Jersey Joe Walcott, Boxing Champion, Dies at 80 - NYTimes.com Jersey Joe Walcott, Boxing Champion, Dies at 80 By RICHARD D. LYONS Published: February 27, 1994 Jersey Joe Walcott, the son of poor immigrants from Barbados who was to slug his way out of poverty and into the record books as the oldest fighter to win the heavyweight championship of the world, died Friday at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden, N.J., where he lived. He was 80. The cause of death was complications from diabetes, said a nephew, Richard Cream. Walcott, whose real name was Arnold Raymond Cream, was known as an athlete of grit and dignity, a man who turned professional at the age of 16 and who would not quit until he had won the heavyweight title after trying and failing four times. "I always felt in my heart that God would give it to me," Walcott recalled years later.

And on July 18, 1951, at age 37, he knocked out Ezzard Charles -- an opponent who had already beaten Walcott twice -- in the seventh round of a title match in Forbes Field in Pittsburgh to attain his goal. Knocked Down Joe Louis Walcott was also known as the fighter who knocked down Joe Louis three times. Indeed, many fight fans thought Walcott beat Louis in a match on Dec. 5, 1947, at Madison Square Garden when he knocked down Louis twice, but Louis got up to hold on for a 15-round split decision. Even Louis seemed surprised by the verdict, at first starting to leave the ring apparently thinking he had lost. Then, after the decision was announced, Louis went over to Walcott's corner and said, "Joe, I'm sorry." Walcott and his supporters sought to have the decision reversed a week later in an appeal to the New York State Athletic Commission, but it stood. In the rematch at Yankee Stadium the next year, Walcott knocked Louis to the canvas again, but Louis knocked Walcott out in the 11th round.

In 1949, Charles outpointed Walcott for the title that Louis had vacated, and Charles outpointed him again in 1951. Four months later, Walcott took the title away with a left hook to Charles's chin. Walcott was to beat Charles again a year later. Lost Title at Age 38 Walcott's title was to last only 13 more rounds. At the age of 38, ahead on points, and dominating the bout, Walcott was knocked out by Rocky Marciano on Sept. 23, 1952, in what Marciano regarded as the toughest bout of his career. Marciano won the rematch in 1953 in the first round, in what was to be Walcott's last fight. The bout also put Walcott in the record books again: as having lost more heavyweight title bouts -- six -- than any other fighter. Walcott fought 67 times, winning 18 bouts by decisions, 30 by knockouts and 1 by a foul. He lost 11 decisions, was knocked out 6 times and fought 1 draw.

He was one of 12 children born to Joseph Cream, who came to the United States from Barbados at the age of 11. The fight career of Walcott, who was born and raised in Merchantsville, N.J., started in 1930 when he named himself Joe Walcott for a welterweight from Barbados who was a friend of the family. Meager Purses in Early Days In 1936, Jack Dempsey staged a heavyweight show at Coney Island, and Walcott drew the attention of New York fight fans for the first time. Weighing 180 pounds, Walcott knocked out an up-and-coming fighter named Larry LaPage in the third round. "I had been fighting 17 years before I made more than $300," Walcott was to say years later in recalling his boyhood poverty and the meager purses in his early ring career, which he supplemented by working as a laborer in a Camden shipyard. For a time, he even had to resort to public welfare payments to support his growing family.

After retiring, Walcott was a fight referee for a time, became Sheriff of Camden County and then chairman of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. He devoted most of his retirement days to directing special projects for the New Jersey State Department of Community Affairs, aiding handicapped and retarded children. He is survived by two sons, Arnold Cream Jr. and the Rev. Vincent Cream, both of Camden; three daughters, Elva Kimbrough of Cinnaminson, N.J., Ruth Cream and Carol Cream, both of Pennsauken, N.J.; a brother, Robert Cream of Lindenwold, N.J.; two sisters, Naomi Holmes of Delair, N.J., and Barbara Gray of Camden, 20 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Photo: Jersey Joe Walcott fighting Ezzard Charles, the heavyweight champion, in 1951. Walcott won the title by a knockout in the seventh round.

