4. Ezzard Charles
Following a record 25 title defenses of his heavyweight crown, Joe Louis walked away from the sport.
Ezzard Charles took the vacant throne in 1949 after out-jabbing rival Jersey Joe Walcott to a 15-round unanimous decision. Louis did eventually come back for his own shot at Charles and the title he held with such authority.
But the “Cincinnati Cobra” did him a favor knocking the rust right off the former champion, burying the ghost of Louis over a cruel 15 rounds.
In all, he made nine defenses of his heavyweight title. “But the greatest Ezzard Charles, the lithe and dangerous fighting machine that could do it all, boxing historian Mike Casey notes, “wasn’t even a heavyweight.”
Charles’ ledger at light heavyweight is unparalleled and he was also the uncrowned king at middleweight. His consummate boxer-puncher style saw him beat a variety of opposition in a variety of ways.
Highlighting Charles’ run at 175 pounds are his wins over the legendary Archie Moore. The first was in 1946, dropping him with a left uppercut to the stomach. The second came in 1947, sending Moore to the canvas with a left dig to the liver. And finally he blasted Moore for good and a Round 8 KO in 1948.
At middleweight, Charles took on the often-avoided Charley Burley.
Charles beat him twice. First jumping in for hall of famer Ken Overlin in 1942, upsetting and outboxing Burley over 10 rounds and earning himself a 50/50 split of the purse in the rematch just 35 days later. “Charles proved his punching power on inside fighting and kept Burley mostly on the defensive,” as reported by Pennsylvania’s Huntingdon Daily News.
The “Cincinnati School Boy,” as he was called then, had yet to graduate high school.
Another pair of his rivals were Jimmy Bivins and Lloyd Marshall. The two legendary fighters took turns beating a 21-year-old Charles. Each loss, however, was brutally avenged—twice from Marshall and four times at Bivins’ expense.
