to the fact he was described as a "Runner".