Who ranks higher at 175? Bob Foster or Ezzard Charles

i never said he didnt have more wins over greats of the division. what i said was ezzard was an exclusive LHW for such a very short time. bivins was rated as a heavyweight throughout the war. even maxim was fighting Walcott. none of these guys were career light heavyweights. i think charles was 169 before the war then he was fighting real heavyweights within 18 months after the war. big guys like baksi, Elmer Ray. the guy beat great light heavyweights already rated in the HW division. and he was the same. bob foster tried heavyweight a few times but spent most of his career as a LHW. its not unfair to say that. floyd was a lightheavy as long. its true.

 

What you said was this

Which is absolute rot. Charles fought in the division for 8 odd years.

Also this

Completely and utterly incorrect. Patterson fought there just three years.

Well we better not count any of their fights at 175 then. Lets erase all the 175 fights Charles had against people that weren't career 175'ers.

No, it's an out and out lie. Absolute BS.

Do yourself a favor, go and do some research on Charles. You might find out why so many rate him so highly.

 

I think you need to be doing the research because you have fell into the common trap of including the years Charles was absent from the ring during the war!!

Charles never scaled 175 until AFTER THE WAR. Between March 1943 and February 1946 Charles was a soldier. He did not fight professionally.

From Feb 1946 to July 1947 when he was beaten by 196lb Elmer Ray Charles fought just light heavyweights. That's the only time he fought just lightheavyweights. The first time he scaled above 175 himself was December 1948.

So even being as ridiculously pedantic as possible it would be rather silly to say Charles was a Lightheavyweight any longer than three years.

 

Patterson has 1 notable victory at LHW. Yvon Durelle.

Charles has the following victories: Yarosz, Christoforidis, Maxim, Moore, Marshall, Smith, Bivins.

Charles has even more if you consider the fights only he was a LHW.

The two aren't comparable.

 

not quite true. Floyd beat the current actual reigning LHW champ as well. Wins that made him #1 LHW contender that Floyd registered were over top flight LH guys Tommy Harrison, Jimmy Slade, Wes Bascome Willie Troy and Dave Whitlock.

he does. Very good wins. Better than Patterson yes. I was not comparing resumes, I was comparing time in the division.

I never said that they were comparable. The part you are confused with was when I said they were light heavyweights for "about" the same length of time.

 

Ezzard Charles had a boxing career spanning 19 years. Just three of those years were in a division where he did not win the title. Why should this be considered "his" division any more than Jack Dempsey, Floyd Patterson, Gene Tunney, max Schmeling, Jimmy Ellis, Jimmy Braddock or Micheal Moorer who also spent time around that weight class without winning undisputed recognition there?

 

Kovalev? I tip my hat.

Let me guess, he beat the guy in a fight for the heavyweight title. Chalk that up in Patterson's 175 resume then.

I'll be back for a chop at that other post over the weekend when i have more time.

 

The reason is blatantly freaking obvious why Charles is so highly rated there - because of performance! I'll add Charles to the list of fighters (Foreman, Liston etc) you are extremely weird about.

 

Charles is absolutely one of the best fighters of all time and one of my favourites.

Debating what division he should be most remembered for does not effect this. How is it derogatory toward Charles to say he was a LHW for three years? It is a compliment to say he was too good for that division.

 

Hey it works both ways. Bivins was a 184lb heavyweight when Charles actually beat him. Lesnevich was 182lb. Joey Maxim was over 180lb the last two times he fought him. So why does every one "chalk these up" in Charles 175 resume?

In fact, Teddy yarosz and Anton christafordis were "below" the LHW limit as was Charles when they met. Shall we "chalk off" those two from Ezzards 175lb resume?

 

You are a wonder to us all.

 

I don't count 8 round victories as notable.

It is the strength of those wins which is why it is considered "his division"

Why does it matter how long they were ranked as LHW men?

Patterson is great. One of the greatest CW sized fighters in recorded history.

 

Possibly because Charles weighed inside the 175 limit and both Patterson and Moore weighed in as heavyweights?? Jesus bloody Christ Chok.

For the record i have often seen people in here giving Patterson loads of cruiserweight credit because of his wins inside that weight.

 

Because it ignores the larger body of work in other divisions.

but as I spelled out many of these wins were over lightheavies scaling above and below the actual limit of that weight class. Lesnevich, maxim, bivins, christafordis, yarosz...

 

To be fair to Spinks, he was vastly less experienced at that stage of his career. He probably improved a bit over the next couple of years.