Why Was Ezzard Charles Not A Fan Favourite?

After the Baroudi tragedy, he was a little more safety-conscious. That, and he followed an icon in Joe Louis. It was unavoidable in that way, like Larry Holmes was never warmed up to partially because he followed Ali, and the way Tunney was never embraced because he followed Dempsey.

Fans missed their icons, and their replacements are never good enough at the time.

 

He wasn't Joe Louis!

 

He could be very boring. He rarely exhibited any fire in the ring.

 

Im sure being black in 1950 helped. Looking at it from the perspective of the time, I'm sure to some it seemed a real change was taking place. With Louis you could look at him as the exception and after things could get back to normal, ie white. But then here comes another black guy and this right in the heels of Jackie Robinson breaking the color line in baseball (more or less). Suddenly the majors had blacks, the heavyweight champion of the world was black yet again.

Add to that a skilled but dispassionate fighter, a boxer and not a destroyer. Louis in a way was more palpable because he was such a puncher; it allowed sportwriters of the time to dismiss his ability as the animalistic side effects of his blackness. Charles was not bigger than the other heavyweights and he wasn't someone like Ray Robinson that had talent and natural ability to burn. Charles won because he was a better more skilfull boxer.

Anyway that's all pop psychological claptrap. It's impossible to pin down a single reason.

 

He was never a fan's favourite and why is answered by Janitor's post.Charles was an introverted ,shy man who never seemed comfortable in the spotlight.

 

He was kind of like a Mike McCallum. Great fighter. Excellent skills and ability. No charisma or huge fan following.

 

Yeah, my hunch is that it was mostly this - but the societal prejudice & "ah crud, not another one! atsch" angle is certainly worth mulling over given the zeitgeist back then.

 

There may have been some of the "not another one!" there as the proverbial cherry on top. Seemed like people liked Jersey Joe more than Charles, for whatever that's worth.

 

Joe Louis was a tough act to follow.

His main rival, was flashier and a natural showman in Walcott.

Charles still delivered the fun matches and knockouts though. Like Holyfield during his first title run, he had a tough act to follow on and just didn't have the personality or charisma a Heavyweight Champion is expected to have.

 

On top of what LittleRed said, Charles' subtle style was a double-edged sword in terms of hooking casuals, not being explosive or particularly vulnerable. Guys who can thrive without causing a stir are liable to become part of the scenery.

 

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Joe was the dog to Ezzard's hog.