Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). Charles defeated numerous Hall of Fame fighters in three different weight classes. Judge Artie Aidala scored the fight 9-5-1 while judge Harold Barnes' tally was 8-6-1. See Photos. [3] Charles graduated from Woodward High School in Cincinnati where he was already becoming a well-known fighter. However, the date of retrieval is often important. It wasn't Ezzard's fault. SOLD JUN 15, 2022. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Get an inside beat on a day in the life of the Cincinnati Cobra, and how the importance of family drove him to greatness. Ezzard Charles; A Boxing Life. . Ezzard Charless mothers name is unknown at this time and his fathers name is under review. Obituary. Omissions? https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ezzard-Charles, Cincinnati Historical Society Library - Biography of Ezzard Charles. Hickey Park, Millvale, Pennsylvania, U.S. Newsmakers Interview with Ezzard Charles Jr., WKRC Channel 12, Cincinnati, August 17, 2008, Newsmakers interview with Ezzard Charles Jr., WKRC Channel 12 Cincinnati, August 17, 2008, "On This Day: Ezzard Charles, one of the greatest fighters of all-time, was born", "Boxing Hall of Fame names first inductees", The Champ: County to honor legendary boxer Charles today, "1970's Muscular Dystrophy Commercial with Ezzard Charles", "Ezzard Charles, boxing's 'Quiet Tiger,' dies at 53", "IBRO'S 25 Greatest Fighters of All Time", "The Greatest Light Heavyweights of All Time", NBA World Heavyweight Title Fights - BoxRec, NYSAC World Heavyweight Title Fights - BoxRec, Cincinnati History Library and Archives -- Ezzard Charles, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ezzard_Charles&oldid=1137572597, International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees, Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers, Sportspeople from the Atlanta metropolitan area, Woodward High School (Cincinnati, Ohio) alumni, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages with login required references or sources, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 5 February 2023, at 09:59. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. He also lost his first rematch with Charles on March 7, 1951. Half of the voters had him in the top 15. The first fight saw Ezz lose but take Marciano all 15 rounds, which no other boxer had done before. Chuckling at his problems, he added: It's more than a rainy day, it's a flood.. "Jersey Joe Walcott: 1914-1994." Walcott died at the age of 80 on February 25, 1994, in Camden, N.J. Although his purses totaled $2million while he was winning 96 of 122 bouts from 1940 to 1959, Charles had the misfortune to gain the title upon the 1949 retirement of Joe Louis, one of boxing's most popular champions. Ezzard Charles's birth sign is Cancer. Discover what happened on this day. The following year, he outpointed his idol and former World Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis to become the recognized Lineal Champion. [8] Charles died on May 28, 1975, in Chicago. ." He was born July 7, 1921, in Lawrenceville, Ga. After his family moved to Cincinnati when he was a child, he became interested in boxing. "[12], In 2007, ESPN online ranks Ezzard Charles as the 27th greatest boxer of all time, ahead of such notable fighters as Mike Tyson, Larry Holmes and Jake LaMotta. In 1939, he won the Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions as well as the national AAU Middleweight Championship. Charles died on May 28, 1975. Generation. They met twice. Ezzard Charles knew that joy well, and thanks to this satisfying biography we now know a good deal more about the man and the all-time great fighter that he was. Independent (February 28, 1994). Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Zodiac Sign: Ezzard Charles was a Cancer. Amerman, Don "Walcott, Jersey Joe He also loses, to slick and crafty Kid Tunero, and to Jimmy Bivins and Lloyd Marshall, the latter two defeats later avenged. Ezz played the bass cello, even sitting in with some great musicians of the day. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. His son, Ezzard Charles II on his visit to Gwinnett for the induction at CoolRay Field was quoted as saying of his fathers childhood, That time in our nation was tough on African-Americans. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. From 1940 to 1959 Charles fought 122 bouts, winning 96, of which 58 were by knockout. Walcott eagerly headed for the Louis training camp, but on his very first day on the job, he dropped Louis with a left hook, abruptly ending his stint as sparring partner. As a condition for accepting the job, Blackburn wangled an invitation for Walcott to accompany him and join the gamblers' Chicago stable of fighters, but Walcott came down with typhoid and was unable to make the trip. He was . So he is thought of as from Cincinnati. Every day, Ezz and team would wake at 5:30 am for a 5-mile run. Ezz had a daily routine of exercising and eating right. [1] Ezzard Charles died at the age of 53 years. