Why did Walker go back down to middleweight towards the end of his career?

And did it ruin him as a fighter?

After a long time as a Heavyweight contender, and earning a decision win over Maxie Rosenbloom, Walker, returned to 160, where he hadn't weighed under the limit for six years.

At the time of facing Rosenbloom (who had beaten him over the Championship distance before of course) Walker was 33, but an old 33 ,especially considering his style and the beasts he had met tearing through the P4P ranks. Still, Rosenbloom found The Toy Bulldog hassle, as he was 'outfought, outboxed and outclassed by Mickey Walker, one of the old men of fistiana. The 10 round scrap was no bell ringer but it was all one-sided in Walker's favor'(Oakland Tribune). So even then Walker was seen as one of the 'old men' of boxing despite his age. Rosenbloom was said not to have trained for the bout, but being strong down throughout the fight showed Walker still had something left IMO, considering the opponent was the current Light Heavyweight champion.

Still, we only saw flashes of Walker's violent class when he moved back down. Weight for Rosenbloom in May, 176lbs, weight in August, 157lbs.

ATG Young Corbett III beat Walker well in his first fight back inside the middleweight limit. Not only a fast and intelligent southpaw, Corbett was to perform well at middle.

So whilst Corbett was ace and at that time a bad styles matchup for a Walker who was struggling to catch up to his opponents, Walker went on a bad run afterwards as well, going summat like 1-3-1 in his next few fights, and was done at the top level. Did Corbett squeeze the last bit of top level application out of Walker, was he pretty much done anyway, or was it an ill-advised drop in weight that finally finished him off? Considering he was coming off a dominant win over one of the best of the time, how good a win for YCIII was Walker at this stage?

Does anyone know why he moved back down? And if he'd stuck around at Light Heavy, how would he have got on with Bob Olin, who took the title from Rosenbloom later that year?

 

Any opinions or is this truly abysmal stuff?

 

It's a brilliant well thought out post with great contextual insight into the rosenbloom fight.

The answer you seek needs perhaps more insider knowledge than the average person can offer up.

As a hunch i'd have pointed to the whipping he suffered at the hands of max but i'm not sure from the top of my head exactly where that fits in your timeline here so I could be babbling about nothing.

But psychologically I think he wanted to be the bigger stronger man again and that required a move back down in weight.

 

Rosembloom fights after Schmeling :good

I think My2Sense, Stonehands and McGrain might have some info' on it...there are a lot of Walker admirers here, myself included, but it's not something I've seen come up before.

 

Yeah I think he achieved truly great things even if he didn't deserve the nod against flowers. A true legend of the sport but I don't have the answers needed unfortunately :-(

Looking forward to seeing people's input here though.

 

Because he felt he still had a claim to the title, as did a number of fans.

Since Walker had moved up in weight, the MW title had been fractured and there was a general air of disappointment among fans and writers that a single undisputed champion had yet to emerge. After his HW campaign had hit a wall with his losses to Risko and Schmeling, Walker tried to capitalize on the public discontent with the MW situation by claiming that he was still the "real" champion there, as he had never lost his title in the ring (he had vacated it when he moved up in weight). Many fans went along with recognizing Walker as the champ, and those who did considered the Walker-Corbett fight as a "defense" of Walker's unofficial "title." Some official commissions even considered the possibility of recognizing Walker as champ, which likely further enticed him into coming down.

I suppose you could compare the situation somewhat to Roy Jones moving back down to LHW to fight Tarver in an attempt to reclaim a title that he believed (as did others) should still rightfully be his.

It depends on how much he had left by then. Olin was basically considered just a lucky journeyman though, so if Walker still had something left by that time, he'd probably have at least a shot.

 

From the Associated Press:

"Walker's representatives took a poll of the country's writers as to who should be recognized as champion. At the last tabulation Walker was leading three to one or better, so to the Walker entourage he is still the title holder."
-April 14, 1934

"Walker surrendered the middleweight title he won from Tiger Flowers to campaign in the light-heavyweight and heavyweight ranks. Since then he has never been defeated under the 160-pound limit and thinks he should still be considered champion. The California athletic commission has been toying with the idea of recognizing him as titleholder."
-July 24, 1934

 

Of interesting note here, Walker had twice been held to draws by rated LHW Bob Godwin prior to moving down to fight Corbett. Olin then surprisingly blasted out Godwin in 1 round to earn his own shot at the title.

 

FM ,why walker became a MW again at the age of 33 I couldnt say. But
I can relate that I once was in a dice game with the former LH champion Bob Olin, conquerer of Maxie Rosenbloom ,many years after Olin retired.
And I recall I lost some moolah....

 

Ace work, thanks.

Nice comparison.

You'd think.

Also true and interesting. Looks like I was right:

 

You got schooled Burt! :thumbsup

 

Walker vs Rosenbloom was fixed and I got that from the horses mouth.

 

I recall there was some hanky-panky whispered about...

 

Burt, you may recall Al Backman who managed Rory Calhoun along with his father Frank?
Well Frank Backman was Rosenblooms career mgr.
Son Al, who was alive and well up until recently would give details to anybody willing to listen
Da fix was in!!!

 

Damn, Bert. How old are you? Olin died in the mid-50's.