Very good or great? Volume 10: Jersey Joe Walcott

Oddly enough you said highlights CAN'T be an indicator of how a fight went overall. It most certainly can be, there can be no argument about that. Whether it was or whether it usually is, is a whole other matter.. but it certainly can be.

 

John Garfield was live ringside at walcott-louis I. He was and remains a huge joe louis fan. He was cheering for Louis hardcore that night. After watching that fight, he went home thinking Walcott clearly won the fight.


I like that first hand account over anyone elses

 

Nat Fleischer was a quack

 

many others say the same thing.. let's not act like frazier was some master boxer with all the tools in the shed.. he wasnt

 

So it can be.. that is all I wanted to hear.

 

Nobody is asking for the results to be changed scoring the fight under modern criteria. What is clear.. is that there was an outrage at the criteria used in the fight when one fighter can score TWO KD's and never get KD himself.. outthink and make another look fooling and still lose. That is the point. Nobody is saying change the results. but what is clear and what you have avoided each and every time it's brought up.. is that IF IF you scored that fight under a modern BETTER (key word is better as you agree it's a better system) Walcott would've won. YOu can't even admit that much, which frankly is kinda sad McGrain. You know it to be true.

 

Louis was not losing a close decision in Madison Square Garden. His promoters had connections there. Walcott's camp protested the initial ref, who was replaced. The other two judges gave it to Louis.

The points you seem to discount are as follows

1 ) The crowd felt Walcott won. Check the audio and the loud booing.

2 ) Judging by Louis body language, he felt he lost.

3 ) Walcott's corner was visibly upset.

4 ) The available footage shows Walcott was the better in terms of effective aggressiveness, clean punching, ring general ship and defense.

 

I had a relative who saw the fight said the same thing. John's word is gold.

 

Also, Bud Taylor beat Jimmy McLarnin, Tony Canzoneri and Pancho Villa. I undoubtedly rank him a greater fighter than Walcott.