BoxRec

I may have found a new Lloyd Marshall bout. He won a decision over Al LaBoa in San Jose on September 29, 1936.

- Chuck Johnston

Chuck,

By the gaps in Marshall's record it would appear that there are probably more bouts out there for Marshall to be found in the Bay Area.

I see that you entered some bouts for Earle Booker. Was he Eddie Booker's brother?

Earle Booker won the 1934 Pacific Coast Amatuer Lightweight Title in Portland by beating Harry Moyer, who was the father of Denny and Phil Moyer.

Marshall's early record is incomplete. The Leonard Bennett & Joe Ricciotti fights were only recently added.

According to newspaper reports there a still a few of Eddie Booker's fights to be found also.

I have a good number of reports for Eddie's fights - and some for brother Earl - given to me by Eddie's stepdaughter. It would be good to fill in the gaps in his record.

I read somewhere that Marshall had around a dozen fights in Cleveland before going to the west coast. Any thoughts?

During the middle 1980s, Jack Kincaid compiled a record of Eddie Booker's bouts that was in an IBRO issue.

Yes, Earle was a brother of Eddie. It looks like Earle was a good prospect, but he sustained a devastating loss to George Hansford, who landed two big left hooks to the jaw to score a TKO in the second round.

For one of Eddie Booker's bouts in San Jose, there was a crowd of 4,000.
However, the gate was a little over $2,000. Of course, price cuts were made during the GREAT DEPRESSION in order induce fans to come out to see the fights.

Other noted boxers who fought on San Jose cards during the middle and late 1930s include Jackie Jurich, Horace Mann, King Levinsky, Pablo Dano, Tomboy Romero, Speedy Dado, and Art Lasky. As a native of Montana, I was happy to find two bouts of Jimmy McCusker, a bantamweight from
Bozeman.

- Chuck Johnston

Thanks Chuck,

I have a copy of that record and have already added stuff to it myself from the clippings I have.

I just found another fight for Eddie from July 18 1935 - a draw against Aguilar ( a regular opponent of Booker early on), in Oakland. I will check again before posting it.

It would be interesting to see what guys like Booker would be earning today. Fighting for little, but often may be a great way to learn your trade, but it was a hard way to earn a living!

Do you have anything on Booker's amateur career?

It is true that fighters were not making much money fighting in California during the 1930s. What's more, $2,000. was considered a very good gate in the smaller cities in California during the same period. Even Small
Montana wasn't making alot of money while fighting in California despite
the fact there are large number of Filipino fans in the state. It appears that he made his biggest purse while fighting Benny Lynch in Great Britain,
something like $15,000.

Except for the top heavyweights and the most popular smaller fighters, almost all fighters had to struggle mightily to make even a fair living during the 1930s.


I am sorry, but I don't have anything about Eddie Booker's amateur career.

Eddie Booker and Charley Burley didn't get the breaks that Henry Armstrong, Ezzard Charles, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Archie Moore, and Jersey Joe Walcott received. Of course, Archie Moore and Jersey Joe Walcott were lucky that they were able to box well past the regular retirement age for a boxer or they wouldn't have made some large purses.

The matchmaker of the Olympic Auditorium from 1942 to 1956, Babe McCoy, had some interesting comments in an interview by a Los Angeles Times reporter during the early 1960s. Besides feeling that television did much to kill many of the boxing clubs, he pointed out that there was a shallow talent pool in boxing by the time of interview. McCoy offered as proof the fact that old men like Archie Moore and Joe Brown won world titles.

- Chuck Johnston