(Associated Press) Jersey Joe Walcott - BoxRec Jersey Joe Walcott Hall of Fame bio: click World Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee Name: Jersey Joe Walcott Birth Name: Arnold Raymond Cream Born: 1914-01-31 Birthplace: Pennsauken, New Jersey, USA Died: 1994-02-25 (Age:80) Hometown: Camden, New Jersey, USA Stance: Orthodox Trainers: Dan Florio , Charley Goldman , Nick Florio Jersey Joe Walcott Gallery Jersey Joe Walcott became the Heavyweight Champion of the World with a seventh-round knockout of Ezzard Charles on July 18, 1951. It was his fifth attempt at the title. At the age of 37, Walcott became the oldest boxer to win the World Heavyweight Championship, a record that would stand until George Foreman regained the title at age 45 in 1994. Also in 1951, Walcott was the winner of the Edward J. Neil Trophy , presented to the Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America .

Walcott lost the title to Rocky Marciano on September 23, 1952. Behind on points, Marciano knocked out Walcott with a devastating right in the thirteenth round. It was named The Ring Fight of the Year for 1952. Walcott was inducted into The Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1969, the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1983, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. After his boxing career, Walcott worked as a referee. His most famous, and infamous, assignment was the controversial Muhammad Ali - Sonny Liston rematch in Lewiston, Maine on May 25, 1965. In 1971, Walcott was elected sheriff of Camden County, New Jersey. He was the first African American to hold the job. Walcott served as the head of the New Jersey State Boxing Commission from 1975 to 1984. He stepped down at the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Trivia Walcott, whose real name was Arnold Raymond Cream, took the ring name Jersey Joe Walcott as a tribute to Joe Walcott , the Barbados Demon. Walcott acted in the movie The Harder They Fall. External Links Black ThenJersey Joe Walcott: American World Heavyweight Boxing Champion | Black Then 0 Posted by Jae Jones - May 30, 2016 - BLACK MEN , SPORTS Jersey Joe Walcott was a renowned boxer. Walcott was born “Arnold Raymond Cream around Camden, New Jersey and was raised along with eleven brothers and sisters. When Walcott was 14, his father passed away and he was left to help support his family. He got a job working at a soup factory and during this time, he also began to train as a boxer. By 1930, he was entering the ring as a lightweight professional boxer. He quickly gained the name “Jersey Joe Walcott” in honor of Joe Walcott, a well-known Barbadian welterweight champion. Although he became the light-heavyweight champion of south Jersey by knocking out Al King in 1933, Walcott was not well-know for almost 15 years.

In 1945, after a two-year stint working in the Camden shipyards, Walcott returned to the ring. He won 11 of 14 bouts, including 7 by knockout, and on December 5, 1947, he fought a heavyweight bout against champion Joe Louis. Louis went down twice, but Walcott still lost in a split decision. Walcott and Louis fought again, but Louis knocked Walcott out in the eleventh round. After retiring from boxing, Walcott worked as a fighter referee. He was also an actor in the 1956 film, “The Harder They Fall.” He later became a sheriff in Camden in 1972, and was on the New Jersey Athletic Commission in 1975. Walcott was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1983. He was posthumously inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2013 for his contributions to sports. He passed away in 1994.

sources: Jersey Joe Walcott - Biography - IMDb Jersey Joe Walcott Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Trivia (10) Overview (4) 6' (1.83 m) Mini Bio (1) Jersey Joe Walcott was born on January 31, 1914 in Merchantville, New Jersey, USA as Arnold Raymond Cream. He was an actor, known for Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee (1969), World's Heavyweight Championship: Joe Louis vs. Jersey Joe Walcott (1948) and The Harder They Fall (1956). He died on February 25, 1994 in Camden, New Jersey. Trivia (10) World heavyweight boxing champion, 1951-1952. Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, 1990. Inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame, 1983. Lost two title fights to Joe Louis , Ezzard Charles and Rocky Marciano . Was the first fighter to knock down Rocky Marciano .

