Can the greatest light heavyweight of all time have never won a world title in the light heavyweight division? According to many qualified experts, such a paradox is indeed possible. Shunned by the shadowy powers of boxing at the time, Ezzard Charles was forced to seek glory and win the championship belt in the heavyweight division—even though he weighed just over 180 pounds—after being denied a title shot for too long in his natural weight class. Today marks 50 years since the passing of this extraordinary champion, a remarkably modern fighter for his era, who displayed unforgettable elegance and technical mastery in the ring. Let’s look back at the key chapters of the Cincinnati Cobra’s boxing career.
An (Almost) Undefeated Amateur
Some sources credit Charles with an immaculate amateur record, which would make him the only heavyweight world champion in history never to have lost a bout in the amateur ranks. In truth, digging deeper into official records reveals three defeats between 1936 and 1937, although at the time Charles was still a teenager. Regardless of such bureaucratic details, there is no doubt that young Charles was a phenomenal amateur, winner of several tournaments and constantly growing physically—so much so that after starting out as a featherweight, he made the leap to the professional ranks in the prestigious middleweight division. His early professional days were no less impressive: Charles won his first 17 fights and suffered his first defeat at the hands of former world champion Ken Overlin, who had recently lost his title and boasted a fearsome record of 123 wins in 149 fights. But Ezzard never shied away from tough challenges and soon after, despite his lack of experience, defeated future Hall of Famer Teddy Yarosz.
Prestigious Victories and a Harsh Lesson
In this first stage of his career, everything seemed to come easy for Charles: highly talented opponents, often heavier and nearly always more experienced, were beaten one after another in clear and decisive fashion. The exceptional Charley Burley, avoided by world champions throughout his career, was outpointed twice; the same fate befell future light heavyweight champion Joey Maxim, despite having an eight-pound advantage. But Charles’s belief that he could beat anyone with ease eventually backfired on him: after defeating Maxim twice, he once again took on a heavier top contender, and this time Jimmy Bivins handed him a harsh lesson, knocking him down four times and winning on points. Soon after, an even more punishing loss came at the hands of Lloyd Marshall. In that bout, both fighters weighed roughly the same, but Charles entered the ring with a hip injury and was stopped after being knocked down eight times. The forced break that came with World War II thus arrived at the right time to allow him to regroup.
The Unstoppable Run Begins at Teatro Brancaccio
The only fights Charles took part in during the war years were held at Teatro Brancaccio in Rome, as part of a tournament organized in Italy by the Allied military. Just six rounds in total over nearly three years—but when the Cobra returned home and resumed serious competition, now firmly established as a light heavyweight, his performances became nothing short of extraordinary. From February 1946 to February 1949, Ezzard fought 31 times, winning 30 bouts. His only loss came at the hands of the powerful Elmer Ray, a heavyweight who in his youth used to wrestle alligators bare-handed and who, despite a 22-pound weight advantage, needed a questionable decision to get past the Cobra. Charles, meanwhile, defeated fighters of the highest caliber, including Archie Moore, the previously mentioned Lloyd Marshall and Jimmy Bivins, and even Elmer Ray himself—this time by knockout in the rematch. Sadly, a tragic event marred this string of triumphs: 21-year-old Sam Baroudi died from injuries sustained during a bout against Charles, leaving the future world champion deeply shaken by the incident.
A Historic Achievement and the Domination of the Legendary Louis
Although a title shot against light heavyweight world champion Gus Lesnevich seemed always within reach, a frustrated Charles ultimately had to surrender to the shady dealings that protected the reigning champ. Not wanting to grow old waiting, he shifted his focus to the heavyweight division—then ruled for over a decade by the great Joe Louis. Weighing just 176 pounds, Charles was still taken seriously in his new pursuit. When Louis announced his first retirement, he named the Cincinnati Cobra and the talented Jersey Joe Walcott as the two most worthy contenders to inherit his crown. Though he wasn’t the favorite, Charles delivered a masterpiece at Comiskey Park in Chicago, neutralizing Walcott’s famed counterpunching skills with his own speed and timing, and thus realized his dream. That historic victory, however, wasn’t enough to earn him universal recognition. It was only a year later—when Joe Louis came out of retirement to reclaim the title and Charles soundly outpointed him, clearly exposing the decline in the Brown Bomber’s reflexes and timing—that the world finally acknowledged the greatness of the Cincinnati champion.
The End of the Fairytale and Two Battles with Rocky Marciano
Over time, the brutal toll of his career began to show. After eight successful title defenses, the Cobra was dethroned by the very man he had beaten to win the belt: it was Walcott who switched off Charles’s lights in 1951 with one of the most spectacular knockouts in heavyweight history. Charles’s subsequent attempts to regain the title were unsuccessful, but his 1954 clashes with the fearsome Italian-American slugger Rocky Marciano became legendary. Though many pundits had dismissed Charles as a sacrificial lamb going into the first fight, the 33-year-old from Cincinnati pushed the younger champion to the brink, keeping the bout close and bravely withstanding Rocky’s bombs in the dramatic final rounds. The rematch—quickly arranged to erase any lingering doubt—was even more dramatic: a punch from Charles tore open a horrific gash on Rocky’s nose, and the referee came close to stopping the fight before Marciano launched a desperate assault and scored an eighth-round knockout.
Plagued by financial troubles, Charles fought on far longer than he should have, racking up a disheartening string of defeats in his final professional years. Still, those missteps cannot erase the legendary feats he had accomplished. Stricken with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), the Cobra of Cincinnati passed away far too soon at the age of 53 in Chicago—the city where, for a time, he had been a neighbor and good friend of Muhammad Ali. His posthumous induction into the Hall of Fame and his designation as the greatest light heavyweight of all time by the prestigious Ring magazine are just some of the well-deserved honors this unforgettable champion earned—sadly, many of them only after he had already left this world.