THE 100 GREATEST BOXERS OF ALL TIME #11: EZZARD CHARLES
“THE CINCINNATI COBRA”
93 WINS (52 BY KO), 25 LOSSES, 1 DRAW
NBA Heavyweight Titleholder 1949–1951
World Heavyweight Champion 1950–1951
Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year 1949
International Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee 1990
In many ways, Ezzard Charles was a larger version of his contemporary, Sugar Ray Robinson: resilient, smart, quick, and powerful. At his best, he was as well-rounded as any fighter could be. The only thing he lacked was Sugar Ray’s natural charisma. Most sports fans only remember him as the man who beat an aging Joe Louis and subsequently held the heavyweight crown for a while — if they remember him. In fact, his best work was done at light heavyweight (175 pounds), where he was the division’s uncrowned champion for years. He is perhaps boxing’s most routinely underrated great.
After a decorated 42–0 amateur career, Charles started boxing professionally as a 19-year-old middleweight (160 pounds) in 1940. Just over a year into his career, he was already facing former middleweight titlists Ken Overlin and Teddy Yarosz. In 1942, he picked up two wins over Charley Burley, a supremely skilled future Hall of Famer that many of boxing’s best, including Robinson, were accused of ducking.
Growing into a light heavyweight by 1943, Charles was part of a group of terrifically talented black contenders around the division who could not get a shot at the championship during the 1940s, in large part because of their skin color and their skill. They were Charles, Archie Moore, Jimmy Bivins, Lloyd Marshall, Oakland Billy Smith, Elmer Ray, Holman Williams, and Eddie Booker. Against this crew of hard-luck battlers, Charles’s record is eleven wins (six by KO) against just four defeats.
Three times, Charles did battle with the crafty and hard-hitting Archie Moore between 1946 and 1948, and he won all three, the last one by knockout with a sweeping right hand in the eighth round. The sound of the punch was so great that sportswriter Harry Keck “was sure that something broke either in Archie’s head or in Ezzard’s right hand, maybe both.” A truly legendary figure in boxing, Moore would go on to hold and defend the light heavyweight championship for a full decade after winning it in 1952. He still holds the record for the most knockouts in boxing history. That Charles was able to get the best of a prime Moore three times in three contests speaks to just how terrific he was at his own peak.
Between February 1944 and May 1951, Charles lost just once (a controversial split decision dropped to Elmer Ray) in 24 total fights. By 1949, he was invading the heavyweight division. Louis had temporarily retired in 1949, and Charles bested Hall of Famer Jersey Joe Walcott over 15 rounds on June 22 at Comiskey Park in Chicago to take the NBA’s recognition as heavyweight champ.
It was not until Charles outboxed a returning Louis on September 27, 1950, in New York’s Yankee Stadium that his right to the heavyweight championship was undisputed. He was the first man to defeat Louis in 14 years. After four defenses of the lineal title, he lost it to Walcott in 1951. Three years later, he twice challenged Walcott’s conqueror, Rocky Marciano, and became the only man to go a full fifteen rounds with the “Brockton Blockbuster.”
One other trait Charles shared with Sugar Ray was an inability to know when to call it quits, and he did not leave the ring until 1959 when he was 38 years old. After his first loss to Walcott, Charles’s record was a terrific 71 wins, 6 losses, and 1 draw. 19 of the losses now on his record came in the final eight years of his 19-year career. Even so, he retired with the most victories (93) of any heavyweight champion in history and tied with Tony Canzoneri for the most victories over world champs and Hall of Famers (20) of any boxer other than Robinson.
Ezzard Charles’s Record vs. Hall of Famers & lineal world champs:
6/9/1941 — L 10 — Ken Overlin
11/17/1941 — W 10 — Teddy Yarosz
3/2/1942 — D 10 — Ken Overlin
5/25/1942 — W 10 — Charley Burley
6/29/1942 — W 10 — Charley Burley
10/27/1942 — W 10 — Joey Maxim
1/7/1943 — L 10 — Jimmy Bivins
3/31/1943 — L (TKO) 8 — Lloyd Marshall
5/20/1946 — W 10 — Archie Moore
7/29/1946 — KO 6 — Lloyd Marshall
11/12/1946 — W 10 — Jimmy Bivins
3/10/1947 — KO 4 — Jimmy Bivins
5/5/1947 — W 10 — Archie Moore
9/29/1947 — KO 2 — Lloyd Marshall
1/13/1948 — KO 8 — Archie Moore
9/13/1948 — W 10 — Jimmy Bivins
2/28/1949 — W 15 — Joey Maxim
6/22/1949 — W 15 — Jersey Joe Walcott
8/10/1949 — TKO 7 — Gus Lesnevich
9/27/1950 — W 15 — Joe Louis
11/26/1952 — W 10 — Jimmy Bivins
3/7/1951 — W 15 — Jersey Joe Walcott
5/30/1951 — W 15 — Joey Maxim
7/18/1951 — L (KO) 7 — Jersey Joe Walcott
12/12/1951 — W 12 — Joey Maxim
6/5/1952 — L 15 — Jersey Joe Walcott
9/8/1953 — L 10 — Harold Johnson
6/17/1954 — L 15 — Rocky Marciano
9/17/1954 — L (KO) 8 — Rocky Marciano
