Ezzard Charles?

I think that Charles that fought Louis could have beaten Marciano.

 

Prime Marciano-Charles is a 50-50 fight for me.

I don't see Ezzard beating Liston but perhaps lasting the distance as Machen did. Maybe.

Loses to Ali, Frazier and Foreman but could give Ali a competitive fight.

Charles would still beat a lot of 60's and 70's contenders - Quarry, Bugner, Bonavena. I think he has a good shot at beating Lyle and Shavers too though i am not sure he could handle being hit clean by them.

Starting in the late 80's and 90's - i don't think he could handle the sheer power of guys like Tyson, Lewis, Wlad etc. Those guys are either way too fast or way too big. But that is not a knock on Charles as he is greater p4p fighter than any of them.

 

Prime Charles could beat Marciano, Dempsey and Frazier as well as standing a good chance against Ali from the 70s.

 

Think he beat Holyfield and Liston as his top…the rest on their best day prob win.

 

Great fight in which either guy wins. Love 'em both.

 

They sparred and Charles thought nothing of Liston…that’s a mental edge I don’t think would ever go away

 

I know it was early on. I don’t normally put to much stock in what the opinion of the overall fighter but heads up? I’ll take there word.

 

Of course on the right night Charles could beat Marciano or any heavyweight for that matter. Charles gave Marciano a tough fight both times, but went against the game plan twice and it cost him both times. In the first fight he was outpointing Marciano, but let himself get pulled into a brawl and took a beating that took years off his career in my opinion.

In the rematch Charles came in heavier against Arcel's advice in hopes of cutting Marciano up to force a stoppage, which almost happened, but the extra weight resulted in him running out of gas and Marciano was able to force the stoppage himself.

Here is a piece with Hiawatha Gray talking about the first Charles-Marciano fight and him giving his opinion on where Charles went wrong.

Hiawatha Gray on the Fight

Passing along the observations on the fight of Hiawatha Gray, former well-known boxer himself and for many years trainer of Archie Moore.

Hiawatha is no TV or movie expert, but SAW the Marciano-Charles bout from closeup, and KNEW what he was looking at.

He has a strong opinion about the column of a local scribe who went to the Indiana Theater and came out proclaiming that the fix was on, and that "gentlemen who work for the International Boxing Club must stay in line to do so."

As we say, Gray's opinion is a strong one but not a favorable one. "I am going to send that column to Jim Norris of the IBC," he said. "That fellow has rendered himself liable."

"After Charles and Marciano bloodied each other up like that, to talk about a 'fix' is ridiculous."

"In fact, I'm not so sure there will be a rematch in September because I wonder whether they can recover by that time. Both those boys left something in that ring they will never get back."

GRAY CAN'T BE accused of thinking he's looking at a rough fight when he isn't, either. He has a poor opinion of most present day matches, as far as violence is concerned.

"Everything is different now from the old days, with these boxers coming through the Golden Gloves and AAU," he observed. "Now they get out and box and so on. They just don't know the meaning of fighting as it used to be."

He paused reflectively and then said, to emphasize his point: "Why, I never knew of such a thing as dirty fighter! The two men were in the ring and the purpose was to win, that was all."

Getting back to Charles. Hiawatha had told us before the fight that the Cincinnatian would surprise a lot of people, because he was in shape. Now he recalled this prediction and added:

"If Charles had paced himself after the early rounds, he would have won. When he saw he couldn't finish Rocky off, he should have settled down and gone for points. But he gave them a fight, huh?"

"They don't like Charles because he is the cleanest-living man in the ring today. He may be a little old, but he's not flabby and over the hill because he's lived right. And he showed everybody that he has guts."

A BYSTANDER put in:

"They always said Charles wouldn't fight because he killed a man in the ring and it haunted him."

Hiawatha shook his head. "He died after the fight," he said. "And that doesn't worry Charles. Why should it?"

He looked around the circle of listeners. "A fellow I was in with died too." he recalled. "But it never bothered me. I was in the ring the same as he was. We were both trying to hit the other man as hard as we could and get him out of there. That he died for some reason later, that had nothing to do with me. We both had the same idea. It was to win."

Hiawatha Gray scowled, for he is a serious-minded man who has put a lifetime into boxing and doesn't like the half-baked ideas that spring up like mushrooms before and after every major fight. He likes to keep things straight.

You shouldn't think from the above that Gray is a bloodthirsty or killer type. He is a soft-spoken, mild-mannered gentleman, one of the most courteous men we have known. But like we said, he is serious about boxing. When men put their bodies and souls-even their lives - on the line for something, it is a poor act to cry "fix."
https://imgur.com/wldnxZN

 

Potentially, yes I think he might have.

The reality is that he didn't, and the rest is history.