Ike Williams

CTL-E-7065 · Person · other · 1923–1994

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07937 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-7065.

Ike Williams, born August 2, 1923 in Brunswick, Georgia and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, held, the International Boxing Hall of Fame states, the NBA lightweight championship from a second-round knockout of Juan Zurita on April 18, 1945, unified the crown by knocking out fellow Hall of Famer Bob Montgomery in 1947, made five successful title defenses, and lost the title to Jimmy Carter in 1951 — a reign spanning 1945 to 1951. The Hall states that after a dispute with his original manager in the mid-1940s Williams was blacklisted by the Boxing Managers Guild and, to salvage his career, signed with mobster Blinky Palermo, who controlled boxing with Frankie Carbo; Williams got fights but, the Hall states, testified in a 1960 Senate investigation that Palermo kept $40,000 of his $65,000 share of the 1948 Jesse Flores and Beau Jack title fights, and that he refused bribes to throw the Carter fight and a second Kid Gavilan fight, losing both. The Hall lists his record as 126-24-5 with 60 knockouts; other compilations differ (see notes). He retired in 1956, died September 5, 1994, and was inducted in 1990.

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0451. Firsts disposition: none claimed. Mob-era context carried only as sourced: the blacklist, the Palermo signing, the withheld purses and the refused bribes all ride the IBHOF biography (which reports Williams's 1960 Senate testimony), corroborated by BoxRec and the NJ Boxing Hall of Fame; Palermo is described with the Hall's word 'mobster' attributed to that source. Vitals split: record totals — IBHOF biography 126-24-5 (60 KOs, 155 bouts) vs the Hall's published list figure 127-24-4 (61 KOs) vs BoxRec 128-24-5 (61 KOs); description rides the IBHOF biography figure attributed and asserts no blended total. The 1945-51 reign is stated as the NBA title from April 18, 1945, unified in 1947, lost May 25, 1951. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Williams may be the clearest case in this lane of a champion whose hardest opponent was the business itself — blacklisted for standing up to his manager, then taxed by the mob manager who 'rescued' him; his own testimony is the spine of the record. Photo: CLEARED — 1949 photograph, Public domain, Commons description 'American boxer Ike Williams' identifies the boxer; a 1925 Georgia Tech football file of a different Ike Williams was rejected as a namesake.

Sources

• International Boxing Hall of Fame. "Ike Williams." IBHOF inductee biography (Modern). Accessed 2026-11-03. (primary source · build store)
• New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame. "Ike Williams." NJ Boxing HOF. Accessed 2026-11-03. (primary source · build store)
• BoxRec. "Ike Williams." BoxRec Wiki. Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)

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Record CTL-E-7065 · Combined Graph record U-07937 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources.
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