Was the oldest man to win the World's Heavyweight Title until George Foreman broke the record. Won the World's Heavyweight Boxing Championship in his 5th attempt. After he retired he went to work in the Juvenile Division of the Camden (NJ) Police Department. In 1965 he was appointed as Camden's Assistant Director of Public Safety. Born Arnold Cream, he changed his professional name to Jersey Joe Walcott in honor of an early 20th-century boxer his father greatly admired. He was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2013 for his services to sports. See also Jersey Joe Walcott | American boxer | Britannica.com Jersey Joe Walcott Alternative Title: Arnold Raymond Cream Jersey Joe Walcott Evander Holyfield Jersey Joe Walcott, original name Arnold Raymond Cream (born Jan. 31, 1914, Merchantville, N.J., U.S.—died Feb. 25, 1994, Camden , N.J.), American world heavyweight boxing champion from July 18, 1951, when he knocked out Ezzard Charles in seven rounds in Pittsburgh, Pa., until Sept.

23, 1952, when he was knocked out by Rocky Marciano in 13 rounds in Philadelphia. Walcott, 1947 New York Times Co./© Archive Photos The son of immigrants from Barbados , Walcott became a professional boxer in 1930. He won the heavyweight title in 1951 only after losing two title bouts to the aging Joe Louis (including a controversial decision in New York City on Dec. 5, 1947) and two to Ezzard Charles. He was 37 years old when he knocked out Charles to become heavyweight champion. Between 1930 and 1953, Walcott had 69 professional bouts, winning 50, of which 30 were by knockouts. His bout with Marciano in 1952 was considered one of the most exciting heavyweight championship fights of all time. After retiring from the ring, Walcott organized youth programs and served as a sheriff and athletic commissioner in New Jersey . He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.

Learn More in these related articles: Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Boxing great He was the portrait of persistence, the ultimate late bloomer; and at an age when most boxers of his era would have been comfortably settled into retirement, Jersey Joe Walcott reached the pinnacle of his ring career. “I always felt in my heart that God would give it to me”, Walcott once said about his long and bumpy quest for the heavyweight championship. His world title finally came in 1951, after a long career that included four failed attempts to take the crown, but Jersey Joe Walcott was never deterred from his dream. He just kept plugging along until he reached the top. Jersey Joe was born Arnold Raymond Cream on January 31, 1914, in Merchantville, NJ. His parents were poor Barbadian immigrants who struggled to support their twelve children. So, young Arnold Cream entered the work force early, selling milk on the streets, and later working the docks. By 16, he became a professional boxer and renamed himself after the former welterweight champion known as the “Barbados Demon”, who fought out of the family homeland before Cream was born.

Eventually the “Jersey” was added to his new name, and the legend of Jersey Joe Walcott began. In his first bout, September 9, 1930, Walcott scored a quick knockout of Cowboy Frank Willis at Vineland, NJ, and earned the winner’s purse of $15. However, this quick win did not set the pace for the remainder of his career. Joe toiled as a club fighter for years before making headway. “I was fighting 17 years before I made more than $300”, Walcott recalled. Twice he interrupted his career to earn money in more traditional ways. But by 1935 he was in boxing to stay. In 1936, Walcott (11-1) took his first step up in competition, and faced the far more seasoned Al Ettore (52-7-2). The result was a resounding KO loss for Jersey Joe. But Walcott picked himself up, and continued to chase his dream.

He faced many fine fighters along the way, scoring victories against the likes of Willie Reddish, a young Elmer “Violent” Ray (twice), Curtis “Hatchet Man” Sheppard, and Jimmy Bivins. But his rise was stalled by losses to Billy Ketchell, George Brothers, Tiger Jack Fox (twice), and Abe Simon. In 1946, when he lost consecutive fights to a mature Elmer “Violent” Ray and the world-renowned Joey Maxim, Walcott’s career seemed to be going nowhere, despite his 41-11-2 record. However, Jersey Joe wouldn’t be counted out yet. He bounced back by posting another victory over Ray, sandwiched between two wins against Maxim, earning Walcott his first crack at the title. On December 5, 1947, Walcott faced the legendary Joe Louis at Madison Square Garden for the heavyweight crown. Louis brought a dazzling 56-1 record into his 24th defense, but Walcott fought the fight of his life. He dropped the champ twice, and appeared to do plenty for the win. Louis even left the ring in disgust before the decision was announced.

