The Ezzard Charles Archive

This comes from a checkhooboxing forum it was posted by user GPater as it follows:

"A few years ago I started researching Ezzard Charles in some depth, I found out some interesting things but never really did much with what I found and due to time it just fizzled out. But Im going to revive the project and post up info in this thread.

Here are 4 articles I wrote on his fights from Pittsburgh early in his career. I hope you find them as interesting as I did.

Bear in mind they are not the finished article and were meant to be part of something much bigger."

 

Ezzard Charles vs Booker Beckwith – July 27th 1942

Beckwith appears to have been a very good prospect at one point. As an amateur he was a top class fighter winning Golden Gloves in Chicago and boxing many other boxing teams for Chicago.

Starting out as a Middleweight in the pro ranks he quickly grew into a Light heavyweight and went 17 bouts unbeaten, beating future Heavyweight title challenger Lee Oma impressively in two rounds and dominating the superb (EXPLAIN KRIEGER) Solly Krieger. His first loss was against Bob Pastor in his 18th bout, at age 21. In the first three rounds he hurt Pastor a few times but soon unravelled when faced with Pastor’s body attack and veteran spoiling tactics. Despite this setback, Beckwith continued to battle Heavyweights.

After losing to Pastor, Beckwith rebounded with a ten round decision over Joey Maxim, dropping him in the third.

In April 10th 1942 Beckwith tangled with Melio Bettina, but found his southpaw stance confusing and had to stay in hospital, after losing a ten-round decision, because of a back injury. Bettina started fast piling up the points and hurting Beckwith, but had him on the verge of going, but eased off to take the decision. This bout was intended to give Bettina a spring board to a heavyweight title shot, but his poor performance in the late rounds hampered this. According to the AP, Beckwith ‘was soundly outpointed’.

Rebuilding after his loss to Bettina, Beckwith tackled the unheralded Andy Miller, on the 20th May 1942. This was Beckwith’s first Light-Heavyweight bout since decisively beating Krieger a year previously. Beckwith dispatched of Miller with relative ease and put him away in the third round.

His style would be described as a boxer-puncher, as he had good boxing skills and could be elusive when he wanted to, but he had stinging power in either glove and looked to put guys away, as his nine KO’s show.

After his win over Miller, Beckwith became involved with an orchestra contributing his skills as a saxophone player to the orchestra.

However, his days as a musician were short lived as Beckwith was matched with Ezzard Charles on the 27th July 1942. After his Chicago Promoter, William R Rand, gave him permission to fight the rising Cincinnati star. 1

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 14th July 1942
‘Match Charles with Chicago Light-Heavy’
Booker Beckwith will appear at Forbes Field

Another high-class match the fifth ten-rounder on the Dapper Dan all-star fistic card to be presented at Forbes Field on Monday, 27th July, was closed yesterday when it was announced that Ezzard Charles, hard punching Cincinnati boy, was booked to meet Booker Beckwith, Chicago Light-Heavyweight. This bout completes the card which now shows the following match-ups:
Joey Maxim vs Curtis Sheppard
Fritzie Zivic vs Norman Rubio
Harry Bobo vs Claudio Villar
Ezzard Charles vs Booker Beckwith
Anton Christiforidis vs Mose Brown
…
Although Charles is classed as a middleweight, he has fought light-heavyweights, and in meeting Beckwith, will take on the number 3 man in the country in his division.
Beckwith’s punching ability is well known and when he and Charles start swapping punches something is bound to give.

As you can see from the preview article Beckwith was no pushover, still a dangerous foe despite his two defeats. This represented a good opponent for Charles, who had proven himself a superb Middleweight and was ranked number 3, to make a mark at Light-Heavyweight. The fact that Beckwith was an exciting talent made it very intriguing match up.

The match was so anticipated that the feeling was when it was signed is that it would ‘threaten to steal the thunder from the main bout Mose Brown and Anton Christofiridis.’2 In fact, the whole card was greatly anticipated as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette stated: ‘Veteran boxing men who rated the recent boxing card staged in Cleveland as one of the best ever put together are revising their estimates now, and rank the coming Dapper Dan show at Forbes Field on Monday, 27th July, as even superior.’ Also Johnny Ray, the ‘hard-bitten veteran of close to three decades in the boxing game’, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and who had previously been a fighter, manager and promoter, rated the card as ‘the finest ... he has seen put together.’3


Beckwith left for Pittsburgh from Chicago on the Friday 24th.4 obviously looking to have plenty of time to get over the effects of the travelling. Upon arriving he would work out at the Center Avenue YMCA, along with Harry Bobo, Curtis Sheppard and Mose Brown.5 Charles was also scheduled to arrive on Friday 24th from Cincinnati, his venue of work out is unknown.

The bout was ‘the only bout which failed to meet with the exact approval was the one that everyone had anticipated (Charles vs Beckwith)’.6 For all the excitement, it appears to have been a bit of a let down, as highly-anticipated fights often are in boxing.

Here Al Abrams, chief sportswriter, offers his description of the action for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Charles flattens Beckwith
Just when the fan in the next seat was telling his neighbour that he was very much disappointed with the action in the Charles-Beckwith fight, young Ezzard lashed out with a left and a right to knock Beckwith ‘dead’ in the ninth round. The time was 2 minutes and 19 seconds, but the kayo blows came so suddenly that it caught everyone unawares.(Author note: Even one of the participants was caught unaware!) Beckwith was out for a full three minutes, his head hitting the floor with a resounding thud.
As is often the case when two good fighters get together and much is expected of them, the action proves disappointing. Such was the case in this battle, although to Charles’ credit he did all the leading, and threw 75 percent of the punches, and tried to make a fight of it all the way. He had little trouble landing on Booker, and was far out in front when the kayo occurred.
The highly touted Beckwith could not cope with the busy fighter from Cincinnati, Ezzard threw too many punches for him and he got a sample of his power early. This made him extra cautious and helped kill the interest in several rounds. The boys tried hard, but to the fans in the distant seats it looked like they were loafing. Beckwith weighed 171 and Charles 163.

The United Press described the kayo blow as a ‘hard right’.

It can be gleaned from the fight report that Charles effectively out-boxed Beckwith with a busy offence and landing hard shots to keep Beckwith cautious. The kayo adds to the win doing something that Heavyweights Bettina and pastor could not achieve despite having a weight advantage. All in all, a very impressive victory for the young Charles who with the victory established himself firmly as a top player at Light-Heavyweight.

In the other bouts on the card, Christiforidis won an easy ten-round decision winning eight rounds over the over-matched Mose Brown. Christiforidis stayed aggressive throughout walking down Brown and scored a knockdown in the second round.

Zivic vs Rubio was the bout described by Abram as ‘providing the most excitement’ as ‘Zivic came back from the brink of defeat to notch his technical kayo over Rubio.’ Rubio was all over Zivic in the first four rounds, dropping him in the first and landing ‘a thousand punches’. However, a cut sustained by Rubio stopped the bout at the end of the eight. Between the fifth and the eighth the bout turned and Zivic did some good jabbing.

Harry Bobo was destructive in knocking down Claudio Villar four times. Villar was down twice in the fourth and twice in the fifth, the last time for keeps. Bobo ‘measured his punches well’ and beat up his ‘game’ opponent for the victory.

In the opposite end of things Joey Maxim provided a great display of pure boxing in his ten-round decision over Curtis Sheppard. I his famous rematch victory, Maxim had been kayo’d in one in their first bout. Maxim was described as ‘peppering Curtis with jabs’.

