The Style and Substance of Jersey Joe Walcott

By Bill Ross

There are few heavyweight champions in the history of boxing that are better known for their losses than their wins.  George Foreman became the oldest fighter to ever win the heavyweight championship when he KO'd Michael Moorer in 10 rounds.  Mike Tyson became the youngest fighter to ever win the heavyweight championship when he KO'd Trevor Berbick in 2 rounds.  George Foreman demolished unbeaten heavyweight champion and future hall of famer Joe Frazier in 2 rounds. 

Mike Tyson demolished unbeaten heavyweight champion and future hall of famer Michael Spinks in 1 round.  Despite these impressive accomplishments,  Foreman is best remembered for his KO loss to Muhammad Ali in the Rumble In The Jungle while Tyson is best remembered for his disqualification loss to Evander Holyfield in the infamous Ear Bite rematch. 

These losses had a detrimental effect on the way each fighter is remembered, and hurt their placings as all-time great heavyweight champions.  Foreman for many years afterwards was thought of as a fighter with no stamina, no chin and no heart.  Only the successful comeback of Big George erased these beliefs.  Tyson on the other hand became known as a coward, cheater and a quitter.  Unfortunately for Iron Mike, subsequent losses to Danny Williams and Kevin McBride did more to re-enforce these beliefs rather than dispel them. 

There is one former heavyweight champion however whose high profile losses have elevated his status and built up his credentials as an all-time great heavyweight.  His name is Arnold Raymond Cream better known as Jersey Joe Walcott.

THE STYLE

In 1992 boxing historian Arthur Harris compiled his list of the top ten heavyweight champions of all time.  On this list Walcott was listed as number 8 ahead of Joe Frazier, Sonny Liston, George Foreman and Mike Tyson among others.  While Walcott is rarely seen in top-ten listings, he is usually mentioned as an all-time great and is frequently rated by historians just outside of the top ten.  In order to properly assess Walcott as a fighter one must compare both his style and his substance as a fighter.

Walcott began his professional career as a 16 year old middleweight.  Traditionally, lighter weight fighters tend to be more skillful than the bigger, heavier and slower heavyweights.  Subsequently, former middleweights like Ezzard Charles, Jimmy Ellis, and James Toney all succeeded as heavyweights by utilizing superior hand speed and boxing ability while fighting as counter-punchers.  It's no surprise then that Walcott developed as a counter-puncher and brought this style with him as he physically matured and grew to heavyweight proportions. 

Walcott's fighting stance was not a traditional one.  Holding his hands at chest level, Walcott was able to feint not just with his gloves but with his shoulders.  Walcott had a pin point jab, two-handed punching accuracy and a sneaky right hand counter.  His best weapon however was a counter-punch left hook which he would unload on his opponent after luring them towards him. 

The footwork of Walcott was arguably second only to Ali among heavyweight champions.  Walcott developed and perfected what became known as 'The Walcott Shuffle'.  This consisted of switching his lead foot between left and right while keeping his opponent guessing which hand he was going to lead with.  Walcott used this to present angles to his opponents, throw them off-balance all the while making himself a more elusive target.

In Walcott's day his fighting style was described as 'cagey', 'tricky', or 'cute'.  If he were around today he would be thought of as a 'showboater' or 'flashy'.  The Walcott style undoubtedly had an effect on later fighters who borrowed and utilized certain elements and aspects of his style.  In Sugar Ray Leonard's middleweight title fight against Marvin Hagler he clearly pays homage to Walcott by utilizing the famous shuffle in the final 30 seconds of round 11.  Leonard is seen shifting his stance and rolling his shoulders before throwing a right lead left hook combination.  Whether Leonard was aware of where the move originated is unknown, but if Walcott saw it I'm sure it brought a smile to his face.

While Walcott was impressive stylistically, and enjoyable to watch, the true test is the effectiveness of that style and how well it translated in the ring against quality opposition.  I have broken Walcott's career into four sections where I will examine the development and overall success of his fighting style and whether or not he deserves to be considered as an all-time great heavyweight champion. 

THE EARLY YEARS

From 1930-35 Walcott evolved from a 16 year old 165 lb middleweight to a 21 year old 183 lb heavyweight.  Walcott scored 11 wins at this time all by KO.  Of these fighters 1 had a winning record, 5 were winless and 4 were making their pro debut.  His 1 loss was by decision to Henry Taylor who sported a winless 0-2-1 record.  During this time Walcott was fighting at an age that most boxers were still amateurs so I do not put a lot of stock in this phase of his career.

