Because he went on to play Joe Louis in Joe's biopic. I don't think Coley had any fights as a pro. Did he ? Have to check on this.
walace had talent, was big and fancied for the top. He started out with a 9 fight KO streak but was ko'd by dangerman elkin brothers by the time he reached madison square garden status. After another mishap against jimmy bivins in 52' wallace rebounded with solid KO wins over bob dunlop and billy gillium who had just beat nino valdes and was only ever Kod twice in 52 fights. At 19-2 and rated he was then matched with Ezzard charles who could have been his spring board into a rematch with marciano but instead charles gave him a serious beating and got the shot insted. wallace was still good enough to go the distance with bob baker but that was basicly it for him he retired with a record of 20-7
the decision in the amateurs was controversial, however Wallace looked good as a pro 6'3 215 but Ezzard Charles schooled him, chopped him down and ruined him, that explosive KO and the electrifying KO over Bob Satterfield made Charles the #1 contender
Wallace was unfortunate to catch Charles renewed and back on fire with desire...hard to get past Charles when he was motivated, he had a crafty style and power in both hands and counter-punched Wallace masterfully
Here's a nice peice on Ez Charles - which includes little peices of footage from the fight with Coley Wallace to illustrate certain techniques he utilised - the clips do kind of illustrate that Wallace was getting schooled by Ez for the most part [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E2BEE8Ce70[/ame]
Oh and here's a more complete peice of footage of the Charles-Coley Wallace match [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjFq5aOYYJM&feature=related[/ame]
Charles was still a great fighter against wallace, the film proves it. Charles never had it easy, ezz fought 6 rated contenders in 1953, so it was hard to look like he was on fire each time. I think wallace looked a beter fighter than pat valentino did in the title fight with charles a few years earlier and many think that was charles's best display at HW. Here charles ruins a beter and bigger fighter so as far as peak dispalay's go this one with wallace is on par. coley was a live CONTENDER in the division and as big as a young george foreman. Charles could realy bang. he was a serious threat to marciano or any ATG on this form.
ez had a beautiful style, typical of a lot of late 40's fighters, including lloyd marshall. cheers, rocky
man, ezzard was something else. even when he goes spastic and tries to close the show, he still throws what we used to call "educated" punches.
know what you mean - I've never seen a guy look so correct and textbook - even when he's lashing out with everything he had from down home