All in all, it was a very successful card drawing a crowd of 18,574 with a gross gate of $47,496.86 and a net of $41,644.23. Abrams described the card as a ‘fistic bombshell which exploded at Forbes Field.’ Jake Mintz was the matchmaker for the Rooney-McGinley Co. who promoted the card. 7

Soon after his bout with Charles, Beckwith joined the army, on 31st July 1942 in Gary, Ind.8

Beckwith’s boxing career never really lived up to his early promise. After losing to Charles he won 7 bouts between 1944 and 1947, but also posted 4 loses, one against the great Jimmy Bivins in Beckwith’s penultimate bout. Beckwith retired after losing to Bob Garner on 12th June 1947, at the age of 27 years old and bowing out with a record of 25-8 (14KOs).



1 = Chicago Tribune July 13th 1942
2 = Pittsburgh Press July 14th 1942
3 = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette July 24th 1942
4 = Chicago Tribune July 24th 1942
5 = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette July 23rd 1942 (However, it disagrees with the Chicago Tribune by saying that Beckwith was expected to arrive on the Thursday (23rd), whereas the Chicago Tribune opined the Friday (24th), I have chosen to believe the Chicago paper due to Beckwith leaving from Chicago, and thus that paper having a better idea of when he left.)
6 = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette July 28th 1942
7 = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Jan 18th 1949
8 = The New London Evening Day July 31st 1942

 

Ezzard Charles vs Jose Basora - This bout sounds like a real barnstormer

Initially, the opponent of Charles’ next opponent was rumoured to be Anton Christiforidis as the August 8th 1942 edition of the The Afro American stating that:
Ezzard Charles, the Cincinnati clouter, earned himself a bout with Anton Christiforidis, ex-light-heavyweight king, by his kayo over Booker Beckwith. Beckwith joined the army shortly after the knockout.
However the rumours would be laid to rest with an announcement made before the main event of Carmen Notch vs Vinny Vines fight card on the 10th August 1942. 1

Jose Basora was a 24 year old Puerto Rican, based out of Chris Dundee’s stable in New York. Upon meeting Charles he had a 34-6-2 (22 KOs) record and a fearsome reputation, as the ‘hardest puncher in boxing’. 2

Reportedly going 77-0 as an amateur, Basora turned pro in New York and quickly impressed with his fearsome punching power, starting out as a Welterweight before, quickly, maturing into a Middleweight. Quickly racking up 28 wins against 1 draw, he finally lost a ten-round decision to the tough Kid Tunero on 1st March 1941. Another defeat followed as Basora lost to another experienced fellow in Antonio Fernandez over eight-rounds.

Rebounding from these two defeats he knocked out Philadelphia clubfighter Pat Mangini in two rounds and beating Jerry Fiorello over four rounds. With these two wins, Basora then stepped up his opposition tackling Coley Welch in a bout between two young prospects. However, Basora lost a razor close decision to Welch on 11th September 1941.

Not one to sit and lick his wounds, Basora was back out on the 29th September against the legendary Holman Williams, one of the premier defensive fighters of all time. In a desperately close fight that saw Williams helpless on the ropes in at the bell in the sixth and final round, Williams escaped with a victory. Two further point’s defeats occurred in rematches to Welch and Williams, in October 28th 1941 and January 9th 1942 respectively.

Basora finally recovered winning ways with a fifth-round TKO over Frank Saia in 13th March 1942, and eight round points win over Otto Blackwell on the 30th March. 12th May 1942 harboured a draw with Jake Lamotta but Basora won the rematch over ten rounds a month later with the Associated Press noting the good use of Basoras’ right hand.

A change in managers from Angel Lopez to Chris Dundee, saw him matched with Buddy O’Dell in 28th July 1942, seeing Basora winning on points over eight rounds. This earned him a fight with Ezzard Charles, and a ranking of number ten among the Middleweights

As a fighter he was very highly regarded. Former manager of Sixto Escobar Lou Brix described him like this, ‘When he hits them right they remain unconscious for half an hour or more. And he throws those punches absolutely straight – no swings or telegraphs.’ And further went onto say that ‘Basora is a young, rangy Latin who combines boxing skill with dynamite that can tear an opponents head off.’ Former manager of Fred Apostoli, Larry White asserted in January 1940, that Basora ‘would be Middleweight champion within 18 months.’3 So it is fair to say that boxing insiders had a very good opinion of Jose Basora.

His style seems to be that of a boxer-puncher, with emphasis on the puncher aspect. He seemed to use his height and long arms to great effect to create power and keep his opponent at range.

Charles after the announcement of the bout clarified his aims for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Ezzard Charles classy Cincinnati battler, is shooting for both the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight championships. Charles, who meets Jose Basora at the feature ten-rounder at Hickey park next Monday night, has set his cap for the two titles and war permitting, hopes to attain his double barrelled goal.
A legitimate Welterweight (mistake: Must mean Middleweight) as he only scales 160 and 163 figure. Charles is also classed as the leading contender for the Light-Heavyweight crown since he knocked out Booker Beckwith at Forbes Field last July 27th. He has taken on the best in both classes and has beaten them and is now ready to take on Tony Zale, the Middleweight king, or Gus Lesnevich, holder of the Light-Heavyweight crown.
Charles has set an unusual record in his Pittsburgh showings, he started out by meeting a welterweight, Charley Burley, and whipped him twice. His third appearance here was a against a Light-Heavyweight in Beckwith. A jump in some 18 pounds in the different opponents. This didn’t mean anything to Ezzard, who flattened his opponent in such startling fashion, to set the large crowd wild over him.
It seems that Charles had high targets for himself, and the newspaper seems to think these are realistic aims. The article goes on to offer a brief preview of his match ahead:
In Basora is meeting an opponent nearer his weight as the Puerto Rican boy comes in at 162 or thereabouts. The two are built on the same order, tall and lean. If Charles gets past Basora, he is going to issue a double challenge to Zale and Lesnevich through the local promoters.
Both Charles and Basora are due to arrive here today and complete training with light drills.

However, the pre-fight focus was not all on Ezzard Charles as the Pittsburgh Press-Gazette also ran a preview detailing Chris Dundee’s thoughts on the match up.
Chris Dundee, veteran New York manager, well known to Pittsburgh fans, is looking forward to upset at Hickey Park next Monday night, when his Jose Basora, Puerto Rican Middleweight meets the classy Ezzard Charles.
Besides his natural interest in Basora, Dundee is firm in his belief that the Puerto Rican can turn the trick, and register one of the biggest upsets of the fistic year. Dundee saw Charles in action twice last summer when Ken Overlin fought him in Cincinnati. The former Middleweight champion won the first time and was held to a draw in the second. Dundee learned all about Charles in those matches, and while he rates him highly, believes Basora has the style to whip him.
‘Any fighter with a record of 26 knockouts in 41 fights, can’t be discounted easily.’ Writes Dundee from New York. ‘Basora has the punch and style to beat Charles, and I’m looking forward to a big upset. I saw Charles fight twice against Overlin, and while he is a pretty good boy. Jose can lick him. If I didn’t think Basora had a chance to win, I wouldn’t have accepted the match for him.’
Now, Dundee seems to think Basora has an excellent chance of winning and I feel, he thinks he knows Charles weaknesses after seeing him lose to Overlin. Obviously, though he has great faith in Basora, and rightly so, Basora was an excellent fighter. However, Charles was an 8-to-1 favourite so it would have to be a very big upset.

Charles had obviously made a name for himself in Pittsburgh as Al Abrams reported in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that there was ‘fine advanced sales’ for the Basora fight, and a large crowd was expected. Mentioning that Charles was becoming a ‘Box office’ name.

Al Abrams of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will serve us as the narrator for this bout.

