Prime Jersey Joe Walcott - Prime Cleveland Williams?

Walcott was fantastic. Perhaps less consistent because of being a Great Depression Era fighter with no financial backing, but he could be so beautiful at his best.

 

Walcott by sudden, brutal KO, aka Ezzard Charles, though Williams would have his moments early.
After 2-3 rounds, Walcott would start to outbox him and catch him with cool knockout.

 

Extremely proven. But that proof isn't that he was great.

Is Walcott anything more than a second-rater who outlasted the talent of his generation only to meet a generation that was depleted of talent?

 

Some truth to that but Walcott had the talent to be more than that but missed his prime during his youth. He didn’t have a manger and was working to support his family. End of war he got a manger and after the war sports integrated including soft color line in boxing but he was already in his 30s. I think he caught a bit of what his prime might have been when he got the shot at Louis. The 1947 version vs Louis I think was a good fighter and might win a decision over Williams.