Bennie Briscoe boxer

"Bad" Bennie Briscoe (February 8, 1943 – December 28, 2010) was an American professional boxer. A fan favorite for his punching power, he was known as the "quintessential Philadelphia boxer," and one of the greatest fighters of his era who due to various reasons did not become a world champion."Bad" Bennie fought from 1962 to 1982, and retired with a career record of 66 wins (53 by KO) 24 losses and 5 draws. Briscoe was a top-rated middleweight contender during the 1970s, unsuccessfully challenging for the WBC and WBA world titles on three occasions. Notable former champions and contenders Brisoce fought included Marvin Hagler, Carlos Monzon, Rodrigo Valdéz, Luis Rodríguez, Vicente Rondon, Tony Mundine, Vito Antuofermo, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Emile Griffith, and Vinnie Curto.Cus D'Amato regarded Briscoe much higher than most of his highly decorated opponents in many respects, particularly for his determination, intimidating posture, constant forward movement, aggressiveness, iron jaw, and ability to absorb punches no matter how solid he was hit, creating an impression of irresistible force to great many of his opponents. Briscoe's relentless walk-forward style earned him a nickname "Black Robot" while fighting abroad (for that reason, French cartoonist Dero portrayed Briscoe as a robot with hammers instead of arms,) forcing even such aggressive fighters as Hagler and Monzon to back-up consistently. He was also sometimes referred to as "the fighting trashman," because he balanced his training early in his career with a day job as a sanitation worker in South Philadelphia.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." 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.Briscoe supported his family, and his mother in particular, sending home a bit of each payday. 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.Briscoe had a standout career as an amateur, compiling a record of 70–3.