 

To Pittsburgh boxing fans Ezzard Charles dark dynamiter from Cincinnati, is still one of the greatest fighters in the country today, but their collective chapeaus were off last night to Jose Basora, of Puerto Rico, as one of the gamest boys who ever crawled into a local ring.
Charles was the winner over Basora by a knockout in 2 minutes and 57 seconds of the fifth. In the feature at Hickey Park, Monday night, and had Basora dropped six times for counts of nine.
…
There was never any doubt to the class and ability of Charles who was the same murderous puncher and ever-relentless fighter he had shown himself to be in three previous appearances in Pittsburgh. The Cincinnati Kid is tops in his league as a battler and there will be very few works for him to conquer before he is challenging for both the Middleweight and Light-Heavyweight crowns.
But there was no getting away from it. … For once local fans so a battler who would stand against the great Charles and exchange punches with him. Charley Burley tried it once and learned his lesson so well, he was a Charles-fearing battler in the second meeting. Booker Beckwith, Chicago Light-Heavy, kept away for as long as he could, until Charles caught up with him and finished him last month at Forbes Field.
It was different with Basora. The Game Puerto Rican stuck into his opponent after one minute of the initial round was used up in feeling each other out. After that it was bang after bang with Charles giving and Basora taking it and coming back for more.
Best Not enough
Whether this kind of strategy was the smart thing when you have a fellow like Charles hard into you is debateable, yet no-one can take anything away from Basora for his all-out effort to win. He gave his best and while it did not prove enough, he has lost nothing, at least here, by his game stand.
Basora was down for counts of nine in the second round, and in the third once and in the fourth three times before the end came near his own corner in the fifth. He was three seconds away from finishing the round, and there is nothing against the story he would have been able to survive those three seconds.
More than once it looked as if Jose was out for good and that no human could stand up after the beating he was getting and still come back for more. For come back Jose did and before he was dropped for the full ten had staged a rally of punches that had 2,475 fans standing on their chairs and screaming like air raid sirens.
Suddenly turns terror
Basora was taking a tough battering just before this, but he called on a reserve endurance no-one had ever dreamed he possessed. He suddenly turned into a punching dynamo and started slugging Ezzard Charles all over the ring. Ezzard was visibly in trouble. He was caught with punch after punch which normally he could have easily avoided. His head bobbed back often from bone-crunching rights. His knees sagged. He retreated before and had been seen grovelling at least five times. Here was a terrific upset in the making and the fans, who usually go for the underdog, were not only having their upset but having a big one too.
But Basora didn’t have enough left, he had punched himself out with a flurry and Charles stepped up this point with a left hook that sent Basora back on his heels, Charles was himself again, he was the stalking killer again and a right to the body drove Jose near his frantic hardness. He crumbled like a broken door, he was through for the night and referee Red Robinson could have counted thirty over him.
The fight started out as what would be a quick win for Charles when a left hook dropped Basora for the first time in the second round. Jose went down again in the third but not until he had exchanged wallops with Ezzard on practically even terms and had the fans on the verge of hysteria for the first time.
The fourth was a big round for Charles as he dropped his man three times for counts of nine, but Basora, taking the toll on one knee each time, got up and still wanted to slug it out to set the stage for the wild fifth.
A pull of close to seven pounds pulled in Charles favour as he came in at 160 ¼ and Basora 153 1/2 .
The crowd paid a gross of $3,529.35 and a net of $3,038.15.

The United press differ only in the stoppage time being 2 minutes and 37 seconds, but I would believe the Pittsburgh Press-Gazette account.

The bout seems to have been one of the most sensational of Charles career, rallying back from being stunned. It emphasises how explosive Charles could be dropping his, virtually equally skilled, opponent 4 times and KOing him in five rounds. Charles’ one weakness may have been shown here, a less than stellar chin, but he sure covered for it with exceptional recuperative powers and a big left hook.

After his bout with Ezzard Charles, Basora would go on to have a distinguished career. He went 45-13-5-1 (20KOs), however of his defeats they were to Jake Lamotta (twice), Holman Williams, Tommy Yarosz (in a unpopular decision), Bert Lytell and ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson, at a shot for the Pennsylvania State Middleweight world title. And a further five defeats occurred after Robinson had ended his days as a top-class fighter. His notable wins were over Holman Williams (three times) and Jimmy Curl. He would retire from the sport with a 78-20-7 (44KOs) record, bowing out in June 1952 at the age of 34.

1= Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Aug 11th 1942
2 = The Milwaukee Journal Jan 6th 1940 Article by Jack Cuddy
3 = The Milwaukee Journal Jan 6th 1940 Article by Jack Cuddy with quotes from Larry White and Lou Brix
4= Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Aug 11th 1942

 

vs Mose Brown, this has a lot of talk about the Lighthevyweight title situation

The win over Basora was obviously well received in Pittsburgh and the fistic world. There would be some talk to Charles next opponent with even Heavyweight contender Bob Pastor being considered:
The slated September 14 pairing of Harry Bobo and Bob Pastor, cancelled, of course, by the barring of Bobo, the local ring moguls are looking around for a match to drop into the ball park on said date. Several attractions are under consideration, the best of which at the moment would seem to be a suggested meeting of Pastor with Ezzard Charles.
Whether Pastor would care to fight the young Cincinnati slugger is not known, but he probably would do so if the price is right. The principal barrier, however, might be the weight question, since Charles could hardly fight well at any poundage over 165, while Pastor would probably want to come in about 180. This disparity in the weights might not meet the approval of the boxing commission.
It is also heard that Coast Guardsman Gus Lesnevich would like to fill his engagement here against Mose Brown for the Light-Heavyweight title. Brown, however, is out of the picture as far as a title match goes here, but Charles might also be considered for this one if Lesnevich would be agreeable.1
Not easy matches for any young pugilist. Pastor, was a tough Heavyweight ‘spoiler’ who had beaten Booker Beckwith recently, he could use his size well and wear down smaller fighters with his body attack, and add in his variety of veteran smarts and tricks and ring savvy, and you have a very imposing, if educational, task for the young Charles. The Lesnevich fight is a much more attractive fight for Charles, however, Lesnevich wanted no part of Charles (or any half-decent contender, for that matter), and so it would be hard for an agreement to be reached.

Brown, despite losing 3 out of last 4 had seemingly secured the title shot, that Charles, and many other deserving contenders, craved. The bout between Lesnevich and Brown for the title was signed for the 29th June 1942.2 The bout seemed to be quite eagerly awaited with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette stating that Brown had a ‘swell chance’ of taking the title from Lesnevich. However, the bout was scrapped after the Navy would not let Lesnevich defend his title.3

Charles’ title shot hopes were dealt mixed blows after a decision by the NBA. Burton Benjamin of the The Palm Beach Post explains:
New York, Aug 15 – A wholesale house cleaning is imminent among the boxing champions and will only be partially averted by the war.
With the exception of the dormant Flyweight division, in which the title is vacant, Only three crowns are not in jeopardy. They are:
Heavyweight – Joe Louis
Middleweight – Tony Zale
Bantamweight – Manuel Ortiz
Four titleholders are in the armed forces. Louis is in the army, Gus Lesnevich, light-heavyweight king, is in the Coast Guard. Zale and Freddie Cochrane, welterweight ruler, are in the navy.
The military are taking a firm stand on soldiers and sailors taking part in commercial boxing ventures in which at least 50 per cent is not given to a war fund. Furloughs are limited, and it is unlikely that a boxer would be given the six weeks necessary to train for a championship bout.
Champions in uniform are therefore reasonably secure for the duration.
There is no serious challenger of Louis at this time. Bob Pastor and Billy Conn have had their chances. Young Tami Mauriello is a couple of years away, and the champion does not care to fight Melio Bettina, a southpaw.
Of the three contenders for Zale’s crown none are imposing enough to impair his championship stature unless it is Ezzard Charles, young Cincinnati Negro. The rebuilt Fred Apostoli is also a possibility.
Lesnevich has more challengers than he can handle. He already has been beaten by Jimmy Bivins, and has Anton Christiforidis, the growing Charles, Mose Brown, and Ken Overlin to worry about.
As you can see, Charles title-hopes at Middleweight are pretty much over as the Middleweight title is frozen for the duration of the war and Charles was growing at a fairly quick rate, so it would be likely by the time that Zale would defend the title again, Charles would have grown into a Light-Heavyweight. In the Light-Heavyweight division there was a pack of names equally as deserving as Charles to tackle the champion. Jimmy Bivins perhaps having the best claim as he had beaten Lesnevich in a non-title bout, but Charles would have to be ranked second behind him in line for a shot. Mose Brown was perhaps the least qualified, but he was the one that Lesnevich wanted to defend against. Lesnevich does not endear himself as a ‘fighting champion’, he seems the type of champion that wanted to hold his title for as long as possible and with the least risk. After losing to Bivins his manager declared, ‘We’ll never fight him (Bivins) again.’4

