Bob Stallings: From Long Island to the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame

Bob Stallings is the kind of name that still should echo in boxing circles, but too often, it doesn’t. He came of age in a golden era of heavyweights, sharing the ring with some of the division’s best fighters. But time has a way of dulling even the sharpest legacies. The nights he fought now are remembered only in grainy black-and-white photos or faded newspaper clippings.

That will change for Stallings, at least for one day. On Sunday, he will be inducted with 10 other fighters into the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame during a ceremony at Russo’s on the Bay in Howard Beach. Long Island fighters Larry Stanton and Alicia Napoleon-Espinosa also are being inducted Sunday.

“I am just glad they remembered me,” said Stallings, who is 85 and lives in South Carolina. “It’s an honor to go into the Hall of Fame.”

At 5-9, Stallings was an undersized heavyweight capable of beating the top fighters in the world. He had a 32-31 record while fighting professionally from 1964-1980 and distinguished himself by beating notable contenders Earnie Shavers, Chuck Wepner and Mac Foster.

“Anyone who fought Bob Stallings was in for a tough night,” said Jose Corpas, a boxing historian and member of the Hall of Fame’s voting panel. “The 1970s are considered the greatest era in heavyweight history. The top 10 ran 20 deep back then.”

In the early 1960s, Stallings moved from South Carolina to Freeport, Long Island. He began training at the Physical Arts Gym in Hempstead with the intent of being a pro wrestler. He was offered a boxing match, took it and stayed with the sport.

Doug Duffy, a pro light heavyweight from Levittown, trained alongside Stallings.

“We were all just kids having a great time,” Duffy said. “I boxed with Stallings all the time. We were 18, 19 years old. He was a very good fighter. He was old school. He’d fight anyone anywhere. Stallings never ducked anyone.”

The politics of boxing hurt Stallings more than any opponent. The early rhythm of his career took on a win-one, lose-one pattern. He lost to Buster Mathis in September 1965 but came back a month later and beat Wepner. After that, he won four straight, then lost six straight.

“They called me for a fight and I just showed up,” Stallings said. “I just wanted to fight the best.”

By the close of 1972, he began to hit his stride. He beat Billy Daniels and was hired by George Foreman to help prepare him for his challenge of Joe Frazier for the heavyweight title. Foreman paid him $100 a round for sparring.

“He was a hard hitter. He always tried to hurt you,” Stallings said of his sparring sessions with Foreman. “He picked me because me and Frazier were about the same size. Frazier was made for Foreman. If he fought Frazier three times a year, he’d beat Frazier three times a year.”

Stallings peaked over the next two years. He lost a decision to Ron Lyle in April 1973 but then won five straight, beating the likes of Foster and Bobby Mashburn and closing out the streak by flooring the power-hitting Shavers en route to a decision win at the Felt Forum.

The Shavers fight was the high-water mark for Stallings.

“When he hit me with that right-hand uppercut, oh Lord,” Stallings said. “I’ll never forget that . . . Earnie Shavers was a good hitter. But I could take the punch. I had to beat him. I was a little nervous, but after I beat him, I should have gotten the title shot.”

Stallings expected a top-10 ranking to follow and perhaps a title shot, but the phone never rang. He said his managers lacked the connections to move him correctly.

“Well, a lot of guys I fought, they got a title shot and I never got one,” Stallings said. “I didn’t understand that. But boxing was so different back then. Fighters just fought; you didn’t think much about the business of boxing.”

Stallings grew indifferent to fighting and stayed out of the ring for nearly two years. Then he began to take fights just for the money. He conceded that he was discouraged.

Still, he had an immediate impact on those around him. Sitting ringside for the Shavers fight was his younger brother Willie and nephews Eddie and Johnny Davis. All three would enjoy success in the ring.

“When Uncle Bob fought Earnie Shavers, that was the first professional fight I had ever attended,” Johnny Davis said. “When he hit Shavers with that overhand right, I thought everyone in the Felt Forum had passed out. That’s how quiet it got.”

Johnny and Eddie Davis became light heavyweight contenders, and both challenged Michael Spinks for the world title. Willie Stallings won the New York Golden Gloves and had a brief career as a pro.

Johnny Davis said they all sparred together at the gym in Freeport.

“He was one of the hardest-hitting guys I ever boxed,” he said. “God, he could hit. He set us on this journey. We grew up in the Carolinas. We knew nothing about boxing. Bob had come to New York and started boxing. Eventually we all followed him.”

Stallings had eight common opponents with Muhammad Ali — Shavers, Lyle, Wepner, Foster, Daniels, Mathis, Al Lewis and Alfredo Evangelista — and beat five of them. He clearly earned this recognition from the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame.

“It’s nice to be remembered,” he said. “Maybe I can make a comeback. What do you think? Is it time for a comeback?”

Comeback or not, he’ll hear the roar of the crowd one more time on Sunday.