This content is protected 1. Not much happened here. Walcott far more mobile than Louis, but not throwing. Even. 2. Even. 3. Louis walks into yet another powerful right hand, which drops him for the third time (by Walcott). Walcott. 4. Joe fought back well here. He got JJW onto the ropes a few times, and scored with good shots. Walcott always fired back in kind though. Louis. 5. Both utilizing the left jab. Louis landed a good left-right. There was a lot of see-sawing with both having good moments. Even. 6. Walcott landed a good left-right hook combination. Walcott. 7. Not enough shown. 8. Even. 9. Even. 10. Even. 11. Walcott started this round jabbing and dancing a little, and feinting too. Joe landed a good right hand that drove Walcott into the ropes. He then proceeded to land several good right and left hooks to the head and the body. Walcott ducked and rolled out from underneath a few, and worked his way off the ropes by hitting Louis back with two good left hooks. As Walcott advanced on Louis, Louis scored with a great right hook, then a second one (less lethal), and a quick flurry of 5 or 6 good punches finishes it. Walcott goes down, but doesn't get up in time. Final score: 2-1-7. The fight was so darn even for most of the rounds shown, although rounds 7 thru 10 were highly condensed. Verdict: I know this one gets a lot of flack now, as it did 73 years ago, but I honestly would have liked to see the full fight. I enjoy it so much. Walcott gives another good performance, a classy performance, despite losing. And Louis gave one of his most underrated. Although Louis' best moment really boils down to the 11th round, it was really great to see Louis come back this well pre-WW2. I wouldn't call it a top 5 or anything, but this one definitely needs to mentioned more as one of Louis' victories.
Both Louis and Walcott look great to me. Walcott is very elusive, but Louis holds his own in this one, and my guess is the fight was close on the cards at the end. The knockout is one of the great ones on film, considering the quality of the opponent. It is interesting how big Louis looks. He was 213 and carries this weight very well. He looks in top shape. I have often wondered, looking at the post-war Louis. Is it possible to grow in your late 20's? Louis looks taller. Or is it just that he was fighting more upright?
This must've been seen as a fun fight. Both down, both big punchers with high level skills. I think this is clearly Joe's best win. It's a great right hand to knock Walcott out, as well.
Given the context (Louis being way past his prime) it might be the most impressive Joe win. I still prefer Baer or 2nd Schmeling due to sheer dominance though and he wasn't at his absolute peak then either.
I even think this would have been impressive for Louis even 7 years earlier. Louis had been floored five times in his career, four of them he was caught and surprised very early in the fight, and three of those came in the first round (Braddock, Galento, and Baer). The knockdowns Louis suffered vs. Walcott came early, but they weren't surprises. All three surprised Louis, but still had him hurt. Louis came back to win against Braddock, Galento, and Baer, but the rally against Walcott was much more impressive imo.
I personally believe Walcott gets a very raw deal when arguing about the greats. Think he would surprise a lot of guys in h2h matchups with his awkward style. He’d beat a lot of guys that night
Worth noting that Walcott was urged to come forward more by the referee (crowd was getting itchy.) Otherwise he might have pulled it off.
One of the best most clutch knockouts ever captured on film. Blazing fast 6 punch combination. Louis had one last incredible finish left in him. Walcott was going to win that fight, Louis hurt him had a small window of opportunity and took it at age 34.
Tony Galento Max Baer Buddy Baer Jim Braddock Arturo Godoy Jersey Joe Tami Mauriello Nathan Mann Bob Pastor ll Tommy Farr Billy Conn Are all the fights you can watch. I find most of them genuinely entertaining. I rate exciting fighters through 3 aspects. Their style, consistency and quality of their fights. I give Louis 7/10 for his style. He was simple and straightforwardly dangerous but was also vulnerable. He would repeatedly get dropped and staggered a lot of time and came back to knock his opponents out. Look at his fight against Walcott, Braddock, Conn, Galento and (Buddy) Baer where he was literally fell through the ropes. Consistency: 10/10 he was very consistent in putting up shows and competing in exciting fights. Quality: 6.5/10 tho he was consistent, but going back to what you said.. It does look like a prolonged execution (Mann, Baer & Galento fights go figure). When he fights, he could overwhelm his opponents quickly with his superior skills and knock them out brutally . Most of them are genuinely entertaining, but aren't upper echelon action.
