Oh ****. Here we go. Ezzard Charles, a top 5 pfp fighter on any good list. Having amassed one of the greatest résumés of all time pfp he has wins over Charley Burley Teddy Yarosz Joey Maxim Jimmy Bivins Archie Moore Lloyd Marshall Oakland Billy Smith Gus Lesnevich Rex Layne Elmer Ray Bob Satterfield Jersey Joe Walcott Joe Louis A record of 95(52)-25(7)-1. After starting at middleweight in 1940, he kicked things off with a KO in 4 over Melody Johnson, he would then go on to move up in weight to LHW and stamp himself as the best in one of the greatest era's across all divisions. He would beat Fellow ATG, Archie Moore, who is a consensus top 3 LHW himself, 3 times. After stopping him in the third fight he would take on a young contender by the name of Sam Baroudi. He would KO Baroudi in round 10, but tragedy struck and Baroudi would later pass away due to the injuries sustained against Charles. After this horrendous ordeal and still being denied a title shot by champion Gus Lesnevich, who was not fighting any of the top guys whilst defending his crown as well as serving in WW2, Ezzard Charles moved up to HW. Before getting a shot at the vacant HW title, he beat Joey Maxim for the third time. He then went on to win a close fight with what would be his closest rival, Jersey Joe Walcott. He would then go to make 8 straight title defences, and during that time would capture the lineal title against former champion Joe Louis. Here he'd score wins over Lesnevich and Maxim again. He would also get a second (albeit controversial) win over Jersey Joe Walcott, the same man who would end his prime with a beautiful hook. This content is protected But even after that Ezzard kept going. He would then go on and fight 3 times before he lost again, beating Rex Layne and Joey Maxim in the process, afterwards he would have back to back losses to Jersey Joe Walcott and Rex Layne. (Both of which he had already beaten, obviously). After that he would go on a 9 fight win streak from October 1952 to August 1953, here he would lose to rising content Nino Valdes and then would lose a split decision to Harold Johnson. Hed come back with a KO over Coley Wallace and another KO over Bob Satterfield in a fight where he showed his heart and chin. This would set him up for a mega bout with the HW champion of the World, Rocky Marciano. He would go the distance but lose on points becoming the only man to go 15 with Marciano. This fight showed the damage Rocky could do over 15 and the chin Charles had. He put up an excellent fight in the rematch, even splitting Rocky's nose clean in half, unfortunately he was in with a man who defined heart and was fired up by the blood and caught him clean with a brilliant cross then viscous follow up that stopped The Cincinnati Cobra. Ezzard would not win a meaningful fight for the rest of his career, unfortunately. He'd lose 13 of his 23 fights after this. He'd retire from boxing after losing a decision to Alvin Green in 1959. To me, Ezzard Charles stamped himself as a top 15 HW, top 5 pfp and the number 1 LHW of all time. Although he is my all time favourite fighter so I may overrate him ever so slightly. After watching him fight Joe Louis, Jersey Joe Walcott and both Marciano fights, as well as highlights I could find, I have come to these conclusions Beautiful Footwork. It's a requirement against a tactical mastermind like Walcott. Great defence, he was clearly very aware of how to move in and out of range and used this to set up traps and counter ATG fighters like Marciano, Walcott and Moore. Good Power, it was good enough to split a warrior like Marciano's nose clean in half and drop Jersey Joe Walcott as hard as a knockdown can be. Unbelievable ring IQ, to me it's among the highest of all time. He knew how to beat his opponents. And showed very good ability to adjust. Very fast. His combinations were deadly, and came at rapid speeds with snap in each punch, he knew how to damage his opposition and did so regularly. Great chin. Despite finding a troll who says he's chinny. A KO from a bangers like Marciano and Walcott is nothing to be ashamed of, especially when you start off at MW. Of the list of given names, who'd you feel beat him over 15?
He didn't last real long at the top but Billy Conn had the speed, ring IQ and enough pop to perhaps pull it off. Charles beats the rest I guess Jones too would have a decent shot. Speed!
One point he didn't split Marciano's nose with a punch,it was an elbow. Another point his chin was okay/good, not great Lloyd Marshall had him up and down like a yo yo.
I think he could beat them all but Fitz, He wasn't as big as Jim Jeffries so his size wouldn't cause Fitz any problems.
Yes, I neglected to mention that, I forgot tbh it was a few days ago I watched the fights. He took huge punishment off Marciano, and I'm quite positive I read he was injured for the first Marshall fight.
I’d give most of them a decent chance of beating him once but I’d probably pick Charles in a 3 fight series over most of them. And ‘p4p top 5 on any good list’? I think p4p top 10 is fair, but top 5 is debatable in my view. People are even starting to rate him above SRR. Charles has gone from being somewhat underrated to borderline overrated in the last few years. That’s really not meant as a criticism of him and he has a fantastic resume but I personally think top 5 is not a lock.
That’s okay. I’m not knocking him at all, I still acknowledge him as one of the 10 best fighters that ever lived but to my mind he wasn’t the best fighter of his generation, Robinson was. I actually consider him 4th best of the 40s: 1. SRR 2. Pep 3. Louis 4. Charles Just a great era of boxing, the 40s. And Charles still makes my top 10 all time but I have him around 8.
His handlers said he had a hip injury ,maybe he did ,maybe he didn't ,but he was down 8 times. All Time Great P4P BTW . Who could beat him at 175lbs? Langford Tunney Fitz Conn Loughran Could but would? Maybe Tunney and Langford have the best chances?
Holyfield is the only one of that crew who can be called an ATG imo none of the others were even great fighters . Usyk might yet make it.