How Good Was Earl Walls?

Well I would need more to go on than that one way traffic footage against a guy who could not punch back that we saw of Walls. For one thing Walls lost fights whilst Rocky was champion not including a split decision with Joe Kahut and draw with limited oaf James Parker.

Cokkell was decent. He beat the guys he needed to get that shot. But The Marciano fight ruined him.

Walls was rated behind Cokkell. That's how it was.

 

No he didn't, because he was not the number 1 contender, nor was he the most logical contender. Cokkell was lucky to get a title shot, marciano's camp bypassed the number 1 contender to fight Cokkell because they knew feather fisted cokkell was no threat to re injure marciano's nose. cokell was specifically handpicked.

Cokkells resume is a joke. You talk about Cokkell being ruined after marciano? what about lastarza? He was damaged goods when he fought cokkell. That win means nothing. Lastarza suffered permanent physical damage in the marciano fight.

So who did Cokkell ever beat?

Past his prime Light-Heavyweight Harry Kid Matthews??
Domestic Level Johnny Williams?
Journeyman Freddie Beshore?

 

Checkout the footage of Walls. I it's posted on the first page

 

I posted a ton of stuff about Walls on page 1 go ahead and take a look

I talked about his style his strengths his resume footage of him an article about him

 

Walls was 6'2 200lb boxer puncher. He as mainly an offensive fighter. Good left jab very powerful right hand, he could finish well. Good handspeed. Defense was lacking.

If I made a top 15 list of heavyweights 1950-55 I would rank him around Number 11 or 12

His resume doesn't quite back up how good his head to head ability was

 

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=MN4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=7316,2543230&hl=en
Nice info on walls

 

No, he also got knocked down and found out against Lloyd Barnett who lost twice to Don Cokkell.

Don remained undefeated as a heavyweight until he faced Marciano. the earlier lightheavyweight Slade and Turpin disasters were due to weight weakening.

Besides Slade beat Walls too! Slade beat both Cokkell and Walls in 1951. There was not much between Cokkell and Walls in that respect apart from Don got a good win streak together and was rightly rated higher than Walls who would lose fights during the same period. Walls was beaten by Tommy Harison and the fat Novice Edgardo Romero whilst still a rated contender. He even had home advantage. Walls blew it.

At the same time Cokkell was winning stadium fights in South Africa America and London. beating Lastarza and kid Matthews and defending his empire title in south Africa.

 

And behind Don Cokkell.

 

Well, I'm no where's near as impressed with Walls as others seem to be. The Layne KO's are impressive, although Layne had gone into a losing streak, but they more or less stand alone in an otherwise unimpressive resume made up mainly of badly faded trial horses on more or less their last legs (Joe Kahut, Bernie Reynolds, Grant Butcher, etc.) The first live opponent after Layne that Walls met, the not that good Tommy Harrison, beat him, and a few months later Walls was losing to the grossly overweight 8-12 career fighter Edgardo Romero, who did nothing else at any point.

This is a guy who is being talked up as in the top ten of the era?

Interestingly, we get the usual clichés from Suzie about "protected white fighters" and "big, athletic, black fighers" but he didn't seem to notice that Valdes, Baker, Holman, Jackson, etc., are notable by their absence from Walls' resume,

as are all the top white fighters except the slipping Layne.

There was some question about why Walls didn't stop his last few opponents. I don't think there is much to explain. He had simply stepped up a bit. Not that these were top guys, but they at least were still trying. Most of his KO victims were washed up has-beens in it for one last pay check.

 

As for Walls' position among the contenders of the 1950 to 1955 era

with Marciano taken out, here is how I would rate them by tiers,

Tier one--Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Joe Louis, Archie Moore, Harold Johnson

Tier two--Rex Layne, Nino Valdes, Clarence Henry, Bob Satterfield, Bob Baker, Hurricane Jackson

Tier three--Roland LaStarza, Dan Bucceroni, Cesar Brion, John Holman

Tier four--Don Cokkell, Earl Walls, Jimmy Slade, Tommy Harrison, Coley Wallace, James Parker (and a few Euros)

Why didn't Walls make the third tier?

Bucceroni--has a much better overall won lost record. He was never beaten by somebody like Romero or even Lloyd Barnett, nor flattened in one by Abel Cestac, not to mention losing to the great Alf Gallagher. Walls split with Jimmy Slade and Tommy Harrison, and drew with James Parker. Bucceroni swept those guys.

Cesar Brion--another "protected" white fighter who somehow got in the ring with Louis, Charles, Layne, Baker, LaStarza, Bucceroni, and Holman, managed to beat more live fighters than Walls, and ended up with a better won-lost record and no defeats nearly as embarrassing as the Romero loss. Brion beat Cestac who flattened Walls in one, as well has beating guys like Reynolds and Kahut back when they were younger and better.

Roland LaStarza--might have been protected, but beat Layne before Walls did in a showdown fight, and also beat Brion and Bucceroni. Perhaps not all that impressive, but more impressive than what Walls' accomplished.

Holman--the real deal as far as a big puncher goes.

**In fairness to Walls, the Layne fights are impressive, but I don't see going overboard given the balance of Walls' career.