Walcott was underfed and nowhere near his best for the Abe Simon fight

It's funny how much noise is made out of how "woefully underprepared" Liston, Tyson, Duran etc were for key fights even though they had access to top notch training conditions. Compare that to Walcott's training "facilities". If these guys were unprepared what the hell do you say about Walcott? If excuses can't be made here, they can't be made anywhere (which, actually, wouldn't altogether be a bad thing).

 

Newpaper reports from the time said;
"A right hand smash to the chin produced the kayo."
BTW Simon's weight is given as 248 and Joe's as 192.

 

I don't understand how JJW was supposed to be malnourished at a very comfortable 192, a weight he still made years later. Are we supposed to believe this weight was incorrect?

 

Well if Walcott wasn't in full time training he should have been coming in at well over 200 lbs.

If his life circumstances were as claimed and he was coming in close to his ideal ring weight then something was wrong.

 

And who is to say Walcott is the only guy to suffer from the economic troubles of the days. I'm sure most fighters suffered from severe financial strain, unconventional strategies necessary to survive a career as a boxer, injuries ect. Very few had a Ray Leonard/Oscar De L Hoya road .. Ton claim Walcott had an exclusive on suffering is false and more excuses.

 

Holy ****, Walcott was ripped at age 38, and that was before better nutrition, supplements, etc. Great picture regardless.

 

I make no such claim indeed many other top black heavyweights of the period were faced by similar career circumstances.

Elmer Ray is another case in point. As with Walcott it is no coincidence that he only came to the forefront of the division at an advanced age late in his career. Of course Walcott had a style suited to longevity and Ray did not.

The truth is that they got their chance due to the second world war of all things. There was a shortage of talented heavyweights and as a result promotors who had previously shunned black fighters could not aford to be particular about taking them on.

If this had not happened we might not be talking about Walcott today.

 

Thanks for the report. Ok, so this tells us it was a punch.

 

What a coward. No wonder he wasn't the heavyweight champion early, quitting in a important fight while ahead on the cards like that. :|:-(

 

It is really frustrating when I hear people questioning a fighters losses from years ago, fighters like Walcott for the most part of their careers were semi professional because of the times this is a fact and why posters here understand we view their records differently to more modern fighters. Most fighters would work a job then go to the gym at night hardly professional training more like the training some of us do now to keep fit.

 

Sorry, I am pretty close calling bull**** on this. He fought twice in three months. This was pretty much his regular weight.

Sometimes the facts get in the way of a good fairy tale.

 

Very funny and very good!

 

I wonder how Suzie feels about his idold and revered hero quitting twice in huge fights!