Ezzard Charles would defend his heavyweight title twice before facing his nemesis Jersey Joe Walcott again. Walcott was easily among the greatest defensive technicians’ the sport has ever known. To the eyes of many, Walcott should have won the heavyweight title when he lost a controversial split decision to Joe Louis in 1947. The bout would be the second time both Charles and Walcott would square off. Charles would win the second bout in a more dominant fashion by winning virtually every round, he also had Walcott almost out for the count in the ninth round after the referee counted to nine after a knockdown.
Charles would fight Walcott a third time and this time the outcome will be very different. Walcott would catch Charles with a perfectly executed left hook that would drop Charles face first to the canvas. Charles would valiantly get up, but crash again to the canvas prompting referee Buck McTiernan to stop the contest in the seventh round. Charles would win his next three matches to set up a fourth match with Walcott. The fourth would be the most competitive match in the series since their first match. However, the outcome would be different as Walcott would be the victor this time. Charles would lose his next match with Rex Layne prompted many to believe that Charles at 31-years-old was now past his prime. This was a half-truth as Charles would go on to win 11 of his next 13 matches and get a crack at the heavyweight title against Rocky Marciano in 1954.
Charles would hurt Marciano a few times early in the match, but Marciano would come out strong in the second half. The sixth round would showcase some of the greatest heavyweight toe-to-toe action. Charles would be hurt several times in the sixth round, but understood how to survive and would go the distance. Marciano would win the competitive fifteen round decision. It would be the only time that a challenger took Marciano the distance. The immediate rematch would prove to be one of what legends are made. Charles would get up from the canvas in the second round near the north-eastern corner ropes to dominate the next five rounds of the rematch. Charles peppered Marciano with stiff left jabs, which were followed by overhand rights. Marciano badly cut both in the nose and eye would avoid a stoppage loss by knocking out Charles in the eighth round. Charles would get dropped a second time by getting caught with a right cross on his way up after slipping a left. Marciano being excellent finisher would get in six more shots to finish Charles after the count. It would prove to be the last time that Charles would fight for a world title.
The final Ezzard Charles won-loss record was quite uncharitable to the ability and accomplishment of Charles as a fighter. Charles would lose 12 out of last 18 bouts which accounted for nearly half of his entire losses. Those late losses took a bit away from a remarkable legacy. Charles would do a variety of work in his post-boxing career as professional wrestling, night club bouncer, and safety inspector. Tragedy would strike Charles as he would suffer amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) which affected his spine and eventually paralyzed him. Charles would die in 1975 just weeks short of his fifty-fourth birthday. The IBHOF would posthumous induct Charles in 1990.
