Virgil Akins (March 10, 1928 – January 22, 2011) was an American boxer who won the Welterweight Championship of the World in 1958. Nicknamed ‘Honeybear’, Akins was the first World Champion boxer from

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Career

Akins was born and died in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. Akins was considered lanky, but proved nevertheless to be a powerful hitter with either hand. He began his career as a

Lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

in 1948, continuing to fight in that division for 6 years before finally growing into the

Welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

class. He was long considered to be an effective operator and boasted wins over future World Champions Joe Brown and Wallace ‘Bud’ Smith, as well as ending the incredible forty-seven fight winning streak of

Ronnie Delaney Ronald Michael Delany (born 6 March 1935) is an Irish former athlete who specialised in middle-distance running. He won a gold medal in the 1500 metres event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. He later earned a bronze medal in the 1500 m ...

, by way of knock-out in 1955. Akins had powered his way up the rankings in both divisions and finally got his chance of a World title once

Carmen Basilio Carmen Basilio (born Carmine Basilio, April 2, 1927 – November 7, 2012) was an American professional boxer who was the world champion in both the welterweight and middleweight divisions, beating Sugar Ray Robinson for the latter title. An iro ...

relinquished the

Championship to concentrate on defending his new

Middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

crown. An elimination tournament including six of the World's top-rated Welterweights was swiftly established in an effort to find Basilio's successor. Akins emerged the victor and new World Champion on June 6, 1958, by pounding favourite Vince Martinez to a fourth round destruction. All told, Martinez went down nine times, having never seriously recovered from a shattering right delivered early in the First. Akins's reign would not last long however. Six months later, he lost his title to

Don Jordan Don Jordan (June 22, 1934 – February 13, 1997) was an American boxer born in Los Angeles, California and was the Welterweight Champion of the World from 1958 to 1960. His nickname was ‘Geronimo’. He was of Mexican and African American desce ...

by way of unanimous decision and in only his first defense. Akins disputed the result but fared no better in the return, held the following Spring. From that moment on, it was downhill all the way for the former champion, who would win just ten of his last twenty-three fights before hanging up his gloves in 1962. Akins's contract was "owned" under the table by the notorious Frank "Blinky" Palermo, a member of the

Philadelphia crime family The Philadelphia crime family, also known as the Philadelphia Mafia, the Philly Mob or Philly Mafia, the Philadelphia-South Jersey Mafia, or Bruno-Scarfo family is an Italian-American Mafia family based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed and ...

. Palermo was imprisoned in 1961 for conspiracy and extortion for the covert ownership of prizefighters. Akins died at the age of 82 on January 22, 2011.

Professional boxing record

Honors

* Named

The Ring magazine ''The Ring'' (often called ''The Ring'' magazine or ''Ring'' magazine) is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into questio ...

Progress of the Year '' The Ring'' magazine was established in 1922 and gave an award for Progress of the Year from 1953 to 1988. It is given to a boxer who had made significant progress during the preceding year, or had otherwise made the most impressive jump from c ...

fighter for 1958. * Elected to the Gateway Classic Walk of Fame

References

External links

* * https://titlehistories.com/boxing/na/usa/ny/nysac-wl.html * https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/National_Boxing_Association%27s_Quarterly_Ratings:_1958 * https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/National_Boxing_Association%27s_Quarterly_Ratings:_1959 * Biographical Information from: (i) The Ring Record Book & Boxing Encyclopedia, 1959 (

Nat Fleischer Nathaniel Stanley Fleischer (November 3, 1887 – June 25, 1972) was a noted American boxing writer and collector. Career Fleischer was born in New York City. After he graduated from City College of New York in 1908, Fleischer worked for the '' ...

, The Ring Book Shop Inc., 1959). See p. 4. (ii) STL Toda

* Details of Akin's Ring Record from: (i) The Boxing Records Archiv

(ii) The Cyber Boxing Zon

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akins, Virgil 1928 births 2011 deaths Boxers from St. Louis Welterweight boxers American male boxers

Career

Professional boxing record

Honors

See also

References

External links