Charles’ next opponent would be confirmed as Mose Brown in the September 3rd 1942 edition of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Another one of those five ten round boxing cards – fifty rounds of fighting – will feature the next Rooney-McGinley Co. presentation at Forbes Field on Tuesday night September 15. The full programme announced by matchmaker Jake Mintz yesterday is:
Ezzard Charles vs Mose Brown
Carmen Notch vs Vinny Vines
Sergeant Mike Raffa vs Bobby (Poison) Ivy
Jose Basora vs Ossie Harris
Joey Maxim vs Yancey Henry
Charles, Cincinnati sensation, has won four consecutive bouts here, the last two by kayoes over Booker Beckwith and Basora, will meet a fellow who can punch in Mose Brown. The Vines-Notch pairing is a rematch (If you remember the announcement of Charles vs Basora was made before their first bout) , resulting from a thrilling ten-round draw they put on at Hickey Park about three weeks ago.
Joey Maxim, Cleveland sharpshooter, who made a big hit before more than 17,000 fans at Forbes Field in July, will make his second appearance here against Yancey Henry, local coloured Heavyweight.
Jose Basora, Puerta (sic) Rican middleweight who made a game stand against Charles not that long ago and almost knocked him out in a last ditch flurry, will meet a trial horse in Ossie Harris.
The fifth ten-rounder has Sergeant Mike Raffa, fighting soldier boy from Fort Knox, Kentucky, who is a favourite with local fans, in a bout with Bobby (Poison) Ivy, one of the country’s better known Featherweights.
Again Pittsburgh fight fans were treated to a great card with the potential for every fight to be a great one. With cards like these it is easy to see how Pittsburgh was considered one of the premier fight locations in the 1940s.


Mose Brown was another big banger, Charles third big puncher in a row, and a Light-Heavyweight. Glancing at his record it is hard to see how he was ranked as a contender but his three wins over top contender Jimmy Webb was Browns main claim to fame, and earned him recognition as a top Light-Heavyweight. He was an able fighter, who just seemed to fall short when matched with the best, but anything below that level and he was destructive and exciting.

His style is that of a brawler, standing at 5’9 1/2’’, he was on the short side for a Light-Heavyweight. Frequently described as ‘rugged’ in newspapers, it is easy to imagine him as a rough pressure fighter with a punch in either hand. However, as Kid Tunero showed his skill level was low and he could be outboxed, as the Tunero embarrassed Brown in a one-sided boxing lesson. The young coloured fighter from McKeesport, but boxed extensively out of Pittsburgh, was a fan favourite because of his style, so both were known and liked in Pittsburgh, so it guaranteed to be a good sell.

Coming into his bout with Charles, Brown had over 100 bouts, amateur and pro,5 with Boxrec.com placing him at 19-8-1. Among this a massive upset win over Jimmy Reeves and Jimmy Webb three times.* His reverses had mainly comes against the best around, dropping decisions to Jimmy Bivins, Ken Overlin (twice), Melio Bettina, Kid Tunero and Anton Christiforidis, and had been stopped once by relative-unknown George Brunette. Upon reflection Brown’s record does not seem one that is worthy as being named as a contender for the Light—Heavyweight title, but he was thought of highly and upset many hot prospects like Reeves and Webb. Even though, he was still the weakest named contender at Light-Heavyweight. It should be noted that Browns record may be incomplete and this line of thought, could be slightly too harsh on Brown.

In his last bout Brown had lost a ten-round decision to fellow contender Anton Christiforidis. The reports of the bouts show that Christiforidis was too strong, and more skilled, than Brown and was able to bully and push back Brown, out-fighting him to win eight of the ten rounds, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.


Despite this recent set-back against Christiforidis, Brown was still seen as a good opponent and a September 4th article featured in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette opined that:
The light-heavyweight tangle offers two knockout-punchers in Ezzard Charles, of Cincinnati, one of the classiest battlers in the country, and McKeesport’s Mose Brown. The pairing of two sluggers like Charles and Brown has caught the fancy of district ring followers.
Another Charles bout that promised two bangers to face-off, the town must have been getting used to this occurrence.

 

Brown in the week leading up the fight seemed determined and focussed on beating Charles as this insight into his training from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette shows:
They do say that Mose Brown, McKeesport slugger training for Ezzard Charles on next Tuesday’s Forbes Field show, admits that he has learned more about boxing since George Engel and Danny Ryan took over his training, than he ever knew before. It may be a bit late for Mose, but his managers certainly made no mistake in bringing the ace trainer and veteran manager of champions into their camp.
George Engel was briefly manager to the great Harry Greb, so he obviously was a huge addition, and benefit, to the Brown camp. Ryan was a well respected trainer in Pittsburgh, which says a lot as it was a bustling fight capital. Furthermore the Pittsburgh Press-Gazette ran another feature, this one by Al Abram, from Brown’s camp.
If local boxing fans don’t see a greatly improved Mose Brown in the ring next Tuesday night against Ezzard Charles at Forbes Field, it won’t be the fault of two clever gentlemen like Danny Ryan, well-known trainer, and George Engel, veteran fight manager.
The Messrs. Ryan and Engel, known the country over as shrewd boxing men, have been working with McKeesport Mose for over two weeks in preparing him for the big test with Charles in the feature number in the Rooney-McGinley presentation of five ten round matches, and last night pronounced Brown ready for the match.
Shows great improvement
‘If I know my fighters,’ said Engel, who should know fighters after some four decades in the game, ‘Pittsburghers are going to see an altogether different boy in Mose than they ever have. Danny and I are not going to take any credit for any improvement Mose will show, because he is a good fighter in his own right. All we did was to change a few things in his training methods and teach him a couple of things we noticed he did wrong in previous fights.’
‘Then you think Mose has a good chance of winning?’ the reporter managed to break into the conversation, but instead of Engel answering, the usually quiet Ryan interjected:
‘We give Mose a great chance to win. Just like George told you, Charles can hit, and that’s the best thing Mose can do, so it should turn out to be a great fight as Charles likes to slug it out too.’
‘How about Browns boxing?’ A by-stander asked.
‘Because Mose is a slugger, little attention was paid to his boxing,’ Danny explained, ‘He just went out and banged away at the other fellow. We tried to teach him to shorten his punches and use his weight to advantage. There were other tricks, too, how to spin the other fellow, twist him round, and to hold him by the arms when necessary.
‘We also noticed one thing about Mose and he told us about it later. No one ever told him how long to train. He just drilled and drilled until he got tired. We tried to systemize his daily workouts and Mose says he feels a lot better.’
Now, all Mose has to justify all the things Danny and George said about him. One thing is certain, according to his new handlers, the Tube city boy is going to slug it out with Ezzard and not until Tuesday will anyone know how much he benefitted by the wise council of the veteran trainers.
Two boxing experts in Ryan and Engel are obviously enthusiastic about the chances of their boy, but it could just be because he is their boy. However, their presence looks to have helped Brown get into the best shape of his career, and perhaps roughen a few edges on his obvious talent.

