Ezzard Charles defended the HW belt 7 times..

shopworn? a 29 years old guy undefeated?
he was not in his peak, but he was very good in 1973, simply foreman was a bad match for him and george would tko any version of frazier. joe gave the hell to ali in 1975.

i think that they had around the same hitting power than walcott. anyway walcott was not a top puncher. he was not in the league of foreman,shavers or cooney.
and he was not even a hw.in my opinion he might not stop norton. but kenny might well stop him.

wrong, foreman had great merit because he was old and he was competent against a peak evander, tyson was still good in 1996,he destroyed bruno, and he was exposed by evander, and holyfield was better in 1991. foreman lost but it was a good fight, not a beating.

 

Ali and Joe were made for each other(no homo), George was his poison. Don't get me wrong I belive Foreman always stops Frazier but I don't think it would've been as easy had they fought in Frazier's prime. He wasn't at his best for Foreman.

Walcott still dropped people at the elite level. Shavers dropped Holmes once of two bouts but didn't drop Ali. He stopped Norton but what puncher doesn't lol? Cooney hurt Holmes a little but I don't recall him dropping him. Hell he didn't even drop Spinks but instead got stopped. Foreman gets more credit than Shavers or Cooney because he stopped an ATG in Frazier twice. Still Frazier was a shopworn fighter especially in their second bout. Walcott dropped 3 ATG's in Charles, Louis, and Marciano opposed to Foreman's 1(2 if you want to be bold and include Moorer but he wasn't impressive at heavyweight but still good).

Tyson's stamina was poor post-prison and how was he exposed by Holyfield when Douglas whopped him in Tokyo 6 years before? Anyone who follows Tyson's career post-prison can tell that his stamina was shot. He was more exhausted than hurt when Holyfield was beating him up. Holyfield was better in '91(he was prime so of course he would be) but if he fought a prime Foreman like he did an old Foreman, lights out for Evander.

 

yes, i agree with the 85%, except, you can´t compare the hitting power of shavers or prime cooney with the hitting power of walcott.
yes, shavers never knocked out a prime atg, but he almost did against holmes(and a prime holmes had great chin), simply larry had a great power to recover and shavers was a bad finisher, he had bad stamina. tyson never knocked out a prime legend( only a shot holmes) but still everybody know that he was much harder puncher than walcott...
but yes, foreman get more credit because he destroyed frazier and a prime norton, and he was a beast even in his 40s.

 

Charles was not past his best at heavyweight. Charles was a middleweigt/light heavy when he stopped boxing during the war. he had begun to burn out then and lost his last two fights baddly. After the war he had rested from this burn out had matured into a lightheavyweight who fought heavyweights, he was at his peak from 1946-53 because this was when he scored all his best wins.

 

I'm a fan but thats crazy, you'd have to have him over 10 of these men: Ali, Louis, Marciano, Foreman, Frazier, Tyson, Lennox, Holyfield, Holmes, Liston, Walcott, Schmelling, Wills, Langford, Johnson, Vitali, Wlad, Jeffries, Corbett, Patterson, Norton. I'd have him around 13

 

Was there any deserving contender Charles didn't take on?

 

Charles' accomplishments speak for themselves. He in some cases doubled the contender wins of some of the guys you listed. Just too many quality wins to ignore. Its all subjective but he's in the upper tier.

All these men were top 10 contenders, all but Brion were still ranked when he faced them:

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Norton and Vitali!?! My god man, hang your head.

Subject to change but on that recent top 20 I only put these men above him:

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Maricano
4. Jeffries
5. Frazier

 

LeStarza I think

 

:admin

 

Who would you convincingly put above him that can trump about 15-20 top 10 Heavyweight wins? Is 8-4 in World HW Title Bouts? Is about 10-4 against Hall of Famers?


I'm waiting....

 

Why Ezzard Charles hasn't been more highly regarded by the boxing public is a mystery to me. He was a highly skilled, classy heavyweight boxer/puncher who was highly prolific as a champion with all those defenses he racked up in his roughly 2 year period as champion. He was past his best when he fought Marciano so heroically those two times and exemplfied heart and courage both times...especially in that first match. Perhaps complacency vs JJW was his downfall...after all he beat the Jersey man twice already..and rather decisively the second time..so maybe he thought he must have been just going through the motions in that 3rd fight. Coming out of the shadows of the legend that preceded him had to be a drag, but he did what he was supposed to do in that masterful whipping he gave Louis..and I think he did more than enough to establish himself.

 

Longevity, dominance, resume, Charles is lacking compared to about 15men on all those criteria at HW. Walcott/Louis aside his defenses of the title were pretty weak, but he wasn't champ long so he gets a pass. When your top 5wins are Old Louis, Walcott, Ray, Old Bivins, Layne you don't cut the top10

BTW I take it you have Walcott at no7, given their resumes are pretty much interchangable

 

I agree 100% with this...Charles was criminally underrated.

 

Longevity? 9 year run after World War II. Yes, even 46-48 should count because he was fighting and beating all the top HW contenders while waiting for a LHW title shot that wouldn't come.

Dominance? Competitive era but was the top Heavy from 49-51 and elite top 3 for many more years.

Resume? Done broke down .

Those accomplishments I listed were all against Heavyweights.

OLD Bivins? He was only 28 years old when Charles KOed him.

Layne is certainly not a top 5 win for him.