Jersey Joe Walcott

Jersey Joe Walcott
Statistics
Real name	Arnold Raymond Cream
Nickname	Jersey Joe
Rated at	Heavyweight
Nationality	American
Birth date	January 31, 1914
Birth place	Merchantville, New Jersey, USA
Death date	February 25, 1994
Death place	Camden, New Jersey, USA
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	72
Wins	53
Wins by KO	33
Losses	18
Draws	1
No contests	0

Arnold Raymond Cream (January 31, 1914 - February 25, 1994), better known as Jersey Joe Walcott was a world heavyweight boxing champion. He broke the world's record for the oldest man to win the world's Heavyweight title when he earned it at the age of 37.

Walcott was raised with 11 brothers and sisters in Merchantville, New Jersey. After the death of his father (when he was 13), he began working in a soup factory to support his family; at this time he also began training as a boxer. In 1930 he started his professional career as a lightweight, quickly taking the name, “Jersey Joe Walcott’” in honor of Joe Walcott, a well-known Barbadian welterweight champion.

He became the light-heavyweight champion of south Jersey by knocking out Al King in 1933; yet Walcott fought in obscurity for nearly 15 years. In 1945, after a two-year stint working in the Camden shipyards, Walcott returned to the ring. He then won 11 of 14 bouts, including seven by knockout, and on December 5, 1947, he fought a heavyweight bout against champion Joe Louis. Walcott knocked Louis down twice, but lost in a split decision. The decision was appealed unsuccessfully, they fought again with Walcott knocking Louis down, but Louis knocked him out in the eleventh round.

After Louis’ retirement, Walcott fought Ezzard Charles three times for the heavyweight championship. He lost the first two and won the third, becoming the oldest man to hold the title until that time. He lost his title in 1952 to Rocky Marciano. After retirement, Walcott worked as a fight referee and had an acting part in the 1956 film The Harder They Fall. He became a sheriff in Camden in 1972 and was on the New Jersey State Athletic Commission in 1975. Jersey Joe Walcott died of complications of diabetes in 1994.

Background

Walcott was born in Merchantville, New Jersey, the son of poor immigrants from Barbados. Walcott's father died when he was 13 years old, so he quit school and took a job working in a soup factory to support his mother and 11 sibilings; He also began training as a boxer. He took the name of his boxing idol, Joe Walcott, the welterweight champion from Barbados, hence his nickname, "Jersey Joe."

Boxing career

He debuted as a professional boxer on September 9, 1930, fighting Cowboy Wallace and winning by a knockout in round one. After five straight knockout wins, in 1933, he lost for the first time, beaten on points by Henry Wilson in Philadelphia.

He built a record of 45 wins, 11 losses and 1 draw before challenging for the world title for the first time. Walcott lost early bouts against world-class competition. He lost a pair of fights to Tiger Jack Fox and was knocked out by contender Abe Simon. But that would change in 1945 when Walcott beat top heavyweights as Joe Baksi, Lee Q. Murray, Curtis Sheppard, and Jimmy Bivins. He closed out 1946 with a pair of losses to former, light- heavyweight champ Joey Maxim and heavyweight contender Elmer Ray, but promptly avenged those defeats in 1947.

On December 5, 1947, he was given his first world title try, breaking a record for the oldest man to receive a world title try at the world heavyweight title. Despite dropping Joe Louis in round one and once again in round four, he lost a 15-round. split decision. Most ringside observers and boxing writers felt Walcott deserved the win, and so a rematch was fought, on June 25, 1948. The second time around, Louis prevailed once again, but by knockout in round 11.

On June 22,1949, Walcott got another chance to become world heavyweight champion, when he and Ezzard Charles met for the title left vacant by Louis. Charles prevailed, however, by decision in 15 rounds. Walcott, disappointed but eager to see his dream of being a champion come true, went on, and in 1950, he won four of his five bouts, including a three-round knockout of future, world, light-heavyweight champion Harold Johnson.

