Educate me on Ezzard Charles.

Hi Buddy.
It will not be long before @Greg Price99 replies with the definative on Charles, he does not get much wrong.
stay safe hombre.

 

Started as a middle, won the heavyweight championship, although never LHW champ, arguably the best LHW ever for twice beating Archie Moore.

Beat great fighters like Moore, Joe Louis, Walcott, Maxim, Lesnevich, Bivins, Elmer Rey...and good ones like Satterfield, Layne, Brion, Reynolds, Oma, Baksi, Norkus....

Gave Marciano two of his toughest fights even when he was passed it, taking Marciano one of his only distance fights in the first, and splitting his nose in the second. Marciano threw the kitchen sink at him in the fifteenth round of that first fight, throwing something like 94 punches.

It is also worth noting that he was one of those guys that could have done better than he did. Like Baer, he killed a man in the ring, and was never quite the same. He also fought well into showing signs of Lou Gehrig's disease. The breaks always seemed to go against him.

I honestly think ounce for ounce he was as good as anyone who ever laced them up.

 

The best ever

 

In his younger days, after one particular fight with Freddie "Cornpop" Washington (of seven) Charles had a relevant quip with the commentator, Harry Mallin.

Mallin: You fought like a real tiger out of his cage, Ezzard.
Charles: ""I think I could turn and live with animals. They are so placid and self-contained. They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins."

Washington never spoke after the fight, or ever again. He became one of those monks who doesn't say anything.

 

look at his career up till the marciano fight, remembering he was denied the chance to fight for the lhw title that he clearly deserved(the chance not the title). watch the first marciano fight, shopworn, small, basically no chance of winning. barely a step back, throwing every punch in the book. it's my favorite performance by any fighter ever.

then he had the balls to take another fight 3 months later, of course he lost. nobody wins in that scenario.

 

Thank you for these... Things.

They are precious.

 

Thank you Mike, though you're far too kind - trust me I get plenty wrong.

Archie Moore is the only fighter I can think of that most rank as a divisional all time top 2, who during his prime lost 3 out of 3 to another fighter at that weight. Most rank Moore top 2 all time at LHW & Charles beat him 3 out of 3, 1 by KO, 1 by 10-0/9-1 decision, all at LHW. He's clearly the #1 LHW of all time, imo.

There's much I could say & have said on Charles, who I rank #5 p4p based on his entire career at all weights, but for a change I'll let the opposition he beat, make the case for how great he was. This is the best top 100 p4p list I've ever seen - https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/the-top-100-pound-for-pound-all-time-greats.459918/ - of the fighters on this list, Charles beat:

#9 Joe Louis - admittedly way past his prime, but also substantially bigger than Ezzard
#15 Archie Moore x 3 - during his prime, at Moore's best weight
#25 Charley Burley x 2 - admittedly Charles was the bigger man, but he was a 20-year old novice, within a hair of the MW limit for their first contest & within it for their second, whilst Burley is a top 10 all time MW who was in his prime
#45 Jimmy Bivins x 4 - including whilst outweighed by 13.5lbs & 11lbs respectively
#79 Teddy Yarosz
#83 Lloyd Marshall x 2

I've never checked, but if there are any fighters in history who have more than 13 wins against these 100 x fighters, there won't be many.

This is another great thread - https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/top-35-all-time-reveal-boxing-survey-series.653021/ - 24 Classic Forum posters, with votes between them averaged out, rank Charles #1 all time at LHW, #19 at HW & #5 p4p.

 

Great. Not arguing with that. Just beating Archie Moore at the same size says volumes for me.

Fantastic. Another name on there, Charley Burley, who Archie said was the best he ever saw.

 

Excellent heavyweight,great light heavyweight,very good middle weight.

 

Wow, never knew he beat Moore so comprehensively (though, I was aware of the results). Was it just a styles thing? No one beat a prime Moore that handily.

 

Hi Buddy.
Not forgetting : Marshall, Basora, Christoforidis, Mamokos, Yarosz, a draw with Overlin when just out of his teens, a truly remarkable resume,
ha fought the best of the best for over a decade, what a fighter....
stay safe catch.

 

Footage of prime Charles at LHW is scarce, so I can't be certain.

Whilst I'm not comparing their respective styles, there may be parallels with RJJ and Hopkins, in the sense that RJJ/Charles had shorter primes, but their greater speed and athleticism meant they had a higher peak, whilst the more fundamentally technically sound (though Ezzard had good conventional technique too) Moore/Hopkins were able to box to a higher standard, for longer, once past their natural physical primes.

 

Had 121 fights over the course of 19 years against a murderers row of competition, thereby averaging more than 6 fights a year over the course of 2 decades. That is ridiculous. IMHO, the greatest 175 pounder ever.