Bennie Briscoe

Briscoe was born in Augusta, Georgia, to a poor family, one of fourteen children. Usually bold Briscoe said that the reason his hair is cut very short is that "When you're one of fourteen children they can't waste too much money on haircuts," and when he used to go to the barbershop, his father would say "Take it all off."[7] Motivated by his family's poverty, at the age of 16, he moved from Augusta, where he was a star athlete in football and track and field, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to live with an aunt and uncle and attended Simon Gratz High School. There, he eventually began training alongside Joe Frazier, hence is his familiar bobbing-and-weaving style.[8]

Briscoe supported his family, and his mother in particular, sending home a bit of each payday.[9] He worked a series of municipal jobs, including as a sewer inlet cleaner and rat control officer. He eventually took a job with the sanitation department, working on a trash route in South Philadelphia as he continued to train as a boxer. A union worker, he was a member of AFSCME District Council 33.[6]

Briscoe had a standout career as an amateur, compiling a record of 70–3.[10] He won the Middle Atlantic AAU title three times, the last in 1962 at Convention Hall in Philadelphia. Though he did not make it to win the United States National Boxing Championships in Pocatello, April 7, 1961, and in Cincinnati, March 31, 1962, losing to H.C. Massey and to Wade Smith respectively. He turned pro shortly thereafter, being coached by Quinzel McCall.

Despite going pro, Briscoe knew that the life of a boxer could be financially unstable and risky—and wanted to retain his union pension plan—so he continued his work on the trash route until 1973.[6]

Bennie was known for his toughness, strong punch and body punching. He fought future middleweight champion Monzon to a draw in Buenos Aires on May 6, 1967, but dropped a 15-round decision to the champion in a 1972 title match, when Briscoe managed to stagger Monzon very badly with a solid lead right at 1:50 of the 9th round, sending Monzon to the ropes with his eyes blinking wide, ropes saved Carlos from falling down to the canvas, followed immediately by a left hook to the chin, and Monzon clinched him tightly to buy a time, though Briscoe didn't make it to finish him for he was not fully recovered after being struck with hepatitis, and local referee constantly interrupted in course of the fight. Each time Briscoe tried to capitalize on the openings, created by Monzon's high handguard, to administer his devastating body shots, which landed perfectly to the body, and by no means below the belt of his opponent, local referee stepped in without hesitation and warned him about low blows. Thus far he restrained himself from throwing body shots, even when in perfect position to do so, constantly afraid of being disqualified. Nevertheless, both losses came essentially due to the fact that Briscoe and his coach did not came up with any decent gameplan or strategy, while Monzon's camp studied the films of Briscoe fights very carefully, adjusting Monzon's style to perfectly counter Briscoe's front-running style, mostly outjabbing and outboxing him from the safe distance, available by the reach advantage.[7]

By the end of 1972, having 56 professional fights under his belt, Briscoe has been floored only three times in his career, twice in the same fight in the 1st round, which he ended with a knockout victory in the 2nd round. Among his first-round victories was also a one-punch-knockout, a further proof of his outstanding punching power.[7]

Briscoe was outpointed by former welterweight and middleweight king Emile Griffith in their first match, but fought Griffith to a draw in a rematch. He was outpointed by future middleweight champions Marvin Hagler and Vito Antuofermo on the downside of his career.

Bennie also fought Rodrigo Valdez three times. He was outpointed twice, but Valdez scored a rare KO over Briscoe in an elimination match to determine the WBC middleweight champion on May 25, 1974 - it was the only time in 96 fights that Briscoe was ever stopped. The WBC had decided to "strip" Monzon of its version of the middleweight crown, although the rest of the world continued to recognize Monzon as champion.

Briscoe was one of the most feared middleweights of his era. In 2003, he was named in The Ring's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.[11] His final record was 66-24-5 with 53 knockouts and one no contest.

Briscoe fought with the Star of David on his boxing trunks in tribute to his managers, first Jimmy Iselin, whose father Phil owned the New York Jets, and Arnold M. Weiss.

Bennie Briscoe died on December 28, 2010.[1]

• Boxing record for Bennie Briscoe from BoxRec