The fight continued to receive coverage in the papers as the Pittsburgh Press-Gazette, explained a new seating plan was going into effect at Forbes Field for the fight, and added:
As for the show itself, the five ten-round matches offer Ezzard Charles, the classy Cincinnati boy against hard-hitting Mose Brown of McKeesport in the top number.
This is the match most fans are anxious to see as it offers two hard punchers and a kayo is inevitable.

Bill McElwain provided a good preview of the bout for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the 13th:
Topping the card is the Mose Brown-Ezzard Charles match. Charles, now the second-ranking Middle, proved conclusively against Booker Beckwith that he can handle the light-heavies, so Mose’s eight to 10 pound advantage should be no serious handicap to the Cincinnati blaster.
There’s this to be said of Brown, however, despite mediocre success since he KO’d Jimmy Webb three times hard-running last year. McKeesport Mose still takes a punch pretty well and on rare occasions has demonstrated that some of the old zing still lies dormant in his fists. Should he take that right hand out of his pocket, and really use it, Ezzard might be in trouble.
Brown Improves
Brown claimed he has learned more about fighting since George Engel and Danny Ryan took over his affairs, than he ever knew before, and that he’ll be at his best. He’ll have to be for Charles.
McElwain seemed to think that Brown could provide a tough fight for Charles because of his power and durability, but Brown would have had to improve considerably to fulfil this prediction, as Tunero showed he could be out-boxed and Charles was a very good boxer.

By the 14th of September all of the principals were in town. And Yancey Henry had to withdraw from his bout with Joey Maxim as Mose Brown broke two of his ribs in sparring. 6 Brown was obviously in good form in the gym, as Henry was a tough Heavyweight. This must have provided a boost for the gate, as Brown was proving himself a devastating puncher, right there in Pittsburgh.

In the last preview, on the 15th, of the bout, before fight time, in the Pittsburgh Press-Gazette, it summed up the future plans of the fighters involved:
If either Charles or Brown wins, their managers will press a claim for a championship match with Gus Lesnevich, the light-heavyweight king. Brown had a bout lined up last summer, when the champion was ordered back to duty with the coast guard. Since then, however, Gus’ manager, Lew Diamond, has let the local promoters know that his boy will be able to defend his crown.
This re-invigorated Charles’ Light-Heavyweight title dreams. As this was a match between two of the top contenders, and with Lesnevich flat-out refusing to face the top contender Bivins, it should provide a stand-out contender for Lesnevich to defend against.

 

Al Abrams gives us his account of the fight in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Ezzard Charles the belting beauty from Cincinnati, who is probably the greatest fighter at his weight in the country today, gave added proof to his championship qualities at Forbes Field last night, when he knocked out Mose Brown, of McKeesport after 2 minutes and 51 seconds of fighting in the sixth round of a scheduled ten rounder feature of an all star card.
It was Charles’ fifth consecutive victory in local rings, the last three being knockouts over Booker Beckwith, Joseph Basora and now Brown. Previously to that he had twice whipped Charley Burley decisively and if there were any doubts about Pittsburgh fans adopting him as a favourite son, they were dispelled last night.
Brown is probably not the best fighter who has faced Charles but he was certainly just as dangerous as any of them, and once came near exploding his dynamite in Ezzard’s face. Mose gave his best in a do or die effort and went down like a fighting man.
Charles leads on points
Charles was out in front on points when the knockout occurred, but local fans remembering Old Man Mose’s punching power, and also recalling that it was a year ago to exactly the same night, that Brown kayoed the ill-fated Jimmy Webb in the same ring, sat in their seats waiting for Mose to catch up with Ezzard.
But it was the other way around, as it is with all of Charles’ opponents. The belting beauty’s two-fisted attack never lets a foe get set, and how Mose managed to land some good blows, Charles was to ______ the battle a second later.
Charles boxed _____ his hard-hitting foe____ ____ opening he was waiting for in the sixth. It was the first time Brown had ever heard ten counted over him, having suffered only a technical kayo against him before.
The boys went through a feeling out process, in the first round, with Charles landing the better punches to win the session. Mose perked up in the second round to score with left hooks to the head, while Ezzard tried to box with him.
Brown staggers Charles
Charles opened up with his two-fisted attack in the third and was giving Brown a pretty good lacing, when the McKeesporter lashed out with a right that staggered Charles. Brown failed to follow up his advantage, however, and Ezzard moved right back in with an attack of his own. The two then staged a furious exchange which had the fans cheering wildly. Charles had the better of this and won the round also.
The fourth was slow in comparison, but Ezzard managed to land with several powerful rights to the head to win the round. He followed this up with a beautiful right cross to Mose’s jaw in the fifth, which helped pave the way for the finish in the sixth.
Brown shook it off well here, but it was a different story in the sixth, when Charles caught him with the same blow midway in the stanza. Mose was visibly hurt. He swung his body away from Charles in self-protection, and grabbed the rope with one hand to hold on. Ezzard moved in for the kill. He battered the Tube City boy with rights and lefts.
The action moved to the other side of the ring, as Mose back-tracked. Ezzard caught him once again with that crunching right to the jaw. He tried to fight back, lashing out with harmless lefts and rights, while retreating. Charles caught up with him. Again that right lashed out to almost cave in Mose’s face. He sagged, but before he went down, Charles caught him with another right, and then a left to the jaw, and it was the end for good Old Mose. He tried to get up at 10, but just couldn’t make it.
Charles appeared to be in top form, brushing away a fellow named contender in brutal fashion. The article also offers a fascinating insight into Charles style, as it seems Charles was always doing something in the ring, and trying to keep his opponent from gaining the iniative, with his ‘two-fisted attack.’ However, Charles still showed he could be stunned, but perhaps it could be because of his aggressive style that lends itself into being caught coming onto a punch, and therefore maximising the power of it. Regardless, Charles showed in ruthless fashion he was one of the premier Light-Heavyweights in the world.

On the undercard, Notch edged Vines on a split decision. Notch was ‘more consistent’ as Vines ‘boxed in spurts’, and the judges favoured the consistency of Notch. Sergeant Harry Raffa won a ‘thrilling’ ten round decision over Bobby (Poison) Ivy. Raffa looked dominant early but Ivy fought back well in the mid rounds before Raffa tired in the late rounds, a thrilling tenth round saw a big turnaround as Ivy was almost knocked out and the big final round clinched the deal for a Raffa decision. Former Charles opponent, Jose Basora, captured a ten round decision over trialhorse Ossie Harris. Basora was aggressive throughout, repeatedly hitting the tough Harris, and almost got him out late, for a wide decision.

With this win, Charles standing, not only in the world of pugilism, but also in his wider public appeal, as Haskall Cohen, a Pittsburgh writer, met with Charles to write a series of articles for ‘Pic’ Magazine. Obviously, extending his appeal among the general public and non-sporting folks. 7

However, more importantly Charles was increasing his standing in the Light-Heavyweight ranks and his latest showing was pushing Charles ever-forward to a title clash with the reluctant Gus Lesnevich. The 20th September issue of The Milwaukee Journal had a feature on Chairman of the NBA championship committee, Fred Saddy, picking out ‘promising young fighters’ in each weight class.
175 pounds – Jimmy Bivins, Negro, Cleveland, has beaten Burley, Christiforidis, Lesnevich, Maxim, Mauriello and Bolden and stopped Muscato and Soose; lost close decisions to Bettina and Pastor. Ezzard Charles, 20, Cincinnati, who outgrew the Middleweight class, has beaten Burley twice, and knocked out Christiforidis, Mamakos and Beckwith. Freddie Mills, 22, has cleaned up the best in England. Tommy Yarosz has won his last 12 bouts.
As Fred Saddy picks out many top fighters, it shows the Light-Heavyweights were a hot division in boxing with many current and future stars. Also, it is the first mention of Charles out-growing the Middleweight division. With the hope of a title shot at Middleweight certainly gone (due to Zale’s Navy service), it appears Charles had decided to focus on the Light-Heavyweight crown.


