On This Day In Boxing History!

On This Day In Boxing History 1934-35

A Year Apart Barney Ross vs Jimmy McLarnin 1 & 3!

1975: Ezzard Charles Passes!

Ezzard Charles  

Born: July 7th, 1921

Birth Name: Ezzard Mack Charles

Birth Place: Lawrenceville, Georgia

Residence: Cincinnati, Ohio

Pro Debut: March 12th,1940

Alias: The Cincinnati Cobra

Division: Heavyweight

Stance: Orthodox

Height: 6′ 0″  

Reach: 73″

Bouts: 121

Rounds: 967

KO’s: 43% 

Record: 95-25-1, 52Ko’s

Died: Age 53, May 28th, 1975

Career

National Boxing Association World Heavyweight Championship

June 22nd, 1949

World Heavyweight Champion

September 27th, 1950

International Boxing Hall of Fame : Class of 1990

African-American professional boxer and former world heavyweight champion, Ezzaard Charles, born Ezzard Mack Charles in Lawrenceville, Georgia July 7, 1921. He holds wins over numerous Hall of Fame fighters in three different weight classes. Charles retired with a record of 93 wins, 25 losses and 1 draw.

He was born in Lawrenceville, Georgia, but is commonly thought of as a Cincinnatian. Charles graduated from Woodward High School in Cincinnati where he was already becoming a well-known fighter. Known as "The Cincinnati Cobra," Charles is best remembered for his wins as a heavyweight, but most experts feel[weasel words] he was in his prime as a light heavyweight. Although he never won the championship at that weight, Ring magazine has rated him as the greatest light heavyweight of all time.

Ezzard Charles started his career as a featherweight in the amateurs, where he had a record of 42-0. In 1938, he won the Diamond Belt Middleweight Champion. He followed this up in 1939 by winning the Chicago Golden Gloves tournament of champions. He won the national AAU Middleweight Championship in 1939. He turned pro in 1940, knocking out Melody Johnson in the 4th round. Charles won all of his first 15 fights before being defeated by veteran Ken Overlin. Victories over future Hall of Famers Teddy Yarosz and the much avoided Charley Burley had started to solidify Charles as a top contender in the Middleweight division. However, he served in the U.S. military during World War II and was unable to fight professionally in 1945.

He returned to boxing after the war as a light heavyweight, picking up many notable wins over leading light heavyweight as well as heavyweight contenders Archie Moore, Jimmy Bivins, Lloyd Marshall, and Elmer Ray. Shortly after his knock-out of Moore in their third and final meeting, tragedy struck. Charles fought a young contender named Sam Baroudi, knocking him out in Round 10. Baroudi died of the injuries he sustained in this bout. Charles was so devastated he almost gave up fighting. Charles was unable to secure a title shot at light heavyweight, and moved up to heavyweight. After knocking out Joe Baksi and Johnny Haynes, Charles won the vacant National Boxing Association world heavyweight title when he outpointed Jersey Joe Walcott over 15 rounds on June 22, 1949. The following year, he outpointed his idol and former world heavyweight champion Joe Louis to become the recognized lineal champion. Successful defenses against Walcott, Lee Oma and Joey Maxim would follow.

In 1951, Charles fought Walcott a third time and lost the title by knockout in the seventh round. Charles lost a controversial decision in the fourth and final bout. If Charles had won this fight he would have become the first man in history to regain the heavyweight championship. Remaining a top contender with wins over Rex Layne, Tommy Harrison, and Coley Wallace, Charles knocked out Bob Satterfield in an eliminator bout for the right to challenge Heavyweight Champion Rocky Marciano. His two stirring battles with Marciano are regarded as ring classics. In the first bout, held in June 1954, he valiantly took Rocky the distance, going down on points in a vintage heavyweight bout. Charles is the only man ever to last the full 15-round distance against Marciano. In their September rematch, a severely cut Marciano rallied to KO Charles in the 8th round, in a bout that was named Ring Magazine's "Fight of the Year." Financial problems forced Charles to continue fighting, losing 12 of his final 23 fights. He retired with a record of 96-25-1 (58 KOs).

Charles was also a respected double bass player who played with some of the jazz greats in the 40s and 50s at such notable places as Birdland. He was very close with Rocky Marciano and a neighbor and friend of Muhammed Ali when they both lived on 85th street in Chicago. Charles also starred in one motion picture: "Mau Mau Drums", an independent (and unreleased) jungle-adventure film shot in and around Cincinnati in 1960 by filmmaker Earl Schwieterman.

Ezzard Charles died May 28, 1975, in Chicago from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, aged 53, and was interred in the historic Burr Oak Cemetery, in Alsip, Illinois. In 1976 Cincinnati honored Charles by changing the name of Lincoln Park Drive to Ezzard Charles Drive. This was the street of his residence during the height of his career.
He was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.

In 2002, Charles was ranked #13 on Ring Magazine's list of the 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years.

In 2006, Ezzard Charles was named the 11th greatest fighter of all time by the IBRO (International Boxing Research Organisation).

The “Cincinnati Cobra” was a master boxer of extraordinary skill and ability. He had speed, agility, fast hands and excellent footwork. Charles possessed a masterful jab and was a superb combination puncher. He was at his peak as a light-heavyweight. His record is quite impressive. Against top rate opposition like Archie Moore, Charley Burley, Lloyd Marshall, Jimmy Bivins, and Joey Maxim he was an impressive 16-2 combined. Despite being a natural light-heavy he won the heavyweight title and made 9 successful title defenses. Nearly 25% of voters had Charles in the top 10. Half of the voters had him in the top 15. Two thirds of voters had him inside the top 20.

ESPN online ranks Ezzard Charles as the 27th greatest boxer of all time, ahead of such notable fighters as Mike Tyson, Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Larry Holmes and Jake LaMotta.
In 2009, Boxing Magazine listed Ezzard Charles as the greatest Light Heavyweight fighter ever, beating the likes of Archie Moore, Bob Foster, Gene Tunney.

Prominent Boxing historian, Bert Sugar, listed Charles as the 7th greatest Heavyweight of all time.

May 28th

1917: Benny Leonard KO9 Freddie Welsh

1922: Lou Duva was born Louis Duva in New York City, New York

1927: Tod Morgan W12 Vic Foley

1929: Mushy Callahan KO3 Fred Mahan

1930: Dick Welsh W6 Young Padilla

1934: Barney Ross W15 Jimmy McLarnin

1935: Barney Ross W15 Jimmy McLarnin

1941: Tony Zale KO 2 Al Hostak

1942: Sugar Ray Robinson W10 Marty Servo

1962: Archie Moore D10 Willie Pastrano

Dick Turner KO6 Willie Davis

1964: Jeff Fenech was born in Marrickville, Sydney, Australia

1973: Jose Luis Lopez was born in Durango, Mexico

1988: Juan Jose Estrada W12 Bernardo Pinango

1989: In Chul Baek KO11 Fulgencio Obelmejies

1993: Jung-Il Byun W12 Josefino Suarez

1995: Tom Johnson W12 Eddie Croft

2005: Rafael Marquez W12 Ricardo Vargas

2008: Anthony Mundine W12 Sam Soliman

2010: Souleymane M'baye W12 Antonin Decarie

2016: Donnie Nietes RTD5 Raul Garcia

Ricky Burns TKO8 Michele Di Rocco

David Avanesyan W12 Shane Mosley

2020: Jimmie Sykes passed

2021: Esteban Bermudez TKO6 Carlos Canizales

2022: Gervonta Davis TKO6 Rolando Romero

Chuckie Mills passed