THE JOURNEYMAN YEARS

From 1936-40 Walcott evolved into a journeyman heavyweight trying to crack the top ten rankings.  Walcott scored 15 wins at this time with 8 KO's.  Of these wins, 9 fighters had winning records, 4 had losing records and 2 were making their pro debut.  None of Walcott's wins came against a ranked fighter.  During this time Walcott lost 7 times and was KO'd by Al Ettore, Tiger Jack Fox, and Abe Simon the only ranked fighters he fought.  Walcott was also out-pointed by Billy Ketchell a fighter with a losing 19-18-3 record although Walcott would later avenge this defeat twice.  Walcott retired for 4 years after the 1940 Simon KO defeat.

THE CONTENDER YEARS

From 1944-47 the 30 year old Walcott made a comeback and evolved into a contender for the heavyweight championship.  Walcott scored 19 wins at this time with 9 KO's.  Walcott defeated ranked contenders Joe Baski, Lee Murray, and Curtis Sheppard.  In 1946 Walcott narrowly defeated Jimmy Bivins by split decision.  Bivins actually won more rounds but Walcott was judged the winner on points due to a 3rd round knockdown of Bivins.  Walcott also won close fights with a split decision win over future lightheavyweight champion Joey Maxim and majority decision wins over Maxim and Elmer Ray.  During this time Walcott lost 3 decisions to Ray, Maxim and Johnny Allen a fighter with a losing 8-12-0 record.  

Walcott later avenged the Allen loss by KO.   In 1947 it was announced that Walcott would be granted a title fight with heavyweight champion Joe Louis.  At this time in his career, Walcott had never defeated a fighter who had challenged for the heavyweight championship.  So lightly thought of was Walcott that the promoters originally planned on the fight being only an exhibition.  It was rumored that a company was trying to buy advertising space on the soles of Walcott's boxing shoes.  In any event, the fight was set and Walcott was listed as a 10-1 underdog.  In the first 17 years of his career Walcott had not established himself as anything more than a longshot fringe contender.  The Louis fight however would have one bit of historical significance.  In the 55 year history of boxing's gloved era, this fight would be only the second heavyweight championship ever contested between two black men.  This fight would essentially break the color barrier in heavyweight championship boxing.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP YEARS

From 1947-53 Walcott etched out the reputation that he would forever by judged by.  His December 5, 1947 title fight with Joe Louis would be the first fight that Walcott is best remembered and gauged.  Boxing smoothly, and counter-punching effectively, Walcott befuddled Louis while dropping him twice and building a lead in the scoring.  Believing he was comfortably ahead, Walcott coasted in the later rounds and ultimately cost himself the heavyweight championship.  Prior to the decision being announced, Louis tried exiting the ring believing that Walcott was about to be crowned the new champion.  In a cruel twist of fate, an error on one of the judge's score cards mistakenly had Louis the winner when in fact the judge had scored it for Walcott.  Louis thus retained his title by a narrow split decision.  Walcott would later protest the decision but it was to no avail.  The best Walcott could hope for was a rematch and on June 25, 1948 he got his wish and was stopped by Louis in 11 rounds after leading on two of the judge's score cards.  In this fight Walcott again scored a flash knockdown of Louis.  Louis would announce his retirement after this fight.

On June 22, 1949, Walcott was matched with Ezzard Charles for the vacant heavyweight championship.  Charles had been a top rated middleweight and light-heavyweight contender before joining the heavyweight ranks.  Charles weighed only 6 pounds above the light-heavyweight limit when he scored a comfortable 15 round unanimous decision win over Walcott.

In 1950, Walcott won 5 straight fights against unranked opponents before losing a unanimous decision to contender Rex Lane.  Surprisingly, Walcott was granted another title fight with Ezzard Charles. On March 7, 1951  Charles won a lopsided 15 round unanimous decision while dropping Walcott for a 9 count in the 9th round.

Unbelievably, based on his lopsided loss to Charles, Walcott was granted a 5th title attempt later in the year.  On July 18, 1951 the underdog Walcott caught lightning in a bottle with a one punch left hook 7th round KO of Charles.  After 21 years as a professional fighter, Jersey Joe Walcott was heavyweight champion of the world.  Walcott's only successful defense of his title came against who else but Ezzard Charles.  On June 5 1952, Walcott scored a close 15 round unanimous decision.