But Louis was given the decision, leaving Walcott with another disappointment. “He came to me after the decision was announced and said, ‘I’m sorry Joe; you won it.’”, Walcott claimed often through the years. Louis always denied having said that. His excellent performance earned Walcott a rematch with Louis, but the Brown Bomber proved his greatness by coming off the floor to halt Walcott in round eleven. Back to the drawing board, Walcott rebuilt his career with a 5-1 run before facing Cincinnati’s Ezzard Charles for the heavyweight title vacated by Joe Louis. Charles beat Walcott by decision and repeated with another win over Walcott four months later. The pair was matched again on July 18, 1951. At 37 years of age, Walcott was given little chance for an upset. However this time Jersey Joe delivered. A crushing left hook in round seven brought the patient fighter from Merchantville the biggest prize in sports – the world heavyweight championship. In 1952, Walcott beat Charles in their fourth fight, and then lost the title to Rocky Marciano.

After dropping a rematch with Marciano, Jersey Joe retired with a final record of 51-18-2 (32 KOs). After his boxing days, Walcott was a referee and appeared in the film “The Harder They Fall”. Later he became the Sherriff of Camden County and served as long-time Chairman of the NJ State Athletic Commission. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. Walcott, the father of six children, died February 25, 1994 in Camden, NJ. Jersey Joe Walcott: Art on the Ring Canvas | VICE Sports September 23, 2015 Jack Slack Jersey Joe Walcott: Art on the Ring Canvas Arnold Cream made his boxing début in 1930, at the age of sixteen. By the time he was approaching forty he had failed to win a world title on four separate occasions and he had compiled sixteen losses on his professional record by 1951. He had lost cumulative years off of his career due to a broken arm, typhoid, and the need to work multiple jobs.

A boxer with his record wouldn't even be allowed close to a championship in this day and age, but in1951, at age thirty-seven, Cream knocked out Ezzard Charles to win the world heavyweight title. Cream's tale stands out as one of the most depressing and beautiful in boxing. If William Dean Howells was correct in his assertion that the American public loves a tragedy with a happy ending, you would struggle to find one more fitting in the annals of boxing. Arnold Cream's life was a smearing of tragedy, sprinkled with missed opportunities, set against a backdrop of constant poverty. His career both in the ring and out of it was a meandering mess. And yet, in the late 1940s Cream was able to turn around decades of miserable misfortune to claim what was still the most venerated title in sports. But it wasn't young Arnold Cream at whose feet Ezzard Charles crumbled, nor was it Arnold Cream's waist around which the heavyweight championship belt was strapped. No, it was those of Jersey Joe Walcott. Due to the death of his father, young Arnold Cream was forced to take up work at the age of fifteen to provide for his ten siblings and mother.

In spite of this he proved a promising youngster in the ring. Cream found himself under the tutelage of Jack Blackburn, a fearsome character who had spent time in prison for a shooting spree which killed three, but who had fought a litany of great boxers. In 1933, Blackburn had the idea to take Cream—now fighting under the Jersey Joe Walcott moniker in homage to the great Barbados Demon, Joe Walcott—around the country and figure out if he was 'the one'. The Barbados Demon, Joe Walcott. A welterweight so powerful that he ran out of opponents and was forced to challenge heavyweights. By 'the one' Blackburn meant a black heavyweight who could finally re-break the color barrier which had been placed in front of the heavyweight title after the race relations disaster that was Jack Johnson's heavyweight title reign from 1909 until 1915. Unfortunately, Jersey Joe was struck down with typhoid and Blackburn was soon tempted away by the prospect of working with another young black heavyweight, Joe Louis in Chicago. Louis turned out to be 'the one', and went on to become the greatest heavyweight champion in boxing history.

