Tom McNeely vs Jersey Joe Walcott

The Walcott of '47 would've KILLED Tom.

 

The Walcott of ‘45 lost to 11-15 Johnny Allen. By ‘47 he was taking split/majority decisions over Joey Maxim and splitting a pair of fights with Elmer Ray. So yes, I think the ‘47 version beats McNeeley, but let’s be real — Walcott lost 20 fights and was losing as much as winning when he kept getting title shots handed to him like candy canes at Christmas thanks to signing with a mob boss.

 

Tough decisions against Maxim and Ray are a lot better on record than getting knocked down 11 times against Patterson.

Not to mention that the Walcott of '47 was also the one present in his first encounter with JOE LOUIS.

 

Joe Louis was an old man.

I said he’d beat McNeeley. But there are versions of Joe that would not … if he’s losing to an 11-15 guy, that version could lose to a lot of other people too. Like I said, he lost 20 fights and some of those are to guys who weren’t household names in their own households.

 

Joe Louis was aging by '47, but an old man he was not. Still gave guys like Walcott and Charles hard fought bouts around that time before ultimately losing the title.

I know you said he'd beat McNeeley, but the comment regarding a match two years before the version of Joe we're talking about is very back handed, and pretty out of place considering the fact that he's not exactly facing stiff competition. The whole "let's be real" segment seemed to just be about nothing considering that it led nowhere other than, "He was getting title shots handed to him" (Which I do agree with).

 

Joe would put him down as many times as Floyd did.

 

Walcott without working up much of a sweat.

 

I can't ever see the name "McNeeley" without thinking about his buffoonish son looking directly at the camera and shouting: "MEDDD-FOUDD"

 

Early ko for JJW