Jersey Joe Walcott : how good was he?

Top 10? No

Top 100 heavyweights? Definately

Top 100 p4p? Forget it..

 

Not sure about a particular ranking (as I'm relying less and less on rankings in general), but indeed he was a great HW at his best. An example of a fighter who improved with age and experience, honings his tricks and ring craft through time spent in the ring with the best rather than in a gym. Master craftsman, unorthodox but very technically skilled, some of the best footwork you're likely to see on a HW.

His one punch hookercut KO over Charles is one of the best punches of all time, in many aspects.

 

Before, Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Holmes, Tyson, Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, Jersey Joe Walcott was one of the top ten all time greatest heavyweights. His achievment before George Foreman broke his record as the oldest heavyweight champion speaks volumes about his ability as an overalll boxer. Jersey Joe didn't have Shavers-Foreman-Liston power or Ali-Holmes-Patterson, hand and foot speed, but he was arguably the craftiest and smartest heavyweights in the history of the sport. He, like Archie Moore was excellent at setting up his punches and using the angles to maximize the effects.

Jersey Joe was that good and I'd say makes top 15 of all time heavyweight champions.

 

As his record stands Jersey Joe is a top 20 all time heavyweight perhaps top 15.

Where he is interesting is that perhaps he might have had the potential to be a top 10 all time heavyweight if he had the right oportunities early in his career. Like many early black heavyweights he did not have a good manager or financial backing to operate a training camp. He had to take fights on short notice while working a 9-5 job.

Jersey Joe eventualy got his lucky break due to the second world war. With many young men fighting overseas promotors could no longer be picky about the race of the fighters they backed. This resulted in black heavyweights like Walcott and Elmer Ray getting a chance at the 11th hour of their potential primes.

Although Walcott lost against his two biggest oponents (Louis and Marciano) he gave them both verry tough fights. What often gets overlooked is that he prety much cleaned out the heavyweight division to get a shot at Louis's crown. It should also be noted that Walcott was the oldest fighter to win the heavyweight title before a certain mr Foreman in the 90s.

 

Your top 11-15 probably have it by a hair but I have him above all your 16-19.

 

Walcott took the Simon fight on two days notice while working a full time job and not training. There are also some reports that suggest he was ill.

He gave Simon a boxing lesson untill he ran out of gas then was knocked out as much due to exaustion as anything else. You simply cant box at world level without the necesary backing and training regime.

If you gave Walcott a manager, a training camp and adequate time to prepare I honestly dont think Simon would give him a competitive fight.