By: Ken Hissner
When this writer looks on www.boxrec.com I noticed a middleweight boxer named Eric Crumble who had 31 fights. He had a perfect record having lost all 31 fights by stoppage. Stoppage you say? Yes, he was stopped all 31 times.
What isn’t unusual is people with poor records can always get fights. They are called “record builders”. Crumble was from Milwaukee, WI, and turned professional in June of 1990 losing to Joe Watts III, 2-0, at the Civic Center in Lansing, MI. Watts knocked out crumble in two rounds. Watts would then go 3-0 and in his fourth fight he lost to Todd Nadon, 4-1-1, by decision and “never” fought again.
“Back in the Day” in the US commissions allowed fighters like Crumble to fight fighters like future or former world champions. For example Crumble fought “Ramblin” Rick Camlin, 17-0, from Bismark, ND, when he was 0-4, in Sterling, ILL. Few places in the US would allow this today yet in the UK it is not uncommon today. Camlin stopped Crumble in the second round and ended his career at 36-5.
In Crumble’s second fight he lost to Angel “Got Jesus” Manfredy, 0-1-1, getting knocked out in the first round. Manfredy would go onto a career record of 43-8-1, with 32 stoppages.
When Crumble was 0-8 he lost to Antwun Echols, 12-1, getting stopped in 1:25 of the first round. Echols would go onto with the NAFB and and USBA titles ending with a 32-22-4 (28) record. In his last sixteen fights he went 1-17-3. He was 24-3-1 when he challenged Bernard “Be Hop” Hopkins, 35-2-1, for his IBF World Middleweight title getting stopped in the second round. For some reason two years later Echols gets a rematch with Hopkins and gets stopped in the tenth round. Why a rematch?
In Crumbles fourth fight it ended in the first round a No Contest in one round against Rick Lanas, 1-0. Lanas won his first fight his opponent was 0-2, then Crumble, 0-3, and in his third fight his opponent was 0-1. He then retired 2-0 with one no contest.
In Crumble’s eighth fight he lost to Bruce “The Rage” Rumbolz, 8-0-1, getting knocked out in the first round. Rumbolz retired with a 22-35-2 record. Go figure!
When Crumble was 0-11 he was match with Ralph “Tiger” Jones, 29-1, of Pittsburgh, PA, getting stopped in the second round. This was not the same fighter that fought in the days of “Sugar” Ray Robinson. In Jones next fight he was knocked out by Ike “Bazooka” Quartey, 33-0, in 5 rounds and never thought again. Fighters who lose in their first fight may never fight again. Here was Jones 30-1 and lost to Quartey and never fought again.
Crumble was 0-3 when he was knocked out in the second round by Mike Jankovich 5-0, in the second round. Jankovich retired with a 19-0-1, record. His opposition was 68-316-8. So you can see why he had such a good record. His draw was against Rick Haynes, 5-18-3, when he was 17-0. Two wins later he retired.
When Crumble was 0-18 he lost to Donnie “The Spoiler” Penelton, 8-95-2, getting stopped in the second round. Wouldn’t you figure at that time Crumble wasn’t going to beat anyone? Penelton retired with a 13-166-6 record.
In Crumble’s next to last fight he was stopped at 2:27 of the first round by Mike Stone, 9-0, who would lose his next three fights and retire at 10-3. The fight before Crumble Stone defeated James Rice, 3-33-4, over four rounds. After the Crumble fight Stone was 10-0, and was in a no decision with Hector Ramirez, 14-42-1, after four rounds. In his next fight he got stopped in five rounds by Reggie Strickland, 61-252-15. Fighter from Indiana, like Stone were typical with built up records. In his debut he stopped Jerry Strickland, 13-103. Does that tell you something?
This is just one fighter this writer picked out. Bheki Moyo ended up 0-73-2, only stopped six times. Alexandru Manea was 0-54, stopped fourteen times. Dominican Heavyweight Alexis Castillo, 0-40, stopped 36 times and is still fighting. All his fights were in the Dominican Republic. What kind of commission do you think they have down there? He lost to twenty-three opponents who were unbeaten at the time. He had a double DQ against Joselito Del Rosario, 2-40, when he was 0-12.
Boxing Commissions around the world have to be held accountable and stop letting fighters continue to fight and put their health at risk when it’s obvious they have no shot at winning.
