Boxer, daredevil, former G-Man and courtroom dervish Charles Philip "Buddy" Brown died Friday of internal bleeding at St. Joseph Medical Center.

The former Baltimore welterweight champion with the lightning left hook and crushing right haymaker was 76.

A man of near-mythical dimensions in Maryland sporting circles, Mr. Brown was appointed by Gov. Parris N. Glendening to the State Athletic Commission in 1997 after retiring as a Baltimore prosecutor in 1990. He was the irascible conscience of the commission that sanctions boxing and wrestling matches.

He had "a tough Irish temper -- and [was] a big, old cuddly bear at the same time," said commission chairman Karl Milligan. "He was my dear friend and a good man for the state and his sport. They just don't make Charlie Browns anymore."

Born in East Baltimore and raised in Govans, Mr. Brown roared through his youth on a black Harley-Davidson as a motorcycle courier and took up flying at an early age. He was known to barnstorm his single-engine plane under the Loch Raven Bridge and twice crashed into cornfields in Baltimore County.

His wife of 55 years remembers him as a Brandoesque character in boots and black leather, who brought his Harley to a halt on York Road at the sight of her.

"I was standing on the corner, waiting for a bus to take me to my job at Western Electric when he just came barreling up and asked me out on a date," said the former Helen M. Prevost. "I had never met him before in my life.

By then, Mr. Brown had made a name for himself in the boxing ring.

Beginning as an amateur at age 14, he battled his way to the top of the welterweight ranks of the Baltimore Athletic Association -- winning more than 100 bouts and losing fewer than a dozen on his way to a showdown with Joe Poodles Jr. for the city championship in 1945.

In a storied bout at Fort Meade, it was Mr. Brown's quick left hook and sneak overhand right that enabled him to hold off the relentless Poodles to win a narrow decision in what is remembered as one of the fiercest contests of the era.

"It was so close, I think the judges flipped a coin," Mr. Brown later told a biographer in an account of the fight for his induction into the Maryland Boxing Hall of Fame in 1985.

Decades later, the quickness was evident when Mr. Brown's son challenged him to a backyard test of skills.

"I was 16 and thought I was bad," recalled Michael P. Brown with a laugh. "Well, all I saw was a blur. Then a straight right hand came out of nowhere. And I was on my butt. He was strong as an ox."

After graduating from Polytechnic Institute, Mr. Brown entered the University of Baltimore, graduating with a law degree in 1952. Before he took the bar exam, he joined the FBI.

Within a decade, he decided to pursue his law career and took a job as an assistant state's attorney in the Southeast Baltimore office, where he prosecuted crimes along the city's waterfront.

Known among his peers for his dramatic flair, he prowled the courtroom as he had the prize ring, waving documents and spinning on his heels.

An inveterate storyteller, he would regale friends with accounts of his many fights, scrapes and brushes with death, finding his most adoring audience in his five grandchildren on holidays and weekends at his Glen Arm home.

Gathered around him at a restaurant in Baltimore's Little Italy for his induction into the Hall of Fame, the grandchildren saw the characters in his stories come to life as legions of friends appeared to pay homage to the man with the stealthy right hand.

"Mayor [Kurt L.] Schmoke was there, everybody and their brother, everybody in boxing," his son recalled. "It was a big, big day for a big, big man."

A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, 13305 Long Green Pike in Hydes.

In addition to his wife, son and grandchildren, Mr. Brown is survived by two other sons, C. Steven Brown of Las Cruces, N.M., and Dennis P. Brown of Catonsville; and three sisters, Lillian B. Kennedy of Timonium, Helen B. Leard of Perry Hall and Marlene B. Abremski of Pennsylvania.