Now that we have a “small heavyweight” as a champ, it may be time to remember one of the best of that bunch. The great Ezzard Charles died on a day like today in 1975. Born in Lawrenceville, Georgia in 1921, Charles followed the path of many other African-Americans in those years, going from the deep south to the industrial north and relocating to Cincinnati, Ohio at a young age.
He was an outstanding amateur who won the Chicago Golden Gloves and the national AAU middleweight championship after a 42-0 blitzkrieg of a campaign, and then jumped to the pros in March 1940 with a third-round knockout over Melody Johnson at 160 pounds. The “Cincinnati Cobra” outgrew the division ten fights into his career, but continued fighting in the 160-165-pound range as a light-heavyweight for years, often being outweighed by as much as 15 pounds by his foes. In spite of scoring some of his most extraordinary wins at 175, Charles never received the opportunity of fighting for the world title at that division, in which he is nevertheless considered perhaps the finest pure boxer ever.
Wins over the likes of Archie Moore, Charley Burley, Joey Maxim, Jimmy Bivins, Lloyd Marshall and many others were not enough for him to gain access to the coveted world title clash. And after the death of Sam Baroudi in 1948 after being stopped by him, Charles hit rock bottom and considered quitting boxing altogether. But ten fights later, and already fighting as a small heavyweight, Charles received the o.
