Ezzard Charles defended the HW belt 7 times..

I actually think that Charles ranks lower than any other heavyweight champion with that many title defences. His opponents were not all time greats, but they were solid boxers for sure.

Charles is still one of my favorite pound-for-pound boxers ever. Very aesthetically pleasing to watch. His bout with Bob Satterfield is fantastic, he made a galant effort against Marciano, the only man to ever take him the distance. I'd love to see the Moore fights, particularly the last one.. Not to mention his other LHW and MW fights. The list of his opponents is basically a who's-who of the 40's and 50's at any weight above 160lbs.

Definitely top10 for me, arguably top5 (if Duran can rank there, then Ezzard can too).

 

:goodthis is what I have long believed. A fighter can have great atributes with out being a truly great fighter in the ATG sence. There are a lot of hard hitters out there who could not land their best shots on the best fighters. This is the difference between a truly great fighter and a great puncher, The special fighter still knocks out elite fighters who have elite anticipation and sharper reflexes. being able to hit lesser guys harder cant count as much as the guy who ices elite fighters.

 

:goodCorrect! Power is great but if fighters can't connect and fail everytime they step up competition then it doesn't matter. Anyone can knock out a bum but it does take a special fighter to show their power and use it effectively to come out the winner or at least a respectable puncher at the elite level. Guys like Louis were smart punchers so they were able to use their ring smarts to find guys and catch them cold especially when their opponents were hurt.

 

They wanted him to take on Savold sooner than he did, but this was the fault of Savold. I also think they wanted him to face Layne when he was champion, I think that was the biggest 'duck' by Charles.

For some reason Charles was always getting moaned at for taking easy defences, but like you say 'who did he not fight'?

I think he is a good Heavyweight champion, he reigned over an average division but he had some good names like Walcott and Louis on there, which to me are big wins. I think he proved he was better than Walcott.

You have to remember this was all done past his prime.

 

That's a strong resume. I don't know if he makes it into my top 10 heavyweights, but he is going to get more considreation by me.

 

wrong, he was.
and the point is that frazier 73 was better than louis 50 by a mile, plain and simple