Jersey Joe Walcott vs. Ezzard Charles III

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1. Both were extremely cautious. Walcott initiated more of the clinches as Charles did more of the pressing. Even.
2. Role reversal. Now Ez was fighting defense and JJW was the more aggressive boxer. Walcott.
3. For most of #3, Walcott successfully hooked to Charles' body (but only one punch at a time), then clinching immediately to keep Charles from countering. The two did have a short but meaningful exchange near the end of the round. Charles hit JJW with two really great shots actually (I didn't notice how solid they were the first time); first a left hook, then a right, and Walcott retaliated with a big left hook of his own. Walcott.
4. Reduced clinching. The two put their jabs to more use finally. Walcott several times used that ploy where he would "impatiently" tap his gloves together, then score with a left hook to the body. Walcott.
5. The first very significant thing to occur was early on. Walcott launched a right and Charles quickly countered with two blows to the body. One of the best moments came a minute after. As Charles stepped in with a left, JJW smashed a big right hook into his jaw, and then followed it with a left hook (partially blocked). Charles was a little shaken. Jersey Joe actually began to back off more as the round progressed, and even got backed up by a straight left by Charles (though it did not hurt Walcott). The closing moments of the round were hard-fought, with both of them often fighting with one arm tied around the other's. It was pure action though. The climax came when Jersey Joe rocked Ez with a left jab, then a big right overhand which did the trick. Charles instinctively countered with several punishing blows to Walcott's midsection. Even.
6. Ever a curious bout either in times of extreme caution or in times of heated exchanges, I was quickly alerted by a smooth move of Ezzard's. Walcott attempted a big right which he drew way back on, and Charles merely knocked it out of the way with his left. As they moved in on one another, they both missed right hooks (Walcott's to the head, and Charles' to the body). Charles ducked under Jersey Joe's right, and Ez landed a hard left to the body, which gave JJ visible pain. Shortly after, they had yet another fascinating exchange. Once again, especially for fights with two fast fighters like these two, I would advise slowing the video down a bunch. Back to this exchange. Walcott deftly ducked Charles' left jab as he moved in, but Charles had not pulled his left all the way back in yet, and instead turned it into a hook, making for a nasty shot to Walcott's jaw actually. Walcott, though shook up, fired back a powerful right cross. At 20: 13, Charles actually had Walcott in legitimate trouble. I had to watch this on .25 speed actually. It looked like a slip on faster speed, but as Walcott moves in, Ezzard hit him with a hard right hook, and Walcott's leg buckled. Albeit he did recover quickly, but he was legitimately injured there. Walcott did land the left hook frequently for the remainder of the round. Interestingly enough, when I watched this over a month ago, I awarded it to Walcott. While he landed more blows, and solid ones at that, I didn't realize until examining in slow motion just now that Charles shook Walcott up a couple of times, therefore I give it to Charles now. Charles.
7. The round started rather typically, other than Charles pressing more than he had been, probably due to his success in the 6th. Charles pressed Walcott into the corner, they clinched, and the ref broke them up, and as cliche as it is to say, Walcott walked forward, like he was on a park stroll, and WHAM! the left hook dropped the champ. Ez landed face first and tried for some time to make it up, and he did, but only to fall on his back.

Final score going into round 7: 3-1-2 for Walcott. One judge for the fight had the fight even 3-3 for Christ's sake, and I know others viewed it as close as well. I do think it was close, but not in the way of rounds. It was comfortably in Walcott's favor at the time of the KO, although Walcott was not winning rounds in a particularly dominant manner.

I had several things I wanted to make note of before giving my verdict:

1. While I have seen the fight a few times before, I had never watched it with quite as analytic of an eye as I did this time. I have to stress how important it is to watch this fight first at normal speed, then at slow motion. It denied nearly everything I had ever thought about the fight, at least in some degree: 1) while it had some exciting exchanges, I always thought of it as a chess match. But, it was actually even more exciting than I originally have viewed it, 2) while Walcott did give an amazing performance, he got exploited and hit hard by Charles more than people think, and 3) Charles, while not as sharp as usual, gave a stronger performance than is usually spread in both articles and common conversation.
2. I should add that watching in slow mo was also a plus, cuz although it revealed Walcott's performance to be not quite as amazing as made out to be, it also highlighted that he took a great punch. Charles hurt him probably three times, yet JJ recovered nearly instantly.
3. People have often said Charles did not look sharp in this fight. I don't agree. I don't think he looked great, but Walcott did a better job than previously of taking away Charles' countering opportunities. Charles looked great to me. I mean, Charles, and the same goes for Walcott too, is so beautiful to watch just when he feints and bounces around.
4. I find both fighters have very similar styles, so this observation really intrigued me. Both are primarily defensive IMO, but I found that they reduced the amount of blows taken differently. Walcott relied more on making Charles miss with head and body movement and feints to avoid punches whereas Charles would block or parry a blow instead of deliberately trying to evade it.

And one last brief note before the verdict (more in regards to the whole series up to this point): I believe one reason Walcott and Charles had so much trouble with one another (aside from having similar styles) and were accused of fighting boring fights (bull**** btw) was because of their almost exactly the same physical measurements (Walcott's 12-pound weight advantage aside).

Verdict: A classic. Duh. One of the ATG's of boxing; an absolute must. It definitely has more value as a great KO and a highly technical fight, but also has fine bursts of action. It is a serious candidate for the greatest KO of all time.

 

I had so much fun rewatching rounds 3, 5, 6, & 7 that it took me an extra half hour to post this just because I was watching those rounds in slow motion and going back over and over again!