Occupy a place on your all time P4P list? If so, why? If not... well... why? Thoughts on this one? Just how great was he at his prime weight?
Two of Ezzard's losses, the Bivins and Ray loss, came back to back once he had to basically completely stop boxing to enter the service. Not to mention he was outweighed 20 pounds by Ray, and he STILL came back to KO Ray and beat Bivins numeros times. In Ezzard's prime, he was literally nearly unstoppable. He eventually killed a guy in the ring and that plus age just took so much from him. Who's above him P4P out of curiousity, in your opinion...?
Hmm, gotcha. What do you think Ezzard's greatest assets were? What holds him back from potentially being a little higher on your list? How close to unbeatable to you think he was during his best years?
Ezzard didn't "age" as gracefully as a lot of other great fighters, I think. Probably had something to do with him being so far out of his best weight, among other things.
Of course. He is one of the most underrated boxers of all-time. IMO, he is the #1 LHW ever, despite never winning the title. He has great names on his resume and also became a very good / great heavyweight. He's #7 on my list. 1. Muhammad Ali 2. Sugar Ray Robinson 3. Henry Armstrong 4. Joe Gans 5. Willie Pep 6. Roberto Duran 7. Ezzard Charles :good
A minor correction of here- you're thinking of Lloyd Marshall, not Ray. I would have Charles around #8-15 all-time pound-for-pound. Pound-for-pound lists are awfully convoluted for me.
Personally, I believe his greatest assets were his reflexes, his right hand and his defensive ability.
As great as Ezz was, I find it difficult to place him above the likes of SRR, Armstrong, Greb and arguably Pep. I'm comfortable with Charles being somewhere inside top 10, but I've seen lists with him being Top 15/20 and don't recall having a burning sensation to argue against it. Ezz and Jofre being close together feels right without breaking it down to the granular details, maybe Ezz and Duran, I don't know, I never really make lists ... I just happen to think that the one can only feasibly be preferences between SRR, Greb and Armstrong.
His stacked resume and being able to beat Burley as a green fighter is pure greatness material for me imo. Looking at how he was a featherweight in the amateurs,may made him the lightest hw champ oat for me.