The Cream family suffered deeply through the depression and the early war years. With a wife and six children to provide for, Walcott's boxing career was a means to gain five to ten dollar purses in hope that it would ease the difficulty of living. In 1936, a year in which Jersey Joe broke his arm and was trying to feed his children on nine dollars of welfare a week, he still managed to rack up nine fights—six in the last six months of the year. He would work in a factory all day, eat little, and box in the evenings with little preparation or training. Fatigue came quickly to Jersey Joe Walcott through this time and many of his bouts turned into a battle against his blood sugar and empty stomach more than they were against his opponent. When asked by the Saturday Evening Post about his many retirements from the ring, Walcott responded: "I had the ability to succeed in the ring, but you can't do that with hunger gnawing at the pit of your stomach". Walcott packed boxing in for the sixth time in 1941; it had taken too much from him and returned so little.

A racketeer named Felix Bocchicchio gave Walcott his big break, supplying Walcott with food and fuel enough to provide for his family and freeing the fighter up to train full time. The revolution in Walcott's ability when allowed to train like a professional, combined with lack of quality heavyweights through and following the Second World War made him a local favorite and by 1946, he was a favorite at Madison Square Garden. Walcott took nineteen fights between 1945 and June of 1947, and performed so well that his management began seeking out fighters that the champion, Joe Louis, had been steered clear of. With a pair of victories over the all-time great light heavyweight, Joey Maxim, and a victory over Elmer Ray, Walcott moved into position for a bout with Louis in December of 1947. Jersey Joe was the very definition of 'savvy'. He lacked the physical gifts of many of his opponents, particularly as a small heavyweight and as an old man by ring standards. By the criteria of many coaches today, he wasn't even a particularly solid boxer—rarely throwing in combinations exceeding two punches and placing little value on volume.

But Walcott's feet were magnificent. Reportedly a key influence on a young Cassius Clay, Walcott could do things in the ring that other men either couldn't or wouldn't dare do. And that was Walcott in a nutshell: he elevated boxing to an art. In the manly science of self defense, there are set methods, and things you never do. It is a game of rules of thumb. The art of boxing was what Walcott painted across the ring canvas as he broke every one of those rules and looked fancy doing it. With Walcott's ascendancy to recognition, an old story began circulating that in 1936 Walcott had been brought in to spar with Joe Louis (in preparation for Louis' legendary first match with Nazi Germany's Max Schmeling) as something of a favor by old Jack Blackburn. Knowing Walcott was living below the poverty, $25 for a couple of rounds was a godsend. While both sides disagreed on the details, what is known is that Louis ended up on the seat of his trunks and was mightily embarrassed. Walcott promptly lost his gig as a spar mate.

But that tale did nothing to sway the betting odds or the common consensus that old man Walcott was about to take a fearful drubbing. While he'd built his way up to recognition on the circuit, Jersey Joe was still largely unheralded. Nat Fleischer, founder of The Ring and a man who was up on all the happenings in boxing recalled Walcott at the time of his first bout with Louis in Fifty Years at Ringside in the simple triplet: "veteran negro boxer" and proceeded to write nothing else about the challenger, focusing instead on the life and troubles of the champion. The Walcott Shuffle This would be Louis' twenty-fifth title defense. He hadn't lost a fight in eleven years. The papers had been calling Louis' title challengers the 'parade of bums' for years because if there was anyone decent out there, Louis had already beaten them. Jersey Joe was on the trailing end of that parade, and he'd been fighting since before many of them could walk. But Walcott, the 10-to-1 underdog, had been improved exponentially by being allowed to focus his efforts on fighting, while Louis was returning from fifteen months off.

In fact, the bout was originally slated as a ten round exhibition until public pressure forced the bout to be changed to a championship fight over fifteen rounds. When Louis moved Walcott to the corner and began his usual methodical combination punching in the opening round, Walcott rolled with the punches, ducked behind his shoulders, and returned with a wild salvo which put the champion on the mat. Eyebrows were raised, but Louis was always a slow starter. He'd been dropped numerous times by big bangers who caught him early, but invariably he battered them senseless after the opening minutes. What Walcott showed that night was a revelation. In between his usual rhythmic bounces across the ring, and the occasional kicking out of his legs behind him as he jigged around to his left with his jabs, Walcott showed a very specific technique time and time again. It was one which worked perfectly on Louis precisely because he was so technically sound, and it demonstrated how much of an 'anti-technician' Walcott could be. Louis' had always been economical. His feet were a means of ferrying him across the floor, little more. He'd throw long, probing jabs out, but he didn't like chasing opponents.

