Ezzard Charles could have potentially been a 3 weight champion

He almost certainly beats Lesnevich for the lhw title, & did end up beating him quite decisively when they met up @ hw.

Harder to say @ mw. he had obvious talent & credentials @ the weight, but he perhaps wasn't yet fully seasoned or physically mature.

 

Agree: not impossible that he could have won a title had he gotten a shot when he was campaigning at middleweight in his younger years, but Ezz wasn’t yet physically mature or consistent, so more likely he falls short at that point.

At light heavy, no question he would have won a belt had he gotten the chance.

 

Well, yeah, he was a natural middle, and in some of his heavyweight fights had trouble not coming in as a LHW. I have pretty much always thought of him as uncrowned middle and LHW.

 

There are peculiar circumstances, but my final answer is I don’t think so.

The circumstances are that it’s really only possible from 1940-42, after which WWII interrupts Zale’s career and Ezz is moving (by the latter half of 1942 actually) solidly up into light heavyweight territory (although today many of his earlier fights at that weight would be considered super middle as he’s in the upper 160s).

In 1940, Ezzard is simply too green. He hasn’t started fighting true world-level opposition yet.

By late 1941, he ‘arrives’ at middle (in Charles’ 21st bout) with a decision over Teddy Yarosz, a tough out for anyone — but it’s Teddy’s next-to-last bout and he’s well past prime.

Ezzard is still going through growing pains and a couple of non-wins (loss and draw) to Ken Overlin suggest he’s not quite there yet. He also lost to another guy, but he does have two nice wins over Charley Burley in 1942 — but Ezz is a middle and Burley’s more welter/junior middle in size.

Zale, on the other hand, is the Man of Steel and he’s definitely showing that form during this span. He’s stronger than an ox and carries his power late. Charles hasn’t been tested in the championship rounds.

I suspect it ends up looking like Ezzard’s decision loss to Marciano, where he looks good for a while but the stronger, more experienced Zale wears him down over the second half of the fight. Ezz is probably a bit too slick and cagey to get taken out, but he fades down the stretch in a decision loss.

(There’s also the fact that even at this stage we rarely see Charles at the 160 limit and those 3-5 pounds he might have to sweat off to make the limit for a title fight could be telling.)

Would I be completely shocked if Ezzard pulled it off? No … this is an ATG fighter we’re talking about, after all, but I just don’t think he’s quite experienced and developed enough to pick him over Zale.

 

Hi Saint.
Not entirely on board with your assertion that Charles was not physically mature or consistent ( in a kind and friendly way ) during his brief tenure as a middle weight, whilst barely out of his teens he had the skills to overcome Yarosz, a most skillful boxer himself, then gave nearly 16lbs to Maxim and beat him, then when only 21,had the temerity to take on Burley, not once but twice, and outpoint him on both occasions, in the first he had Burley on the verge of a KO in round 4, and dropped him for a 3 count in the last round, in answer to @InMemoryofJakeLamotta, I would fancy him to be all round to complete a boxer to fall to the body punching man of steel.
stay safe buddy, chat soon.
Mike.

 

So many could have, but the focus on HW made most not GAF. It's still sort of that way, Usyk could but no one cares about BW ... yet ... just like when Ring wouldn't recognize CW. Seems silly, but now we have a CW champ snubbing BW and not getting that 3 division status we all know he could have.

Tunney never actually bothered to be LHW champion. Only has Dempsey in his HW resume.