On this day: Jersey Joe Walcott scores knockout of a lifetime over Ezzard Charles

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Jersey Joe Walcott surges within the center rounds of his third shot at heavyweight champ Ezzard Charles on July 18, 1951 at Forbes Discipline in Pittsburgh. Walcott felled Charles with a left hook 55 seconds into Spherical 7 to take the title in his fifth strive. Picture by Bettmann-Getty Pictures

The worm lastly turned for Jersey Joe.

On July 18, 1951, Jersey Joe Walcott scored a bolt-from-the blue, one-punch seventh-round knockout of outdated rival Ezzard Charles to say the heavyweight championship of the world at Forbes Discipline in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The official time was 0:55.

Walcott, who turned the oldest heavyweight champion of all time to that time, at 37, was boxing’s practically man. He carried out brilliantly twice in opposition to then-champion Joe Louis, however was blatantly robbed in combat one and stopped within the rematch. Charles had additionally scored two factors wins over Jersey Joe in world title bouts.

Leary of judging, Walcott felt that to change into champion, he needed to win by the brief route.

Simply as was the case in fights one and two, the pair matched up nicely within the third encounter. Each displayed wonderful technical talent and scored some critical bombs by way of the primary six rounds. Nevertheless, it was the ending that no critical fan will ever overlook.

After popping out of a clinch, Walcott, a grasp of angles, supplied Charles a goal. The challenger appeared large open for the jab, however when Charles fired that shot, he fell right into a lure. Walcott slipped the punch over his proper shoulder and countered with an extremely brief – however extraordinarily highly effective – left hook from hell. Actually, pause the second nicely sufficient and also you’ll see Charles’ head wrench so violently to at least one aspect that it appeared just like the pinnacle spinning scene from The Exorcist. There was no method “The Cincinnati Cobra” was going to beat the depend.

Walcott’s epic triumph additionally picked up The Ring’s Struggle of the Yr award.

The pair would meet for a fourth time the next yr. On the Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia, Walcott prevailed by way of 15-round unanimous resolution, ending this underrated rivalry at two wins a chunk.