This is the last of the guys that are in the lower part of the ATG top 25 list for me. Two more left who are in top 15. I have Walcott at #22. Beat Ezzard Charles to become HW World champ. Arguably deserved to be champ many years earlier in losing one of the most controversial decisions in HW title history to Joe Louis. Only successfully defended his title once (to Charles again), and lost legit fights to Louis and Charles on top of his wins and arguable wins. Also gave Rocky Marciano one of his tougher fights. Lost a lot in general, but had some good wins along the way.
If Jersey Joe Walcott had not got Ko'ed in the last round, he would have been the first and only fighter who could beat Rocky Marciano. He was ahead in the score cards before the last round.
Sorry, I forgot that he got KO'ed in round 13. Anyway, he had a great chance to beat Marciano by decisions. Don't you think so?
He had something like 20 losses when he won the title. Not that high, really. Around the same level as VitKlit, Patterson and Norton.
It should be pointed out that he was a part time boxer prior to the end WWII, and often came into fights malnourished on a days notice.
Same thing with Dempsey, and I did not give him a pass. In the end it comes down to the wins and losses. Literally 10 of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of guys have competed at heavy since the introduction of Queesnbury rules. Top 25 is great.
He was decent, but not top 20. Lost to many fights to questionable fighters and was not known for his chin. His fights with Joe Louis were classic battles, but Louis was a little past it then. Not as shot as he was against Marciano, but not in his prime either.
Louis was never at any point in his career totally "Shot." Even when he fought Marciano, he was on an eight fight win streak which included a win over Lee Savold, the European version of the World Champion. That is a little known but important fact: in Louis' last fight against Marciano, he had more claim to being a legit titlist than guys like Wilder and Joshua do today. Consequently, in this era of multiple legitmate titles, I count him as having 27 defenses, instead of the traditial 25. On that streak, he also beat Jimmy Bivins, who was a #1 contnder for both the LHW and HV Championships and defeated 8 of the 11 champions he faced in the ring. Joe Louis--the world will never see the likes of him again. FYI.