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Montreal is The Fight City. In 1987 he was named the ninth greatest heavyweight of all time by The Ring. Salzman, Linda "Charles, Ezzard Ezz took pride in his neighborhood and actively gave time to his community. Speaking haltingly to the assembled crowd, Walcott said, "I tried to be a champion for everybody. Davis, Samuel. Despite being a natural light-heavy he won the heavyweight title and made 9 successful title defenses. Ezzard Charless birth sign is Cancer and he had a ruling planet of Moon. The following year he beat top ten contender Jimmy Bivins, following which Bocchicchio lined up a fight for Walcott with another leading contender, Lee Oma, in Madison Square Garden. When I first decided to get into boxing, Id listen to all of the older guys in the game. People just didn't want to see Louis lose. Make up a song about something you like. Then came a call from Blackburn, telling him that Joe Louis, training for a fight with Max Schmeling , was looking for sparring partners. Georgia state education spending was at about $43 per white student in 1930, and only $10 per black student in the states public school system. Other than his coaches and trainers, Ezz had family and friends who helped him stay focused. A rematch in Philadelphia the following year saw Charles take an impressive lead on points, but squander it (and the decision) through conservative tactics. Charles was unable to secure a title shot at light heavyweight and moved up to heavyweight. To that end, Ezz was determined to be the best for his family, for himself, and for his boxing profession. Full-body sculpture of Ezzard Charles revealed to family | WKRC WINTON PLACE, Ohio (WKRC) - Ezzard Charles' son and namesake saw the full-body sculpture of his father for the first time. Known as the Cincinnati Cobra, Ezzard Charles was a professional boxer and World Heavyweight Champion from 1949 - 1951. If Charles had won this fight, he would have become the first man in history to regain the heavyweight championship. It also earned them acclaim as the toughest men of their eras. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Cincinnati. Doctor W.P. I'd win a fightand the very next day, I'd be back in the gym.. American boxer I'm over 30 and just plain tired of it all.". American boxer By the time he was sixteen, he had taught himself the rudiments of boxing so well that he won fortytwo amateur fights in a rowincluding two Golden Gloves and the AAU National Championship in 1939before turning professional in 1940. He was also very mild mannered with a gentle air . Chinese Zodiac: Ezzard Charles was born in the Year of the Rabbit. "Time Tunnel: Jersey Joe Walcott; The Long, Long Journey." Generation also known as The Greatest Generation. Just a simple, square sort of fellow, who believed in playing the game by the rules, Charles said in selfdescription some years ago. Ezzard Mack Charles (July 7, 1921 May 28, 1975), known as the Cincinnati Cobra, was an American professional boxer and World Heavyweight Champion. Dettloff, a former senior writer at The Ring and now editor-in-chief of the e-magazine Ringside Seat, writes with clarity and authority about the greatCincinnati Cobra, beginning with his early years in Lawrenceville, Georgia. The 1920s represented an era of change and growth. Hello. Ciao. How do you greet people in other languages? Charles was very close with Rocky Marciano and a neighbor and friend of Muhammad Ali when they both lived on 85th Street in Chicago. They'd all say the same thing: if you want to be a fighter, you've got to eat it and sleep it. As a tribute to fellow Cincinnatian and friend, jazz great George Russell composed an album called Ezz-thetics, based on Ezzs boxing style. From that point on Ezzard wanted to be a Boxer. The name Ezzard was among the 1,000 most popular U.S. baby names right around the time and only around the time Ezzard Charles was champ: 1953: 37 baby boys named Ezzard 1952: 54 baby boys named Ezzard [ranked 975th] Ezzard was inducted into Ring magazines Boxing Hall of Fame in 1970. Whos the richest Boxer in the world? In 1950 Walcott won his first four matches of the year, only to lose to Rex Layne on November 24. 830 Ezzard Charles Drive Cincinnati, OH 45214 513.381.6672. Walcott successfully defended his title, winning a fifteen-round decision over Charles. Research genealogy for Charles Ezzard of Brampton, Hampshire, England, as well as other members of the Ezzard family, on Ancestry. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. . All of it was made possible with the $275,000 raised by Cincinnati parks, donors, and residents in the West End . The baby from honeysuckle circle, in downtown Lawrenceville was named after the Doctor who delivered him. Ezzard Charles Popularity #81837 Born in Lawrenceville, GA Boxer Born in Georgia Cancer Boxer To become the undisputed champ, Ezz a 2:1 underdog and smaller fighter defeated his childhood idol and American boxing icon, Joe Louis, on September 27, 1950. Family Life He had three children. The economic boom and the Jazz Age were over, and America began the period called the Great Depression. Possibility. It was as if he had lost., He gave me two of the toughest fights of my life. Discharged in January 1946, the career of The Cincinnati Cobra then motors on in high gear and reading about his bouts with the legendary Archie Moore in particular is a great pleasure. Like many boxers, financial problems forced Charles to continue fighting, losing 13 of his final 23 fights. Born in Lawrenceville, named after the doctor that birthed him, Ezzard Charless family had the bravery to leave Jim Crowe Georgia to pursue better opportunity. All the same, his buddies push him into sparring with the great Joe Louis, who is touring bases in the area and conducting boxing exhibitions. In the first bout, held in Yankee Stadium on June 17, 1954, he valiantly took Marciano the distance, going down on points in a vintage heavyweight bout. He was widely criticized for his handling of the match. Charles is the only man ever to last the full 15-round distance against Marciano. The situation grew even gloomier for Walcott in the latter half of the 1930s. He told me in the South they make you sit in the back of the bus. There he took up boxing and by the time Charles was a teenager he. