Died: January 26th 1975, San Francisco, CA
Weight: Welterweight to Light heavyweight
Managed by - John Burdick, Larry White, Frank Schular
They called them the
'Murderers Row', you know. There was Lloyd, there was Charley and there was
Jack Chase. There was another guy that not too many people are familiar with
and he could have beat 90% or 95% of these fighters today, a guy called Eddie
Booker.'
-- A.J. 'Blackie Nelson', West
Coast Amateur and
Sparring partner to all of the above.
Eddie Booker, originally from Texas, campaigned almost exclusively on the West
Coast of America between 1935 and 1944. In over eighty fights, he had eight
draws and only five defeats, all by decision. Half of his victories came via
the short route while he never once failed to go the distance himself, despite
facing a veritable 'who's who' of world rated fighters.
One of two boxing brothers -- Earl Booker was a rated lightweight campaigning
at the same time -- Eddie had an outstanding multi-titled amateur career and
carried that success over to the professional ranks under the tutelage of John
Burdick. Some of Eddie's early bouts were fought under the name of Eddie
'Brooks' so that his mother would not be aware of his professional activity.
Eddie was good enough to remain unbeaten in his first four years of ring
action, although his pilot was often criticised by the boxing press for not
putting the talented fighter in with a man before a thorough scouting report
was completed and the opponents worth assessed. If Burdick was guilty of
anything it was of protecting his fighter by not allowing anyone else to
dictate who he should fight.
With a well-developed and muscular physique, Booker had the strength and
ability to 'mix-it-up' when the chips were down and was happy to either fight
or box; he genuinely loved to be in the ring. He was a slick-boxing, defensive
stylist with decent power in both hands, particularly the left hook. Some
compared him to heavyweight great Jack Johnson in regards to his ability to
catch a punch and deliver a blow in the same motion with the same hand. Eddie
was a methodical, conservative workman who fought as much with his mind as with
his fists. Booker beat some of the best fighters of his time.
Based in San Francisco, Eddie made his daily dollars as a red-cap porter in a
local hotel where he sometimes had to suffer the indignation of a rich white
man's hatred towards a working class African-American. The racism he suffered
in his day-to-day work often spilled over into his career as a professional
fighter and Eddie Booker's pleas for a title fight fell on the same deaf ears
as the pleas of the rest of the 'Black Murderers Row'. He remained unbeaten in
his first forty-four professional outings, defeating, among others, Johnny
Bassinelli, Remo Fernandez, Gail Harrington and the murderous-punching Jimmy
Wakefield. In 1939, his undefeated skein ended against Fritzie Zivic. Without
the usual guidance of his mentor, Burdick (who was suffering ill health at the
time) and required to boil down from middleweight to the welterweight limit,
Eddie dropped a close eight-round decision to the future welterweight champion.
In his next bout, versus the experienced Cocoa Kid, Booker lost another close
decision, the only time he would suffer back-to-back defeats. In fact, he would
only lose three more times in the remaining five years of his career. He
rebounded with a string of knockout victories before taking time out during
1940 due to badly damaged hands. An With a well-developed and muscular
physique, Booker had the strength and ability to 'mix-it-up' when the chips
were down and was happy to either fight or box; he genuinely loved to be in the
ring. He was a slick-boxing, defensive stylist with decent power in both hands,
particularly the left hook. Some compared him to heavyweight great Jack Johnson
in regards to his ability to catch a punch and deliver a blow in the same
motion with the same hand. Eddie was a methodical, conservative workman who
fought as much with his mind as with his fists. Booker beat some of the best
fighters of his time.
Based in San Francisco, Eddie made his daily dollars as a red-cap porter in a
local hotel where he sometimes had to suffer the indignation of a rich white
man's hatred towards a working class African-American. The racism he suffered
in his day-to-day work often spilled over into his career as a professional
fighter and Eddie Booker's pleas for a title fight fell on the same deaf ears
as the pleas of the rest of the 'Black Murderers Row'. He remained unbeaten in
his first forty-four professional outings, defeating, among others, Johnny
Bassinelli, Remo Fernandez, Gail Harrington and the murderous-punching Jimmy
Wakefield. In 1939, his undefeated skein ended against Fritzie Zivic. Without
the usual guidance of his mentor, Burdick (who was suffering ill health at the
time) and required to boil down from middleweight to the welterweight limit,
Eddie dropped a close eight-round decision to the future welterweight champion.