On September 23, 1952 Walcott would take part in the second fight of his career that he is best remembered and gauged by.  Fighting in Philadelphia's Municipal Stadium, Walcott put his title on the line against unbeaten contender Rocky Marciano.  This fight would be named Ring Magazine's fight of the year and is generally regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight title fights of all time.  After flooring Marciano in the first round, Walcott proceeded to outbox and open cuts to the face of his less experienced opponent.  Comfortably ahead on points and boxing smoothly, Walcott was KO'd in the 13th round by a picture perfect right hand that left Walcott unconscious on the canvas.  Walcott's brief 1 year reign as heavyweight champion was over.  

An immediate rematch with Marciano on May 15, 1953 had Walcott once again in the role of challenger when he was KO'd in one round.  Walcott had fought his last fight and announced his retirement shortly thereafter.  He left the ring having fought 71 times over the span of 23 years.

WAS WALCOTT GREAT?

During his peak championship years, Walcott scored 7 wins with 5 KO's.  Only one of those KO's came against a ranked fighter, that being Ezzard Charles.  During this time Walcott lost 7 times and suffered 10 count KO's 3 times and a 9 count once.  In total fights during this time Walcott's record was 7-7.  In title fights he went 2-6 with 1 KO win and 3 KO losses.  He fought 3 different men in his 8 title fights, was defeated by each of them twice, KO'd by two of them and only defeated one of them.  In his overall career,  Walcott had a 51-18-2 record with 32 KO's and was KO'd 5 times.  Walcott had a modest winning percentage of 71% while never fighting and suffering losses beyond his prime championship years.  Based on these less than impressive stats taken during Walcott's best years it is difficult to consider him as an all-time great heavyweight champion. 

In 2003 the writers of Ring Magazine published a ranking of the 100 greatest pound for pound punchers of all-time.  On this list, Walcott was listed as #66.  But was Walcott really that hard a hitter?  He scored 32 KO's in 71 fights which gives him a KO percentage of just 45%.  Even his KO per win ratio is low for a reputed puncher at 62%.  Of those 32 KO's only 15 came against fighters with winning records and 8 of them came against fighters who were winless.  The only two ranked fighters Walcott ever KO'd was an off the floor 10th round win over Curtis Sheppard and the lightning in the bottle KO of Ezzard Charles.  In title fights, Walcott's KO percentage was just 12%.  Walcott's KO stats do not support or justify him as being the #66 greatest pound for pound puncher of all time.

Walcott is a prime example of boxing historians rating a fighter higher than he deserves based on impressive losses against great fighters.  Walcott did compete admirably against Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano but he was winless in all 4 of his fights with these 2 greats and was KO'd 3 times.  His #66 greatest pound for pound puncher status on the other hand seems to be based mostly on the fact that he scored flash knockdowns of Louis and Marciano.  This feat was not unprecedented.  Light-heavyweight champion Archie Moore dropped Marciano with one punch while Louis was floored 10 times in his career.

Walcott's valiant performances in his two most famous defeats are better explained as the old axiom states, 'styles make fights'.  In the case of the Louis loss, Walcott simply fought his usual counter-punch style causing Louis to force the action, which in turn played into Walcott's strengths.  It says more about the vulnerability of Louis against a good counter-puncher than it says about Walcott's greatness.  In the case of the Marciano loss, it again is a matter of 'styles make fights' as Marciano a raw, slow footed swarmer was vulnerable to the footwork, angles  and boxing ability of Walcott.  Ezzard Charles, another skilled counter-puncher would later last 15 competitive rounds with Marciano fighting a similar boxing style as Walcott.

The fact that Walcott was granted 6 title attempts in a 6 year span speaks volumes about how weak the heavyweight division must have been at this time.  Five of these title opportunities came immediately after a Walcott loss.  Had Walcott been fighting in the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's or today there is no way he would have been granted this many opportunities after losing so many title attempts. 

Two impressive losses combined with flash knockdowns do not make a great fighter or a top 100 pound for pound puncher.  Walcott should at best be remembered not as a great heavyweight champion, but a good one.

The author of this article can be contacted at wross1@cogeco.ca