Muhammad Ali (Zaire) vs prime Jersey Joe Walcott

He lost to Johnny Allen (11-15 record) in 1945, didn’t he? Or was it ‘46?

To me, ‘avenging a loss’ means you split with someone as if the loss doesn’t count … and it does count. As do his other 19 losses. Also split with Elmer Ray and Joey Maxim — fine fighters, but not ATG heavies. Splitting with some other top guys =/= cleaning out a division to me. Of course actual mileage may vary and you may consider splitting a series (1-1 or 2-1) to be a cleaning.

He lost six times between1945 and 1949. That, to me, is not dominance.

 

From 1945 until challenging Louis in 1947 Walcott had seven wins against men ranked within that time frame. That's seven wins in two years over contenders, you can count on one hand the amount of heavyweights who have done that.
I don't think Walcott has to necessarily beat the champion to clear the division but even if you use that metric, he may very well have given how close the first fight with Louis was.

I agree that Ali beats Walcott, that's not even the initial cause of the argument.

 

He was champ for 11 years, of course he would retire at the beheast of his mother. That doesn't mean he was shot. Equating 1948 Louis to the 1950-52 version is disengenuous. The Louis who fought Walcott was much closer to the one who fought Mauriello and Conn. The footage alone proves the massive gulf between the pre and post comeback versions.

You tell me I perform mental gymnastiques to elevate Walcott while nitpicking and whining about his competition. Calling an era weak is such a low form of criticism, you can grab any fighter from any era and make find flaws in his opponents.
You called Ezzard Charles some light heavy, as if he isn't the very best light heavyweight of the last 150 years.
The fact of the matter is that Walcott's match making was unlike anybody else's. Most guys get a shot at the champ after a couple of ranked wins, Walcott had seven in two years before Louis fought him.
Professional fighters don't even fight as many contenders within the time frame Walcott did, let alone journeymen.

 

My defitioning of "clearing the division" is you beat all the top guys and are clearly the best Heavyweight in the world.

And well....Walcott lost to an aging Louis and lost to Marciano which means he never cleared the division IMO because he was never the best Heavyweight in the world at any point in his career.

Walcott split fights with Elmer Ray, Joey Maxim, and lost to Rex Layne. You can't be that inconsistent and then claim he cleared the division especially when he went 0-4 against an aging Louis and Marciano aswell.