Walcott was underfed and nowhere near his best for the Abe Simon fight

Maybe they attracted a good sponsor earlier? Maybe they were not tied down to a family?

 

I'm pretty sure a lot of boxers from that time married early and had kids.

 

What exactly is your stance on the issue? That he didn't get better?

Waclott went from a failure who lost to every ranked fighter he fought, who after a four year break and change in management was beating future Hall of Famers in route to HW title fights and eventual Championship win. Something changed, the results speak for itself, this can't be denied.

 

I've no idea. But the excuse of him living so poor, having to tace care of family and kids is just that - BS.

 

I think people tend to look at these things back-to-front.
In professional boxing, anyone who ever became great were the relatively fortunate ones. They all had, ultimately, some pretty good connections and backing, compared to plenty of guys we've never heard of anyway.

 

I've had to cut weight in two different sports. If I was on a starvation diet for more than a couple days, I lost a significant amount of weight at that age. ****, even now. Walcott still weighed in at 192, which was his norm coming into the bout. Hell, he was weighing in at 189 and 186 four years later.

 

There is nothing wrong with losing a fight before you make it to championship level. Abe Simon was a rated fighter. Rate a fighter on his standing at championship level.