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Talent is an almost indefinable quality. You can spot it in a prodigious young athlete, but at the same time it’s difficult to define precisely what it is. It can manifest itself as an aura, a reality-defying sense
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If James Braddock is “The Cinderella Man,” then what do we call Arnold Cream, aka Jersey Joe Walcott? Braddock’s story of perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds eventually inspired Hollywood attention, but no movie has been
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For the purposes of this list, a great victory is one secured in the face of an overwhelming disadvantage, or taken at the expense of a truly all-time great fighter, with no mitigating factors (ie. poor conditioning, injury,
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Though it is almost impossible to overstate Sugar Ray Robinson’s greatness, so much has been written on the subject of that inarguable status that little can be said without sounding redundant. The fact remains that only Harry Greb
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In decades past, when undisputed heavyweight champions were the norm and not the exception, they inevitably created a great vacuum of power upon retiring. It was a mad scramble to fill the empty throne and present the world with
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Yesterday we marked the anniversary of “The Thrilla In Manila,” and this week we’re slated to witness Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder III, so seems like a more than fitting occasion to spend some time with this stellar ranking
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There’s little doubt that Ezzard Charles is one of boxing’s most underrated champions. A skillful technician, he holds wins over a long list of great fighters and he surely deserves to be better recognized for his achievements. However,
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After a record breaking reign atop the big man division, the great Joe Louis finally retired in 1948, and in the years immediately following, boxing struggled to find someone to be that larger-than-life figure that is a dominant
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On this day back in 1954, Rocky Marciano and Ezzard Charles clashed at Yankee Stadium to contest, for the second time in just three months, the heavyweight championship of the world. In their terrific first battle, Charles became
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Today is the birthday of legendary heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano and we will always pay tribute to the one and only “Brockton Blockbuster,” regardless of the fact his famous 49-0 career mark was “eclipsed” a few years back by
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Continuing our infrequent rankings of the all-time greatest boxers in each of the original eight weight classes, we offer our third installment in the series. We started with the middleweights, then the bantamweights, and now it’s time for
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The Montreal Olympics in 1976 was a galvanizing moment for boxing in America, an event that saw the sport gain new stars and new fans, as the U.S. amateur team became one of the biggest stories of the
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One of the best parts about being a boxing fan is the vitality of the sport’s history and the spirited debates and discussions that arise from it. The arguments about who was better and who was best; the
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No one knowledgeable about the long history of prizefighting doubts the standing of Charley Burley. The man was so good even Sugar Ray Robinson avoided him. And no one doubted his standing in 1942 either. With wins over
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Like anyone who identifies as something of a boxing diehard, I’m familiar with the name Ezzard Charles. However, if pressed I could not tell you much more than this: that Charles famously beat Joe Louis during the latter’s
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At a very leisurely pace over the last couple of years, The Fight City has offered its own idiosyncratic rankings of the all-time greatest boxers in each of the eight traditional weight classes. The order in which we
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The famous middleweight “Murderer’s Row” of the 1940s, which in its prime featured Archie Moore, Ezzard Charles, Charley Burley, Lloyd Marshall and Holman Williams (among others), had something of a mini-forebear in the light-heavyweight division of the 1930s.
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All dressed up, no place to go: that’s boxing’s light heavyweight division at the moment. So much talent, so many great matches waiting to be made, but everything is at a stand-still. Put another way, it’s like you
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Boxing is a cyclical sport. No matter how dominant, fearsome or skilled a reigning champion may seem at the height of his powers, sooner or later, the old guard must make way for the new. Once great kings
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Late last night I was watching both of Rocky Marciano’s classic bouts against Ezzard Charles and was struck by what energetic, thrilling, brutal, high-end affairs they were. Charles was clearly more skilled than Marciano, but it didn’t matter
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