Louis-Walcott 1 - Was it a robbery?

Mr. Garfield, If its not too much trouble, I have two questions


1. How was Carmine Vingo viewed at the time? was he described as a puncher?

2. happened to run into a old photo of Earl Walls. just how good was he compared to the rest of the era?

 

Sorry bro, were not allowed pills in the military :good hows it goin though sal, I was watching sanchez vs nelson thew other night, one of my favs. nelson really came motivated that night, sanchez was just too much for him, sanchez showed a lot of poise late in the fight for a 22 year old

 

..........Dude, all the respect in the world for your service; I think it's cool that you're a SEAL and all, but don't you think you're being just the slightest bit OCD about all this?

.........And numerous other threads?


P.S.........Sanchez was 23 at the time.

 

1. thanx man

2. not a SEAL yet but(knock on wood) hopefully soon my man

3. yes absolutley. lol. you must exuse my enthusiasm, my adrenaline is still high and mighty from the amazing red sox comeback last night, and I guess this is my place to let all my emotions out.

I thought that was Russell? LMAO

shoot your right, what a fighter. Can you believe IBRO rated him only # 11 featherweight of all time? what a hunk of horse ****

 

.........So when do you know if you're a SEAL or not?

 

Didn't see Vingo train, S. He worked-out in the Bronx at LaMotta's gym. Knew of him only from gym buzz before the Marciano fight, as a tall, local undercard hvy with some pop.

Walls was either an upstate N.Y. or Canadian hvy. Saw him spar some at Stillmans -- about Nino Valdez's size. Long arms, good balance. Looked like he got good leverage with both hands.

Saw him fight only once in the early '50s against Jimmy Slade, a Lt Hvy, at the old Garden. Slade was a cutey -- had balls of brass -- would fight a train.

Walls towered over Slade, who was freakishly built: bird legs, no waist , and Max Baer shoulders. Could punch much harder than his record indicated. Very dangerous guy.

Slade's sly style muted Walls's punching power and he got outpointed in a prelim.

 

Louis in his Auto biography said he won the fight and he was sorry it was such a stinker,he told one journalist afterwards," I see where you thought Walcott won the fight ,well may be you were right, and maybe you were wrong ,but next time there won't be no argument about it ".I have only seen clips ,there was a US series about old boxing matches where they had the principals together years after to talk about the fight as it was shown,all good stuff.This fight was one of them ,Walcott said he though he won and Louis said he thought he won.Other fights were SRR V Lamotta ,Louis v Galento,you can download them from You Tube ,I beleive.

 

I've seen extended highlights although you can't necessarily decide who won by that but from what I've read and the fact Louis tried to leave the ring before the announcement and that Louis (the far more popular fighter) was booed pretty heavily once the decision was called and Walcott when raised his arms was cheered by the fan make me think Walcott won this by a fair margin. Also Walcott dropped Louis twice so if people really did have it close the knockdowns should have given Walcott the edge at the very least.

 

Ive only seen highlights myself but I heard that Louis left the ring with his head down before the verdict was announced, if this is true then I think you have your answer.

 

I have seen all 15 rounds, with some rounds having more footage than the other. Wlacott won easily, 9 round to 6, and scored two knockdowns.

Louis low guard, slow feet and average defense were no match for Walcott's fancy footwork, and countering ability.

This was perhaps the wrost robbery of the heavyweight championship I've ever seen, but those in the know will tell you that Louis management was ultra connected in MSG, and he wasn't going to lose a decsion there.

The thing that strikes me is the ending. Louis had the body language of a defeated fighter. Louis, who was nothing short of a hero was greeted with a thruderous chorus of boos after the decsion was announced.

Walcott got a standing ovation.

 

They did quite fine 6 months later.

 

What is really wrong with McGrain crediting Louis with 7 rounds? Even Ruby Goldstein gave Louis six rounds with two even.

 

From what I've seen of the fight (which is the same extended highlights that everyone but Garfield has seen) I don't see anyone clearly "winning" or "dominating" the fight. Walcott had a couple of big rounds when he dropped Louis, but in the other rounds, he mostly just walked away, shuffled, feinted, showboated, and acted cute, without doing much real fighting. Aside from the two knockdowns, the rest of the fight was pretty even and uneventful IMO.

Rather than a blatant robbery, it looks to me more like a close non-fight where the aggressor was given the benefit of the doubt.

 

:huh I'm not sure how someone can accurately score this fight based on the footage available. I have 3 different versions of it and not a single round can be pieced together to make 2 minutes. (my friend and I have tried) Scoring this fight in favor of Walcott when the highlights of each round are les than 2 minutes long is one hell of a stretch, to my way of thinking.

Something else that should be stated, Walcott doesn't throw leads. At least 4 fight reports I've read confirm this and I've seen 12 different films on him and only once did he ever commit himself to force the action and that was against an opponent who spent the last 4 rounds or so running and not punching. Walcott would throw entire rounds away simply by trying to wait for his opponent to attack him. You see this in the highlights in question. Personally, I tend to believe that Louis won the fight for the reason that My2Sense has stated. He was given the benefit of the doubt as the aggressor.

With that said, I doubt this fight is the "Great Robbery" that it has been commonly stated as. The highlights will show what looks like Walcott dominating obviously, but that's less than 45 seconds of a three minute round.