In his next bout, versus the
experienced Cocoa Kid, Booker lost another close decision, the only time he
would suffer back-to-back defeats. In fact, he would only lose three more times
in the remaining five years of his career. He rebounded with a string of
knockout victories before taking time out during 1940 due to badly damaged
hands. An eighteen-fight winning streak, during which he won the California
State Middleweight title against teak-tough Shorty Hogue, established the
talented Booker as a genuine middleweight title threat. An upset loss to Hogue
in August 1941, which also cost him the state title, seemed to have removed
Eddie from the contenders list, but again he came back to post good wins over
Johnny 'Bandit' Romero, Castillo Cruz and Shorty Hogue, regaining the state
title.
A match with Charley Burley seemed
like a natural, but there were plenty of other fighters for Burley and Booker
to tangle with, even if non of them happened to be white. One look at the
records of the prominent black fighters of the day shows that they were forced
to fight each other, often several times, just to remain active and earning
some money.
"I spoke to Eddie about fighting Charley and he said
he would if he had to but he wouldn't be too happy about it because he thought
that Charley was just about the best there was. Charley once told me that Eddie
Booker would be the hardest fight he'd ever have."
-- A.J. 'Blackie' Nelson
Booker lost his state title to the
oft-avoided Jack Chase at the beginning of 1943 and was never able to get back
into title contention. An incident in the ring involving a doctored pair of
gloves led to eyesight problems and some big decisions with regards to his
career.
"Because I was a just a child then I don't recall a
lot, only about his becoming blind and the adults told me he became blind
during a boxing match."
-- Loretta Bailey, stepdaughter of Eddie Booker.
Eddie knew that his sight was getting worse, but he was determined to make some
money and provide a 'nest-egg' for his family, although he knew he was risking
permanent blindness. Still in possession of enough skill and determination to
turn back the challenges of heavyweight Paul Hartnek, Archie Moore (by
knockout), Frankie Nelson and Holman Williams, Eddie set about earning a
retirement fund, even if the money was not a good as it could have been. After
the Moore knockout, Eddie donated blood to his defeated opponent, an act that
led to them becoming life-long friends; later the Old Mongoose became godfather
to one of Eddie's children. Sadly his eyesight faded rapidly by March of 1944
Eddie Booker was through as a professional fighter.
One of the most talented fighters in any era and one of the finest gentleman to
grace the fight game, Eddie Booker was not only a victim of racism in sport,
but also the seedier, slimy underbelly of boxing. The professional side of
which legendary writer Jimmy Cannon called, "The 'red-light district' of
sports." And whether the scissors-equipped boxing glove story is true or
not, the result was that Booker was lost to the game at a relatively young age
and lived his remaining years totally blind in one eye. After his retirement, Eddie
helped several fighters with their training and he assisted Burley in his
preparations for his fights with Oakland Billy Smith.
Call it fate or simple bad luck Eddie Booker did not truly get out of life what
he deserved and, years after his passing, it seems that the same spectres
continue to haunt his family. His brother Earl lost his wife in a freak
explosion at home, (and the entire career memento's of his and Eddie's), while
his mother passed away just three days before Eddie's induction to the California-based
World Boxing Hall of Fame in October 2000. Considering Rose Booker had lived to
the grand old age of 103, this was a very cruel twist of fate indeed.
If he were around and active today Eddie Booker would have undoubtedly become
champion of the world. Just as Charley Burley, Holman Williams, Chase,
Marshall, Lytell and the rest of the 'Black Murderers Row' would surely have
been. While the honour of enshrinement in the Boxing Hall of Fame is the least
these fighters deserve, in the case of Eddie Booker it is definitely a case of
too little and too late.