The curious case of Jersey Joe Walcott and his prime.

This part in particular seems plausible but pretty speculative. Who's to say that whatever punches he landed on Simon wouldn't have had more of an impact on Charles? Since we have no idea what level he was on during the Simon fight, I don't see how you can say these things so conclusively.

 

Might have just been after-the-fact excuses, but Louis also later claimed that he had hurt his right hand going into the first fight and that he had dried out, which had sapped his stamina and power.

 

He's a Braddock type story, journeyman made good and fed his family. And he seemed like a helluva guy, Always liked his interviews, humble and respectful but still a bad@ss.

 

All very plausible. I do think he likely was vastly improved but he wasn't totally awful pre WW2 either. He had some solid wins earlier on as well.
I don't think he was the finished article pre 1944 and came back a better fighter after a few years and probably hit his straps from 1946 onwards.

I agree that it would be nice to have some more early footage of Jersey Joe to confirm either of our views.

 

The difference being that Walcott's style was better suited to longevity!

 

If what you are saying is true, then he probably wasn't in Braddock's class!

 

Yeah fair point without footage and considering the nature of the sport we can't conclusively rule anything in or out. Poor wording by me.

I would favour the Walcott who was more consistent against a higher calibre of opponent after his significant break, to perform better against the Abe Simon's and Al Ettore's than his younger self did for example. That's in my opinion based on his post WW2 performances.

 

As you should!

 

I am not saying that he couldn't, but I don't think that Simon was as good as Elmer Ray, or Rex Layne.

 

Oh, and of course Louis and Walcott both lost their first fight!

 

I never commented on that but yes not very flattering

 

Possibly not given that I’m not sure Tyson had the mental capacity to stick with it the way Joe did

 

I don't think anyone disputes that walcott improved as a fighter or overlooks the fact he had bad management and diet/poverty issues.

I think the real elephant in the room is the very real fact that regardless of improvements in his technique, Walcott was still a physically aged fighter who had a very long career with lots of wear and tear and losses. That's gonna impact your performances no matter how skilled you are.

Pretty irrelevant given that anyone can have their 30 seconds of fame in a mere sparring match, and Louis wasn't particularly difficult to drop.

 

For me, Walcott never really reached his prime, in a sense of he never fulfilled his potential to what he could've, if he got with a good trainer from the start and wasn't working part time, bad management ect; i tend to think he'd have maintained that knowledge and ring craft whilst still physically prime.

As for the best moments of his career, of say it's between Louis 1 to Marciano 1.