Louis was at his best when they were either trapped against the ropes and unable to give ground, or stopped on their own terms and threw punches back. That shuffling footwork kept Louis on balance and in position to slip at all times. From the first minute of the bout there was a noticeable pattern in Walcott's movement—though it is one which has been largely uncommented on in the sixty years since the bout. Walcott would jab and lead hook as he moved around to the right, and after every handful of left moving jabs, he would cross his left foot in front of his right and retreat deeply on a slight angle to the right. It seemed like a completely pointless movement. All crossing your feet does in a boxing match is put you off balance if you take a blow, gifting the other man an easy knockdown. Furthermore, at times Walcott was almost turning his back on Louis—his right hand was as far away from the target as possible until he had completely his return to stance. It wasn't a questionable tactical decision, or arrogance. It was downright stupid. But Walcott was crazy like a fox.

This long retreating cross step placed Walcott on a slight angle, and a good distance from Louis, forcing Louis to turn and to take an extra step if he hoped to land his right hand. It encouraged Louis to chase. Each time Louis' jab came out, Walcott slipped it and knew that Louis would be stepping in behind it to throw his right. Consistently Walcott was able to slip the jab and beat Louis to the right hand, and this put a timidity in Louis which was rare to see. Following the fight, Louis gave a quote regarding slowing with age—but recalling that Walcott was older and slower than Louis, and seeing this strategy evidenced time and time again, the quote takes on new meaning: "I could see the openings, but my right hand couldn't see them." The baits became even more flamboyant in the later rounds as Walcott marched from stance to stance, comfortably ahead on points in his mind, and with a passive opponent. Walcott even brought out his cross steps—backhanding a southpaw jab at Louis as he mocked the champion by completely abandoning stance to dance.

Finally, in the last round, Louis came after Walcott, and Walcott skittered out of the way and dodged out of corners—knowing he had already won. A cross step, a classical side step, and some lovely counter punching. While the referee gave his vote for Walcott, the two ringside judges sided, almost unfathomably, with Louis. The arena erupted in boos. The judges had not saved Louis face by gifting him an undeserved decision; they had drawn further attention to how poorly he had performed. A rematch was demanded and promptly signed. This time around Louis wasn't suckered in. Waiting on Walcott to lead, Louis slipped and attempted to land counter combinations. Suddenly, in the third round, Walcott lazily performed the cross step—now being touted by the press as 'The Walcott Shuffle'—and Louis fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Louis moved in behind his jab and as his feet shuffled up to position him for the right hand, Walcott rocked back in and belted Louis with his own right which sent the champion to the floor. Jack Blackburn was long since dead, and many of Louis' closest advisers were no longer with him.

Anyone who could have picked apart what Walcott was doing was certainly not in the champion's corner that night. Yet Louis always had such composure and stoic discipline that it was often mistaken for slowness. Louis returned to conservative counter punching and Walcott became more eager to force the champion to lead. Walcott was never much for trash talk, but he could infuriate with his actions in the ring. As the bout wore on he used his alternating side steps or a 'cakewalk' to stand in front of Louis and call the champion on in hopes of countering. But it was Walcott's antics and eschewing of traditional boxing fundamentals which also served to undo him. As the match progressed, Walcott became more and more anxious to find an opening and ultimately overcommitted in his attempts to cajole a lead from Louis—eating a right hand which sent him to the ropes. Walcott went into his usual slipping and rolling, reportedly shouting to the referee that he was indeed fine. He then returned with a cracking left hook which hit Louis clean on the jawline. Except Walcott stood still to admire the effects. Louis was a combination puncher—it didn't matter if he got hit, the punches kept coming.

