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

Who cares? Jersey Joe is hardly that interesting anyway :rofl

 

I don't question that this was his regualar fighting weight at the time. I question that he was training regularly and had the necesary calorie intake to function as a world level heavyweight. If he wasn't as many sources suggest then he was basicaly on a hiding to nothing at world level.

These are not factors that you can simply ignore.

 

I find this a baffling atitude.

Jersey Joe Walcott is one of the most fascinating human interest stories of the heavyweight division.

His story is better than Cinderella man.

 

hence the :rofl

 

Well, I am a BIG fan of Walcott and Braddock, as I met both of them several times, coming from New Jersey myself. Years ago when Walcott was the head of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission he would call me up for information and we got pretty friendly. I also was the guest speaker when we put up Walcott's monument in Camden. Both Walcott and Braddock are in the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame, which I have been the President of for 24 years, and their Historian for 30. They were both Class Acts, BUT I really have to be fair and honest when it comes to rating them.

 

Does anyone have a primary news article on this bout to clear things up?

 

At 192 pounds he can't have been starved.

I don't see why people think Jersey Joe Walcott losing to Abe Simon is so shocking. Abe Simon was HUGE and gave a prime Joe Louis one of his toughest fights, going 13 rounds. I've seen a prime Walcott getting outworked by Rex Layne, who wasn't exactly a master technician.

(oh, yeah, I've heard that Walcott had a hurt hand for the Layne fight too. All fighters like to use excuses, some more than others.)

 

Walcott had talent from day one it does not mean he or any talented or even a great fighter won't lose fights.

A fight well made is a fight half won. Nobody would be 20-0 if opponents were not handpicked. The winner always has most of the advantages before the fight even starts. The guy in the red corner usually gets all the breaks.

No champion Never made it on his own. Fighters who train themselves, have day jobs and mange their own affairs tend not to win as many fights.

Give Floyd mayweather a full time job, put him in a tenement building with wife and kids (and hold it together) tell him to try and get to the gym when he can, then call him tomorrow and say you can get him a fight this saturday with "some guy from out west, who is making a comeback". He wouldn't be half the fighter.

 

The young Walcott was a fast learner. He met trainer, and former great fighter, Jack Blackburn in 1934. Walcott figured Blackburn would train him. Blackburn liked the idea and invited Walcott to join him in Chicago. Sadly, Walcott missed this opportunity when he contacted a form of Typhoid Mary. Blackburn, ventured on to Chicago without him to work with a fighter named [url]Joe Louis[/url], which in essence left Walcott fighting in the sticks for small purses. Walcott had four children by the time he was 23-years-old. When he wasn’t fighting, he picked up work wherever he could.
Walcott’s career changed when he met Felix Bocchicchio. In 1945, Walcott was ready to retire. He was thirty-one years old and sick of fighting for peanuts. Bocchicchio convinced him that he could pave his way to a title shot. He recognized Walcott’s talent in a way that nobody else had.

Walcott's return to boxing in 44 is when his career as a serious prize fighter really began.

 

Of course, there's no question that professional boxing is not just a matter of talent, determination and dedication. A lot depends on who you know, and who they know ... timing, backing, politics.

 

I understood the poor preparation to be fact; I am surprised to hear anything contrary.

 

Pretty terrific post.

 

Now he didn't have a trainer or manager at all, huh? A lot of old-time fighters started in similarly poor conditions as Walcott, and had done much better than he.

 

That's right. Most of the guys Walcott was fighting in the 1930s and 1940s would have been in exactly the same type of situation.

 

Hence 50-50 records in some circuits can be deceiving. I am sure there was only so much investment availible for guys like Mr cream. There was a lot of creams around who never got picked up by the money guys.