1 = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Aug 11th 1942
2 = Beaver Country Times Jun 6th 1942
3 = New York Times Jun 17th 1942
4 = The Afro American Mar 24th 1942
5 = Reading Eagle Jun 28th 1942 (Brown’s record may be incomplete, but I’d say Boxrec is very accurate)
* = The Afro American Jun 20th 1942 (Says Soose was a victim of Brown, although I have not confirmed it yet, I believe Brown could have beaten Soose and it might help justify his high-ranking. However, I severely doubt he beat Soose due to lack of evidence and lack of a suitable time period it could have conceivably occurred, and as these were two top fighters it is odd there is no primary source, as of yet.)
6 = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sept 14th 1942
7 = Pittsburgh Post Gazette Sept 16th 1942

 

vs maxim I

After the fight with Mose Brown, Ezzard Charles was supposed to tackle Shelton Bell, however on the 22nd September card, Bell was supposed to get past Cleveland’s Joey Maxim for the chance, but he failed to do so. Al Abrams of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette explains how Maxim beat his opponent:
The Clevelander used a stinging left jab to advantage and was Bell’s master at in-fighting. He tied up Bell time and time again, and while in close, would rake Shelton’s head with a loose right hand that never failed to find its mark.
While Maxim’s punches seemed to lack knockout authority, outside of the last round, he gave Bell a pretty good lathering at that. The Cleveland boy won seven rounds, according to this scoresheet with Bell taking two.
It seemed a pretty convincing and impressive win for Maxim, and it earned him the fight with Ezzard Charles.

With a tag-line of ‘Puncher vs Fancy-Dan’, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, ran feature on the upcoming fight, of Maxim vs Charles, in 13th October 1942 edition.
Chalk up another fistic treat for local ring fans on Oct. 27 when the indoor boxing season opens at the Gardens.
Matchmaker Jake Mintz came up with another of his ‘Collosical’ features, and despite Lady Luck’s well known disposition to ‘do him wrong’ on occasion, this is one in at least one of the principles has never yet aided in disappointment.
He is none other than Ezzard Charles, the brilliant two-fisted Middleweight package (this is at odds with the assertion of the NBA chairman Fred Saddy, who claimed Charles had outgrown the division) of dynamite, who is without question, Pittsburgh favourite ring artist today. The other is well liked Joey Maxim, Cleveland’s clever glove slinger who specialises in the finer points of the past time.
They will be a ten round main bout attraction with Maxim likely to enjoy about 12 pounds of advantage in weights at the ringside. It will be Charles first venture against a Heavyweight.
As the article states this would be Charles’ first fight at Heavyweight, although he was at one point touted to box Bob Pastor. It has already been explained how Pastor would have been a tough opponent for Charles, Maxim, on the other hand would be a perfect step into the Heavyweight division for him. As Maxim was, as the article says, a ‘fancy-dan’, he was not a big puncher or a man who used his weight advantage. He was not a very big Heavyweight having recently joined the ranks from Light-Heavyweight, in fact later in his career he would relocate to Light-Heavyweight. Charles was also a superb boxer, and would hold advantages in speed and all round agility due to him being smaller, and was the puncher in the fight.
The article continued summing up each mans local history.
But those who witnessed the ease of which Charles polished off Jose Basora, Mose Brown and Booker Beckwith here in recent bouts figures that a mere matter of 12 pounds is no handicap to the boy who seems destined to reach top-ranking ring fame. All he did to Brown and Beckwith was hand them the first knockouts of their careers, and with precision too.
Maxim has before twice appeared in Pittsburgh and impressed with victories over Curtis Sheppard, local boxer, and Shelton Bell, Toledo, Ohio.
Charles obviously is the main attraction in this bout with his superb run in recent months, in Pittsburgh. However, Maxim is considered no slouch by the Pittsburgh media as his two victories attest to.

The bout would also mark an opening of the indoor boxing season in Pittsburgh which was unusually early. The indoor season usually started in December when the ‘football hysteria has faded away.’ However, because of World War Two changes had to be made, and in the indoor season was brought forward. With the Charles-Maxim card opening the season.1

In the 15th October 1942 edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Al Abrams spotted a recent trend in Charles’ opponents. His last five opponents had a surname starting with ‘B’ and he opined that Maxim ‘may also change things around’, by that he means beat Charles. Maxim was most definitely a live underdog, and a big test for the young Charles.

The bout marked a different type of opponent in recent months for Charles, in his last three bouts in Pittsburgh, Charles had encountered punchers in Brown, Basora and Beckwith. In Brown and Basora, he had faced pretty much out-right brawlers, and in Beckwith he faced a talented boxer puncher. Here Maxim was a different type of boxer, he was a pure boxer. He used lateral movement behind a popping left jab, a solid technician in every area, but not really excelling at any, although his toughness would become legendary.

This variety of styles was the perfect way to build up a rising fighter, giving him the experience to cope with any style. Maxim presented new problems to Charles, would Maxim’s lateral movement be able to off set Charles offence? And stop Charles from mounting attack? Would his size be too big a handy cap to overcome? Would the jab offset Charles? Another factor that could make this a tough fight is Maxim’s well-schooled inside game, and with him being the bigger man it could have very well been a massive problem for Charles.

The bout attracted great interest with newspapers nationwide carrying a small AP article that Charles and Maxim were to fight, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was featuring the bout heavily in the sports pages during fight week.

Maxim trained hard for the bout working out daily at the Centre Ave. YMCA under the watchful eye of top boxing trainer and experienced second Lou Gross.2

Maxim’s training combined with his recent stellar efforts must have made a great impression on fight fans and experts alike as he the odds for the bout were virtually a pick ‘em. With the ‘smart money’ leaning towards Maxim, ‘because of brilliant boxing form and the extra poundage he will carry into the ring.’ Maxim was expected to have a 20lb weight advantage, weighing in at the region of 180lbs, whereas Charles was just a Middleweight, barely scaling over 165lbs.3

 

The 27th October edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was packed with previews on the Charles vs Maxim fight due to take place that night. It demonstrated the excitement the Pittsburgh boxing crowd had for this bout, and in Charles. Al Abrams column had a quote from Maxim’s manager, Vic Ribersek, a highly knowledgeable boxing manager from Cleveland, he explained his boy’s chances:
‘My Joey he fought Jimmy Bivins and should have got the decision. I don’t think Charles is so much tougher than Bivins, and my Joey can handle him, I’ll bet you.’
The main preview from the Post-Gazette went into more detail;
Charles Makes Heavy Debut, Meets Maxim here tonight
Having cleaned up on all Middleweight and Light-Heavyweight talent available, Ezzard Charles, Cincinnati’s Belting Beauty, invades the Heavyweight division tonight at The Gardens, when he takes on Joey Maxim in the feature 10-round match of the Rooney-McGinley’s Co. opening show of the indoor season.
One of the greatest punchers in the game today, Charles has been installed as a favourite over the clever Maxim, a fancy dan par excellence and rated a second Billy Conn.
Both Charles and Maxim are undefeated in local appearances, with Ezzard having polished off Charley Burley twice, and knocking out Jose Basora, Booker Beckwith and Mose Brown. Maxim won easily in two starts against Curtis Sheppard and Sheldon (sp.) Bell.
The winner of tonight’s match has been promised a match with Bob Pastor here next month, if Pastor does not go through with his announced retirement. This incentive, and plus an excellent preliminary card, are expected to draw a capacity throng to the Oakland sports arena for the Charles-Maxim match.
Maxim’s weight edge, which should be around 10 or 12 pounds, is expected to off set Charles punching power. Joey’s boxing ability has also won him a lot of local supporters, who believe that Charles is not only in for the biggest test of his career but a setback along with it.
As the preview shows most fans still have confidence in Charles ability as a boxer and a puncher but that Maxim’s size and boxing ability can provide him with a tougher test than usual.
A further sportswriter, John P. MacFarlane from the Post-Gazette offered his opinion on the match that had everyone talking:
‘This part of the paper rather likes the chances of Ezzard Charles, the Ebony Eliminator from Cincinnati, in his brawl this evening at the Gardens with Joe Maxim, sharpshooting Cleveland Heavy. Maxim, of course, is rated the better boxer but no one who has seen Charles would deny that Ezzard well knows his way around the roped arena. He’ll not be outclassed in the boxing and the dynamite that hangs from both of his shoulders, in our humble opinion, gives him a terrific advantage.
Some observers predict that if the bout goes to the limit of ten-rounds, Mr Maxim will get the duke. It must be remembered, however, that in these parts one seldom garners the decision running away and it behoves Joe to make a stand up battle of it or risk defeat. Briefly, it figures to be an entertaining set to, as are all of Charles’ battles if his opponent is game to make a scrap of it.
The difference in weights should not be important, most close observers of fistiana say that a fellow weighing around 165 to 170 is big enough to fight anyone, if he has the other things that it takes.
Macfarlane provides a compelling case for a Charles victory but also shows us the thinking of the Maxim supporters, clearly showing how evenly split the fight was.