A right hook immediately rung Walcott's bell, and a flurry of hooks followed. As Walcott slumped to the mat, so did his dreams of the belt. He had been given two cracks at the world heavyweight title, he would certainly not receive another. The Cincinnati Cobra Yet another lay off followed as Walcott took a year to decide whether he was out of the boxing game for good. However, the retirement of Louis saw Walcott's efforts against the long time champion rewarded with a fight against Ezzard Charles for the vacant belt. Charles, one of the finest technicians in boxing history, out boxed Walcott and took up the heavyweight strap. Walcott tried everything he could think of, but Charles was too smart, too polished, and too well acquainted with the footage of Louis being felled by Walcott to fall into lunging at old Jersey Joe. Walcott returned with a streak of four knockouts—an incredible rate for him as he was a banger but not a tremendous finisher—before fighting Charles again.

In the second bout Walcott showed a new, more aggressive side to his and hurt Charles' body, but was punished for his many overcommitments in an aspect of the game in which he hadn't fought much in the past. Charles took the decision. The boxing historian, John D. McCallum noted that Jersey Joe Walcott 'had no license whatsoever to be getting a third shot at Charles", but in one of the few turns of good fortune in Walcott's life, Charles signed it anyway. Perhaps Charles was out of challengers, the heavyweight division was desperately weak following the war and Charles had already defended his title eight times. Or perhaps he just appreciated the chance to hold the first heavyweight title fight in his home town of Pittsburgh, against a fighter he had already bested twice. The opening rounds were the same as in the other two bouts, with both men reluctant to lead and throwing non-committal jabs from too far away. Occasionally Walcott would sink a left hook to the body as Charles jabbed, but largely the fight was far from action packed.

Finally, following the referee breaking one of the frequent clinches, Walcott strutted towards Charles, slipped the champion's jab, and landed the terrific left uppercut he had been testing out all night. Walcott was finally the world heavyweight champion after an unprecedented five attempts at the title. Life magazine called him 'the most implausible heavyweight champion of the world'. The man who was living on nine dollars of relief a week was suddenly picking up a cheque for fifty thousand and being adored by the nation. In a fourth fight with Ezzard Charles, Walcott took the decision and had his first title defence in the books. Then it was on to new blood. The Great White Hope The heavyweight division had been in a pitiful state following the Second World War, but with Rocky Marciano's victory over the returning Joe Louis, it seemed like there might be a 'Great White Hope' for the heavyweight title. Marciano was a clumsy boxer who lacked ringcraft and held one of the shortest reaches of any heavyweight boxer in history, but when the fight reached the inside, Marciano was one of a kind.

Marciano entered the bout as an eight-to-five favourite—a rare occasion of the challenger being the betting favourite in a heavyweight title fight—while the old timers of the sport tended to favour Walcott when pushed for an opinion. It was youth and aggression versus ringcraft and experience. Some pointed to the success of Lee Savold, a lesser boxer and also an old man by prize ring standards, who had given Marciano fits simply by using movement to facilitate his long blows, and tie ups to stall Marciano out in his preferred range. Others pointed to Walcott's preferred pace being markedly lower than the one which Marciano put on his opponents even when losing bouts. Walcott surprised everyone, including Marciano, by leaping straight in to trade blows with the crowding infighter. After hammering the notorious slow starter with some hard right hands, and tying him up, Walcott showed a new trick in his arsenal—a razor sharp short lead left hook. The champion had always played with the idea of leading with the left hook (a rare trait in true scientific boxers because of its slower path than the straight jab), but the left hook Walcott threw repeatedly against Marciano was different.

Stepping in deep, as he would on his jab, Walcott threw the hook from almost chest-to-chest. It was a picture perfect technique for Marciano, because Marciano would always be stepping in to meet it. Walcott went to this technique time and time again after dropping Marciano with it in the opening minute, making sure to attempt to pivot off line each time he connected it. Walcott's long lead left hook against Joe Louis. Walcott's tight, pivoting lead left hook against Rocky Marciano. Notice how Walcott turns off line. As the champion and an underdog against a young upstart, Walcott was startling in his aggression but sharp on the counter. Between the heavy leather there was the usual Walcott craft. His shoulder roll and reverse shoulder roll saw Walcott effortlessly evade or weather many of Marciano's blows. Indeed, Walcott fought off of the ropes with a rare efficacy in the early part of this bout. The last place one would want to be against an infighter ordinarily. The reverse shoulder roll is a peculiarity, as it involves pausing in a position with the hips full rotated and the right shoulder thrust forward.

