Ezzard Charles, The Cincinnati Cobra, The Baddest LHW of All Time... Educate Yourselves

Hell of a career. His amateur record is outstanding too. I had no idea he weighed as low as featherweight, that draws parallels with guys like Sam Langford and Roy Jones. Insane that such a small guy kicked almost everyone's asses in every weight class he competed in.

One thing i noticed reading this is that he was competitive in seemingly every fight (even the ones he lost) and avenged several of said losses. It wasn't until he was way past his prime, suffering from ALS, and campaigning at heavyweight that we started seeing him suffer brutal 1 sided losses he couldn't bounce back from. This shows not just excellent grit, but also phenomenal skill. Its also noteworthy that the middleweight title was frozen and he went to war before he could fight for it and that the light heavyweight champ who ducked him lost to Charles anyway! Just Imagine if he was healthy and had good management/promotion with no breaks.

Amazing fighter with an impressive number of wins over several hall of famers who overcame lots of bad luck, health issues, and ducking to stamp his legacy. Easily top 10 of all time.

 

But what if he lost to those 3.?!,"'

 

I believe he in his prime could fight w anyone at Heavyweight. And it is demeaning to compare him to Spinks vs Tyson. Ezzard could beat any heavyweight who ever lived on his best night. To think otherwise is just sideways bull****. He could fight w Louis Sonny Ali Foreman Tyson Lewis any who lived.

 

I don't believe a word of this. None of this actually happened.

 

Thanks for the read George. Really well written too mate. I agree that Ezzards jab wasn’t the greatest as shown in the Harold Johnson fight when Ez was past his best. He sure was a great fighter though.

As an aside I just had a google and there have only been 498 people named Ezzard born in the USA since records have been collected and that 1951 was the year in which more babies were named Ezzard than any other. I heave never heard of a anyone else with the name.

Cheers.

 

Charles vs Marciano I was a classic fight. He almost broke Marciano's undefeated record.

 

Great thread.

I love Charles, great style and a very great LHW.

My only real nitpick is this should be in classic.

Best Educate Yourselves thread I've ever seen tbh.

 

Great stuff here...couple points to make.

The guy defeated Archie Moore. Archie Freaking Moore! Not once, but three times, including a KO. That's just about all you need to know about this guy.

Another point....13 of his 25 losses were post-Marciano, when he was truly washed up. That leaves 12 losses in his prime or before.
That would kill his chances at title shot today. Sad, but true.

Lastly...when people disparage Marciano, know that he TWICE defeated Charles, top 1 or 2 greatest LHW of all time. Charles was 2" taller, and had a 5" (at least) reach advantage and in the second fight OUTWEIGHED Marciano by 5 pounds!