Bill McElwain of the Pittsburgh Press offered a further analysis of the upcoming match up:
‘Meteoric Charles battles Maxim in first shot at Heavyweight
Their dragging out another victim for Ezzard Charles tonight in an effort to get the winter boxing season at the Gardens a fast start.
This time Mr Charles who has been built up to man-eating proportions, will be fed a Heavyweight, one Joey Maxim – the first morsel of this size that Ezzard has ever tried to devour. But despite the odds of about 10-7 in Ezzard’s favour, the Maxim person may be a bit on the indigestible side, if his past performances mean anything.
Frequently when a fighter goes out of his weight class, he makes sure that he is risking his health against a purely lower grade opponent. Such was the case when the 150-pound Charley Burley knocked out the 210-pound J. D. Turner, a gentleman of ample proportions and no talent. But such is not the case tonight.
The big difference is that Maxim is no Turner. Joey is a slick boxer who carries his 180-pounds with no apparent effort. His left jab ranks with the best and though he doesn’t carry much authority on his blows, he is mightily hard to tie up.
Whilst Charles will probably enter the ring at his peak weight – around 170-pounds – that still leaves him shy 10-pounds, compared to Maxim, and a fighter who knows how to use such a weight advantage can make it a telling factor. Maxim is a wise enough hand, otherwise, to suggest that he won’t be lacking when it comes to employing his extra bulk.
Maxim, of course, isn’t a top flight performer, chiefly because of that lack of punch, but once you get past three or four stand outs (excluding those in the service), he’s about as good as they come. That he isn’t afraid of a puncher was obvious in the way he handled Curtis Sheppard and Shelton Bell here the past summer.
All this does not take into consideration Mr. Charles. Not without reason has he received his man-eater label. Sooner or later he’s almost sure to connect, and when he does, whether Joey is afraid of him or not won’t enter into the picture. Consequently, Maxim must either keep Charles at long range or blanket him, the latter a procedure none too simple, for Ezzard blasts away like a demon inside.
Just how much respect Charles has won is evident in the confidence of many that he will put Maxim out of commission within five rounds. That seems to leave Joey’s stock at a rather low level, but all he has to do to bring it up is make a good showing.
Again, another scribe that favours Charles, although you get the impression that McElwain thinks Charles is a sure winner and the bout is a foregone conclusion!

 

The fight appeared to be a slight anti-climax with Maxim boxing negatively and stunting Charles’ offence. Bill McElwain was particularly scathing in his report for the Pittsburgh Press:
‘Charles wins by decision over bashful Joey Maxim
They’ve called Joey Maxim everything from the ‘picture boxer’ to a ‘second Billy Conn’ but after last nights performance against Ezzard Charles at the Gardens, he’s just another guy named Joe.
Certainly the original Billy Conn never took a whipping with so little spirit as did Maxim. Once Charles found the range it was obvious that Maxim was only interested in going the distance.
It took Ezzard quite a while to locate his target at that. An annoying left jab had the young Cincinnati Negro badly befuddled through most of the first five rounds, but when he finally solved it, Maxim had to take recourse to the good old-fashioned clinch to save his neck.
Maxim’s 16-pound weight advantage didn’t help Ezzard any in the early rounds, for the Clevelander, who weighed 181 ½ to Charles’’ 165 ½, managed to ensnare Charles completely at close range.
A half-dozen long lefts to the body gave Charles the first round, but the next two went to Maxim. Joe boxed carefully and even out-punched Ezzard in a brief flurry during the third round. Charles’ late rally made the fourth even, and the fifth was Joe’s.
One hard right hook to the stomach mid way in the sixth started Maxim on the downgrade. After that he held and shoved and wrestled and did everything but fight. Meanwhile, Charles used a left to the body and a right to the head with telling effect.
In the ninth Maxim made one more bid, swinging away with both hands. However, Charles clipped him with a barrage of hooks and uppercuts to the body and head, and Joe went back into his shell while the crowd jeered.’
McElwain seems to have been disappointed in Maxim’s negative approach, but it is impressive that a Middleweight was able to hurt a Heavyweight enough to go on the defensive, it is very telling of Charles’ punching power and offence.

Al Abrams of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was slightly more upbeat about the fight, as he narrates it:
‘Cincinnati Lad outclasses Joey in six rounds
Ezzard Charles did not knock out his man last night, as Pittsburgh fans are accustomed to seeing him do, but he proved a good Middleweight can give away 16 pounds and still whip a good Heavyweight by taking a unanimous decision over Joey Maxim, of Cleveland, in the feature ten-round bout that opened the indoor season of boxing at the Gardens, before a crowd of 3,600 which paid a gross of $8,510.39 and a net of $7,184.33.
That Charles, the Cincinnati lad, did not score a kayo, as he did in his last three starts here, was a tribute to the boxing ability of Maxim who, although outclassed, was able to keep away from all potent punches hurled his way, by the process of dancing out of harm’s reach or tying up his foe on the inside.
This did not make for a rip-roaring fight, which usually occurs with Charles in there, but it also proved that Ezzard is a grand boxer himself and able to handle himself in any company, whether, Middleweights, Light-Heavies or Heavyweights.
This scorecard shows Charles winning six rounds, two for Maxim and two even. Maxim did his best work in the fourth and fifth sessions, but just when he pulled himself even with Charles, he appeared to weaken and in the last three rounds lost all the zip he displayed earlier in the bout. Charles won the eight and ninth rounds by wide margins to leave little doubt as to his victory.
Ezzard’s two fisted sallies landed on occasions, but the only damage done was a slight ‘mouse’ under Maxim’s right eye and drawing blood from his nose in two different rounds. Otherwise, the action was quite tame, but you can’t blame Maxim, who lacks a punch himself, for trying to keep out of the way of a fellow who packs one in either hand, and try to outpoint him in the manner.
The first round was devoted to a feeling out process with Maxim dancing beautifully and out of harm’s way as Ezzard stalked him. The coloured boy managed to land a hard right on the chin but in the main Joey was doing well. They opened up in the second with Charles smashing home a good left hook, while Maxim countered with a long right.
The Cincinnati boy lashed out with jarring left hooks in the third, which caught Maxim on the side of the head, and midway in the round sent one to the jaw which snapped Maxim’s head back. Joey was in there, however, and near the bell planted a snappy right to Ezzard’s jaw.
The fourth and fifth rounds found the two at their best with Maxim forgetting about being a boxer and dancer at times, stepping in to swap punches with his harder punching foe. Maxim’s best punch in the fourth was a long right to the head thrown out of a clinch and he followed it up with a lashing left to the face. Charles, sank a left hook, wrist deep, into Maxim’s stomach, but it didn’t appear to bother the Clevelander.
Joey continued to exchange wallops with Ezzard in the fifth, and while he had the shade the best of it by tying up his foe, he came out of the round with a mouse under his right eye.
Charles drew the claret from Maxim’s nose in the sixth as he went back on the offensive, while Maxim went back to his dancing role. There was a lot of infighting as Maxim tried to tie up Charles but took some punishing (sp.) in the effort.
The seventh was a repetition of the sixth, with Charles moving in looking for an opening. He jarred Maxim’s head back with rights in the inside, but could not get in the blow he was looking for although he managed to land some fairly good ones.
Ezzard came out lashing with lefts and rights in the eighth, but didn’t get as far as Maxim tied him up and wrestled him around the ring. Charles sank another good left to Maxim’s stomach, in the eighth, to make him hold on and grab with both arms.
Charles won the ninth by being the aggressor and landing the only good blows of the round. He tried for a knockout in the tenth, but Maxim was still able to keep away from danger and hold when Ezzard came too close for comfort.
Here Abrams seems to be more sympathetic to Maxim, seemingly thinking he had the right tactics to fight Charles and did reasonably well.