But it protected Walcott from counters when he got lazy recovering his right hand. But Marciano's grinding work and pace, and the champion's own decision to try for an early knockout soon caught up with Walcott. Where he had tied Marciano up with ease early on, Marciano's commitment to nuzzling his head underneath Walcott's and creating space to either wriggle his arms free or pound the champion's body was paying dividends. As Walcott began to look obviously exhausted in the sixth round, the two men clashed heads, opening cuts on both. The seconds hurried to close the cuts and the substances used soon rubbed into the fighters' eyes as they got back to battling in the trenches through the seventh round. Marciano got the worse of it, and found himself reaching blind for Walcott. The next few rounds were an exhausting grind until the eleventh, when Walcott suddenly found his second wind and put together his best round of the fight. A right hand to the short rib had Marciano bent double as Walcott teed off against the Brockton Blockbuster's block. A.J. Liebling recalled that Walcott versus Marciano had four changes of lead on the scorecards.

With Walcott leading at the end of the twelfth round, Marciano was in a hole. He had been made to look foolish for the last two rounds, the old man was no longer tired and even when Marciano got him to the ropes Walcott was even getting the better of the exchanges from there. As Jersey Joe backed himself to the ropes ready to counter punch—which Liebling termed "milling in retreat"—Marciano shuffled in and delivered the shortest right hand of his career. It wasn't the old Marciano 'blind right', thrown overhead as he ducked into the clinch, it was a pure right straight thrown over a foot and a half. The purest of right straights by Jack Dempsey's criteria: Marciano's left foot stepping on the punch to ensure the transfer of weight from one foot to the other, in the direction of the blow. Walcott melted along the ropes, and fell slowly to the floor. The referee continued counting even as Walcott's body gave to gravity and slowly spread, face down across the mat. It was superfluous, the champion was a champion no longer. The reign of Walcott, a blip on the radar of the heavyweight division, was over.

It seemed even more tragic to end a bout that many in the press considered the greatest heavyweight title bout they had ever seen witnessed with such a brutal knockout. Joe had done the work, he had survived Marciano's pace and pulled the fight back, only to be knocked flat by one punch. Years later, Walcott was asked to compare the power of Louis and remarked that while getting hit by Louis, one always knew there were more punches coming, Marciano had a special kind of power. The kind of power which simply took a fighter out of the game with no chance to recover. But all was not lost for Walcott. The tremendous first fight, which made it into more movie theatres than even Joe Louis' title bouts, led to the signing of a second. If Walcott could just avoid that one big blow for a couple more rounds, he could regain his title. He had the craft and he'd shown it through twelve rounds. The rematch was one of the most peculiar fights in heavyweight title history. After the usual feeling out, and Walcott tying Marciano up as he moved in, Walcott was hit with another short right hand, this time as he was bending over.

It travelled across Marciano's chest and stiffened the legs of the elder man. Walcott fell to the floor, grabbed the rope, sat up and looked off into the distance as the referee counted him out. At 'ten', Walcott rose, complained that the count had been fast, and then congratulated Marciano. The spectators couldn't get over it. What had happened? They say that Walcott gave up. It's more than likely that he did. Bert Sugar reported that despite being the challenger, Walcott was receiving two hundred thousand dollars more than Rocky Marciano. It was more money that Walcott had seen in his entire life. He took the count, he lost the fight, and he went home to the wife and family he had starved himself to provide for. To the fight fan, that is abhorrent. It is sacrilege against the sanctity of the prizefight. To the man who knows the life of Arnold Cream, that might be the strangest happy ending in the business. Pick up Jack's new kindle book, Finding the Art , or find him at his blog, Fights Gone By .

- 1000+ images about Rocky Marciano on Pinterest | September 1, The krays and The rock Fist of Boxing Heavyweight Contender Rocky Marciano Outside at His Training Camp at Grossinger's See More

Question: Jersey Joe Walcott was a world champion in which sport?
Answer: Boxing