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

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Career

Akins was born and died in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. 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 (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

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 th ...

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, 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 a two-time Undisputed Welterweight Champion and Undisputed Middleweight champion, beating Sugar Ray Robinson for the latter ...

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 beg ...

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 Undisputed Welterweight Champion of the World from 1958 to 1960. His nickname was ‘Geronimo’. He was of Mexican and African Am ...

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 Bruno–Scarfo crime family,< ...

. 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

Titles in boxing

Major world titles

NYSAC The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, is a division of the New York State Department of State which regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, ...

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 th ...

champion (147 lbs) * NBA (WBA) welterweight champion (147 lbs)

''The Ring'' magazine titles

* ''The Ring'' welterweight champion (147 lbs)

Regional/International titles

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

welterweight champion (147 lbs)

Undisputed titles

* Undisputed welterweight champion

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 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 ''N ...

, 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 Vashon High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen