Ezzard Charles went 42-0 as an amateur... the only HW Champ who went undefeated as an amateur. Ezzard Charles had 96 wins as a pro... the most by a HW Champ. I have seen his record with a few less wins... but never less than the #2 guy (88 wins), Primo Carnera. OK, probably the only 2 records he has but he has plenty of other notable things going on with his resume- He is only the 3rd Black HW Champ. He went 3-0 (1) vs. Archie Moore, 2-0 vs. Charley Burley, 5-0 vs. Joey Maxim, and he beat Joe Louis by decision. He went 4-1 (1) vs. Jimmy Bivins, 2-1 (2) vs. Lloyd Marshall, and 2-2 vs. Jersey Joe Walcott. His decision losses to Elmer Ray, Jersey Joe Walcott, Rex Layne, Nino Valdes, and Harold Johnson were questionable. He did beat Ray by KO, Layne by KO, Layne by decision, and he won 2 decisions vs. Walcott. Early in his career- He lost a close fight to Ken Overlin and drew with him in a rematch. He lost a SD to Kid Tunero. Very good fighters and much more experienced than the young Charles. He also beat Teddy Yarosz W10, Anton Christoforidis KO3, and Jose Basora KO5. He also beat Joe Baksi, Gus Lesnevich, Bob Satterfield, and others. He gave Marciano hell in their two fights... these were Charles' 98th and 99th pro fights. From April 1943- June 1951 a case can be made that he went undefeated. The only loss was the questionable SD to Elmer Ray (he stopped Ray in their rematch). He went 41-1 overall (should have been 42-0) during this stretch and 9-0 in HW World Title fights... many of the fighters he beat are Hall of Famers now.
This is a case where ATG lists are hard to figure -- Ezzard's resume is better than Marciano's, but we know what happened head-to-head.
you can make the case for charles to be in the top 3 lb for lb fighters all-time imo. he may have well been 42-0 as an amateur but those records are easy to fabricate. robinson is one example. it's still listed many places that he was undefeated but robinson has a couple losses as an amateur.
he stayed too long and tarnished his career that was a great one, Valdes would not rematch him but Ezzard beat a few that beat Valdes and Archie beat Baker by KO and Valdes 2x also Charles Ko'd Satterfield in 2 explosive rounds and that same Satterfeild that would dominate Valdes and ruin his shot at being Marciano's 50th and Bob Satterfield also KO'd 31-1 Cleveland Williams in 3 ...Charles had a few stale moments and disputed losses but IMO if he left after the Marciano losses people would say he lost to one of the top 3 heavyweights of all time and did well....Charles was great as a heavyweight and lb4lb, I think he has a chance vs any of the best