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). "Ex-Heavyweight Champ's Calling Card Was Perseverance: Walcott Dead at 80." There was even a record made about Ezz! Successful defenses against Walcott, Lee Oma and Joey Maxim followed. He was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 1990. Ezzard made the most of it, becoming the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion and an inspiration to Gwinnett County. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. CHICAGO, May 23 (UPI)Ezzard Charles, the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1949 until 1951, died today at the Veterans Administration Hospital here. His visits to Lawrenceville, were brief after the move north to Cincinnati and then to Chicago after that, but he did feel confident enough to visit Lawrenceville again briefly in 1949, as both a war vetern and the champ, most likely to visit family. His grandmother raised him to be an honest, good-hearted man. Ezzards education details are not available at this time. Jim Crowe laws not only threatened the lives of the black community, but ALL opportunities. http://www.njboxinghof.org/cgi-bin/henryseehof.pl?286 (October 25, 2002). Thanks to the authors unfailing commitment to detail, the reader is left in no doubt about just how special this kid was in his prime. Ezzard Mack Charles (July 7, 1921 - May 28, 1975), known as the Cincinnati Cobra, was an American professional boxer and World Heavyweight Champion. Ezz was proud of being Cincinnatis first heavyweight champ. "Jersey Joe Walcott." When I first decided to get into boxing, I'd listen to all of the older guys in the game, he remarked recently. Ezz would hit the heavy bag and jump rope. Well, that would be a hell of a notch in his belt, But it was Overlin who got the notch: Everything that Charles had going for him his youth, his strength, his speed, his hunger wasnt enough to overcome what Overlin had, which was experience Overlin took his time, letting Charles make all the mistakes young fighters make, letting him burn out so that by the end he was wobbling all over the ring. Often Ezz would meet with school-age children and have fun with them exercising or going on group trips to the theater. Throughout his ring career, Charles was criticized for lacking the killer instinct, that highly salable knockout drive that created boxoffice bonanzas for Jack Dempsey, Louis and the late Rocky Marciano. When preparing for a boxing match, Ezz focused on speed and stamina. Like anyone who identifies as something of a boxing diehard, Im familiar with the name Ezzard Charles. When he was a child, his family moved to Cincinnati, where he became interested in boxing. His wife is Gladys (? Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. In 1966 he was stricken with a muscle-debilitating disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and was confined to a wheelchair. Before winning the heavyweight championship, he had won the National Boxing Association title by defeating Walcott on June 22, 1949. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Sign Up. Considered one of the giants of sports in the 1920s, Gene Tunney became heavyweight boxing champion of the worl, Sugar Ray Robinson Art Rust's Illustrated History of the Black Athlete. After a brilliant amateur boxing career, Charles turned pro in 1940 and went on to win twenty consecutive fights in the first eighteen months of the decade. To succeed in life, Ezzard Charles (Ezz) always said that youve got to have a plan. He was an avid reader and learned to speak Italian while serving during World War II. Outside of the ring, Ezzard also had owned several night clubs, played bass with the eras top jazz performers, even sitting in for a session one night with the legendary Duke Ellington. Donnell was an avid music collector. Published by McFarland, 232 pages $35.00. And one which illuminates the essence of the sport while sympathetically documenting the life of one of its cleverest exports, with searing passages describing the lure of the Fancy. Welcome to Ezzard Charles at Laurel Parka bronze sculpture brought to life with a self-guided tour that tells the story of Cincinnati legend and West End hero, Ezzard Charles. In 1938, he won the Diamond Belt Middleweight Championship. The two faced off on June 22, 1949. Archie Moore was one of the most colorful and respected figures in the modern history of boxing. Quarterfinals 147-Pound class: Defeated Charles Wilson by decision. Referee Ruby Goldstein agreed, observing, "Walcott punched his ears off." In 1948 an unfortunate thing happened, Charles knocked out Sam Baroudi in round 10 and he died shortly after the fight. Shower and massage. ." Bookmark this page and come back often for updates. Georgia, and raised there until the age of nine when his parents parted. Shortly after retiring from the ring, he took a job as a parole officer for juvenile offenders. In the fourth round, Louis, confused by the "Walcott Shuffle," which involved shifting the feet around so that first the left and then the right were the lead, and pivoting the body to match, was dropped again by the challenger. Perhaps most endearing and dedicated of all was Gladys Gertrell, Ezzs wife and mother of their three children, Ezz II, Deborah, and Leith.
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