The first five rounds seem to have been an even tactical affair with Charles showing himself to be equally as skilled as the ‘Second Billy Conn’. It appeared Charles body attack in the sixth round seemed to turn the fight around and this put Maxim into his shell and Charles was able to keep his offence up and pound out the decision.

An interested spectator was impressed by Charles. Nat Rodgers, the match maker for the powerful Twentieth-Century Club based in New York, watched the bout with keen interest in the young Charles. His views Charles were this;
‘Charles has been that good in the past, that no one wants to fight him. And tell me how many good Middleweights and Light-Heavyweights are around that you can put in with him?’
Another two interested spectators were Larry Atkins and Bob Brinkman, promoters from Cleveland, who were looking for fighters for their next show in November.

John P. MacFarlane was a very impressed spectator, as in his column in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he ran a headline of ‘About that Mistah Charles!’, and had this to say about ‘Mistah’ Charles:
If Ezzard Charles, the Ebony Eliminator can get past Jimmy Bivins, recent conqueror of Bob Pastor, there are, in the opinion of a veteran local boxing observer, only two men who Charles would not have a good chance of shellacking, or perhaps knocking out. These two, says our friend, who has handled champions and seen plenty of fights through the years, are Joe Louis and Billy Conn. He did, however, add the condition that Charles would have to weigh around 170 to do the trick.
Ezzard, of course, might have trouble catching up with some of the light heavyweights who would attempt, after the fashion of Joey Maxim, to keep away from him. However, opines our ring-wise acquaintance, the slashing Cincinnatian should find the plodding type of big ring men no problem at all and should flatten many of them.
This is high praise indeed. Charles was, now, obviously one of the foremost ring-operators in the whole world, rather than just in his division. In modern parlance we could call him a ‘pound-for-pound’ fighter, with only Jimmy Bivins (arguably), Billy Conn and the immortal Joe Louis rating over him! And all this at a mere twenty-two years old.

On the 29th of October, with Charles enjoying his victory over Maxim, the NBA announced their plans to ‘freeze’ the titles and the rankings of boxers in the armed services, to ‘stop any injustices taking place.’4 This virtually ended Charles’ hopes of a title shot before, or during the war, as Zale and Lesnevich were in the services.


1 = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 14th Oct 1942
2 = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 24th Oct 1942
3 = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 22nd Oct 1942
4 = The Evening Independent 29th Oct 1942

 

Some other little write from Gpater:

"I have found out some information on Ezzard Charles' management, from Sport magazine."

Ezzard was an amateur boxing out of Bert Williams' 'Williams Athletic Club' of Cincinnati. Mr Williams took him professional and handled him up until just before the Anton Christiforidis bout, where Bert Williams sold his share of Charles for $1,000 cash, to Max Elkus and Charlie Dyer. Elkus was a local business man who owned a clothing store, where Ezzard had worked at. These men were just local business men, and had no experience in dealing with a fighter, so brought in a Proctor and Gamble accountant, George Rhein, to book matches and handle business matters.
Charles' first encounter with Jake Mintz was when he was substituted for Ken Overlin to fight Charley Burley in 1942. Mintz soon became friendly with Ezzard and his management, and secured an exclusive contract for Ezzard Charles for the Rooney-McGinley promotions of Pittsburgh, of whom he was matchmaker for at the time. Mintz also claimed he was an unofficial advisor of Charles at this time.
Mintz became unhappy with the management for taking the bout with Bivins in 1943, although nothing came of it, as of yet.

After Charles was discharged from the Armed Services, Mintz raced to Cincinnati to talk with him. And after talking with Elkus, Dyer and Rhein, Mintz was cut into the share of management to a tune of 10% and given the job title of 'matchmaker' in the managerial organisation.

After the rematch with Elmer Ray, Max Elkus died and left his share of Charles to his son, Gene Elkus.

Before the Walcott fight, Mintz share went up to 15%, however the other 3 managers were reluctant when it came to handing over the extra 5% when it came to splitting the purse after the fight. This happened again after the Lesnevich bout, and led to the next disagreement.

After the first defense of his title against Lesnevich, the rift between Mintz and the 3 other managers came to a head. Mintz discovered that Rhein was listed as Charles named manager with the NY Commission but the contract was out of date, so he got Ezzard to sign an exclusive contract with Mintz naming him as manager instead. The other 3 managers found out, but could do nothing about it.

Mintz then severed ties with the other 3 managers and signed a bout with Pat Valentino. When it came to splitting the purse, Mintz gave Charles his share and kept the rest for himself, resulting in Charles being sued by his three 'ex-managers'. Although, Mintz' freind, Tom Tannas , quashed the case by buying out Elkus-Dyer-Rhein's portion for a sum between $50,000 and $60,000.

Mintz and Tannas remained his managers for the rest of his career, as far as I can ascertain.

Also the article mentions a Jimmy Brown as Charles trainer from his amateur days up onwards, so I feel he was his true trainer and not Arcel, who normally gets credit for it.

 

The Portsmouth Times – 27th feb 1940

Cincinnatians display real class in Legion’s second fight programme

A.A.U Middleweight champion Ezzard Charles demonstrates skill against Cheviot foe; Pick Johnson wins over Brown on technical K.O; Weaver Beaten

It was Cincinnati night at legion hall on Monday and a well schooled troupe of boxers from Bert Williams stable showed plenty of class as they won three inter city bouts and lost two to Portsmouth boxers.

National A.A.U Middleweight champion Ezzard Charles pitted against Al Woodridge, 159, of Cheviot, gave a classy demonstration of high type boxing, but the bout appeared to be little less than an exhibition for the streamlined champion.

Williams making no apologies because of the fact he was forced to bring along his own competition offered to pit his experienced coloured champion against anyone in Portsmouth – Pick Johnson included.

‘Name the day, that’s all; name the day’ he repeated willing to spot the additional poundage Johnson would hold over his champ.

The broad-shouldered Charles, a perfect athletic specimen weighs 157, Johnson tips the beam at 171.

Whatever Johnsons fate would be against such a learned ring artist as Charles .. (goes on to describe Johnson’s and the other bouts)

Out of interest, this Pick Johnson character seems to have been a very capable amateur boxer and was very highly regarded. His professional career abruptly stopped during the war, i fear he may have been killed or injured in it. He seems very interesting though, and him vs Charles would have been a great scrap amateur or pro.

 

Ok so with this i finish posting the articles i talked about in the Ezzard Charles power thread for not so long ago, hope it serves to give a better overview of Ezzard Charles prime pre-Baroudi.

Enjoy and comment please, its always a pleasure to reado your opinions.