Ezzard Charles vs Jersey Joe Walcott 3

Jersey Joe Walcott became heavyweight champion of the world at the fifth attempt when he knocked out Ezzard Charles in the seventh round at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, on 18 July 1951. Charles weighed 182 pounds and was defending the National Boxing Association championship for the ninth time and the New York-recognised title for the fifth. Walcott, at 194 pounds, entered as a 9–1 outsider and at 37 was widely considered to be approaching the end of his useful championship years. Referee Buck McTiernan completed the count after a left hook put Charles down at 55 seconds of the seventh round. A crowd of 28,272 paid a gross gate of $245,000 for the first world heavyweight championship contest staged in Pittsburgh.

The two men knew one another thoroughly. Charles had beaten Walcott over 15 rounds in Chicago in June 1949 to win the vacant NBA title following Joe Louis’s retirement, and had defeated him again in Detroit four months before the Pittsburgh meeting. In that second contest, Charles dropped Walcott with a left hook in the ninth and retained the championship by unanimous decision. Walcott had also twice challenged Louis, losing a disputed split decision in 1947 and being knocked out in the eleventh round of their return. His third meeting with Charles was therefore his fifth challenge for the heavyweight crown, and there was little public expectation that another opportunity would end differently.

Walcott began with greater confidence than he had shown in their earlier meetings. Rather than surrendering the initiative and waiting exclusively for counters, he carried the attack towards Charles while retaining the deceptive movement which had long made him difficult to judge. He shifted his weight, changed direction and varied the rhythm of his lead hand, giving Charles no settled target. The champion attempted to command the centre with his jab, but Walcott’s head movement and angular steps frequently carried him away from the straight line of the punch.

The opening rounds were competitive without being reckless. Charles was the smoother combination puncher and sought to work from a measured distance, while Walcott used feints and sudden changes of position to bring the left hook into play. Walcott’s punches appeared heavier, particularly when Charles followed him and was caught during the act of stepping forward. Charles landed cleanly enough to remain dangerous, but he was unable to establish the steady authority which had carried him through their two previous contests.

By the fourth and fifth rounds, Walcott was taking firmer control. He drove Charles backwards on several occasions and forced the champion to cover beneath hooks to the head and body. Walcott’s work was more aggressive than usual, though it remained carefully organised. He would draw Charles towards him, turn off at an angle and return with the hook before the champion could reset. Charles responded with rights and short combinations, but much of his attack was broken by Walcott’s movement before it could develop into sustained work.

Walcott continued to press in the sixth, throwing the left hook with increasing force and frequency. Charles was not in serious distress, but he was being made to react rather than dictate. At the end of six rounds, McTiernan had Walcott ahead five rounds to one. Judge Charley Daggert had the challenger leading four rounds to one, with one even, while Red Robinson scored the contest level at three rounds apiece. The Associated Press also had Walcott in front by four rounds to two. The challenger was therefore not depending upon a single blow to rescue a losing effort; he had boxed the stronger fight to that point.

The finish arrived less than a minute into the seventh. Charles moved forward with his left hand and prepared to deliver the right. Walcott, watching the movement carefully, shifted away from the line of attack and brought a compact left hook across the champion’s jaw. The punch landed cleanly, and with Charles’s weight moving towards it. His legs folded immediately, and he fell heavily onto his back. There was no scramble to rise and no uncertainty in the count. McTiernan reached ten while Charles remained on the canvas, and the championship changed hands at 55 seconds of the round.

The knockout was the product of timing rather than a wild exchange. Walcott had spent six rounds encouraging Charles to follow, measuring the champion’s advance and repeatedly showing him changes of angle. When Charles committed himself in the seventh, the left hook arrived at precisely the point where he was least able to absorb it. Walcott’s method had always depended upon balance, footwork and counter-punching, and the championship-winning blow contained all three. It was short, direct and delivered without unnecessary movement.

Charles had made a strong and active champion. He had defeated Walcott twice, beaten Louis over 15 rounds and defended the recognised heavyweight title repeatedly against leading contenders. In Pittsburgh, however, he was outmanoeuvred and then conclusively knocked out. There was no disputed score, foul or premature intervention to obscure the result. Walcott had led on two official cards, had taken the initiative for much of the contest and finished the champion with one of the most accurately timed left hooks seen in a heavyweight title fight.

At 37, Walcott became the oldest man to win the world heavyweight championship, a distinction he held until George Foreman defeated Michael Moorer at age 45 in 1994. His victory was named The Ring magazine’s Fight of the Year for 1951. Walcott and Charles met once more in Philadelphia in June 1952, with Walcott retaining the title by a close 15-round decision. The Pittsburgh contest remained the defining result of their rivalry: after four unsuccessful championship challenges and more than two decades as a professional, Jersey Joe Walcott finally gained the title with a performance in which patience, craft and one perfectly delivered punch settled the matter.

I rate Jersey Joe Walcott’s victory over Ezzard Charles as one of the finest examples of an old professional solving a problem through timing and nerve. Walcott was 37, a 9–1 outsider and entering his fifth attempt to win the heavyweight championship. Charles had already beaten him twice and was an active, accomplished champion who had also defeated Joe Louis. Most people thought Walcott’s latest opportunity had come too late.

Walcott did not fight like a desperate old man chasing one last chance. He was patient, awkward and clever with his feet, shifting his weight and drawing Charles forward before changing the angle. By the end of six rounds, he was ahead on two official cards and level on the third. He was not waiting for a lucky punch; he was boxing the better fight.

The finish in the seventh was beautiful in its simplicity. Charles stepped in, Walcott slipped away from the line of attack and whipped a short left hook onto the jaw. Charles went down heavily and never looked like beating the count. It was not a wild swing. It was a perfectly timed counter from a man who had spent years learning exactly where an opponent would be.

For me, that is proper craft. Walcott had lost disputed fights, suffered knockouts and been written off, yet he kept improving. He did not beat Charles through sentiment or determination alone. He outthought him, led on the cards and knocked him cold at 55 seconds of the seventh. At 37, he finally became heavyweight champion because his timing remained first-class even when his youth had gone.