Quote Originally Posted by Lyle
Golota, Sammy Langford, Harry Wills, Ezzard Charles
Ezzard Charles was world heavyweight champion. He fought Jersey Joe Walcott for the vacant (NBA world) title following Joe Louis's retirement, and won a unanimous decision. He defended it successfully against Walcott subsequently, and also a comebacking Louis to be universally recognised. He lost it to Walcott via picture-perfect left hook KO in round 7, and then was defeated again by Walcott on points. I always found it strange that he should have won their first two fights, and lost the last two as Walcott was significantly older (he was the then oldest winner at 3, which you would have thought favoured Charles even more. The third fight is more explicable since it was ended early by the big puncher, but losing on points in the fourth less so. Maybe Charles simply faded more quickly as a force - as a small heavyweight, he was more reliant on his speed and reflexes which are likely to erode more quickly, whereas Walcott always had his punch/strength to fall back on.