On March 7, 1951, he and Charles fought once again, and Charles retained the world title with a 15-round decision. But on July 18, he joined a handful of boxers who claimed the world title in their fifth try, when he knocked out Charles in seven rounds in Pittsburgh, to finally become world heavyweight champion, at the relatively old age of 37. This made him the oldest man ever to win the world heavyweight crown (a distinction he would hold until George Foreman won the title in 1995).

Walcott retained the title with a 15-round, decision victory against arch-enemy Charles, then, on September 23, 1952, he lost his title to Rocky Marciano by knockout in round 13. Walcott dropped Marciano in round one and was ahead on all scorecards when Marciano landed his "Suzie-Q" to defeat Walcott by knockout.

There was a rematch, on May 15, 1953, in Chicago, but the second time around, Marciano retained the belt by a knockout in the first round, when Walcott attempted to become the first man in history to regain the world heavyweight crown. Walcott retired after this bout, remaining retired for the rest of his life.

Boxing style

While training for a fight against a fighter who had a ferocious left hook, Walcott was asked if he was concerned, he replied, “Nope. I’ll take his left hook and put it in his pocket.”

Jersey Joe's low key, wry, confident—some would say, cocky—attitude was a perfect match for his boxing style. It was so smooth, it hardly looked as if he was in the midst of heated bout. It was more akin to akido, the martial art that controls an attacker by redirecting their momentum—using it against them—instead of blocking it.

Walcott did not directly attack, rather he subtly lured his opponent to him. Employing “the Walcott Shuffle,” he created innovative punching angles that took adversaries by surprise. Walcott not ony feinted with his hands, but with his shoulders and upper body. He threw a sneaky, right-hand counter and a counter-punch left. Opponents were therefore off balance as Walcott hid his abilities until the moment he unloaded a variety of devastating, unexpected punches on them.

Post boxing

Walcott did not go away from the celebrity scene after boxing. In 1956, he co-starred with Humphrey Bogart and Max Baer in the boxing drama The Harder They Fall. In 1963, he tried wrestling, losing to Lou Thesz. In 1965, he refereed the controversial, world-heavyweight championship bout between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston. Walcott lost the count as Ali circled around a floored Liston and Walcott tried to get him back to a neutral corner. Then Walcott looked outside the ring (presumably to the ringside count keeper) as Ali and Liston went at each other before Walcott instructed them to keep on fighting. Walcott then approached the fighters and abruptly stopped the fight. Walcott would never be appointed as a referee after this bout. It should be said, however, that most of the controversy surrounding this fight had nothing to do with Walcott, as this was the famous fight with the "phantom punch."

Walcott became Sheriff of Camden County in 1972, and then chairman of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission in 1975 until 1984, when he stepped down at the mandatory retirement age of 70.

His record as the oldest man ever to win the world Heavyweight title was broken in 1994 by then 45-year-old George Foreman.

Legacy

Jersey Joe Walcott was one of the smartest fighters in the game, creating a variety of ingenious angles to throw punches, all the while feinting with his shoulders and upper body. He had perfected his craft since turning professional in 1930, and had finally won the heavyweight championship on his fifth attempt at the age of 37, in 1951. Walcott's innovative techniques in the ring helped span boxing styles from the earlier "bruisers" who used brawn and sheer power to destroy opponents, to crafty, modern-era fighters who "out-thought" their adversaries.

• Won heavyweight title against Ezzard Charles, on July 18, 1951.
• Edward J. Neil Trophy for Fighter of the Year, in 1951.
• Successfully defends title against Charles, on June 5, 1952.
• Inducted into the Ring Hall of Fame, in 1969.
• Inducted into International Boxing Hall of Fame, in 1990.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Sugar, Bert Randolph. Boxing's Greatest Fighters, The Lyons Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1592286324
• Frazier, Joe, & Dettloff, William. Box Like the Pros, Collins, 2005. ISBN 978-0060817732
• West, Cornel. The African-American Century. How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Country, Free Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0684864150
• Hatmaker, Mark, & Werner, Doug. Boxing Mastery: Advanced Technique, Tactics, and Strategies for the Sweet Science, Tracks Publishing, 2004. ISBN 978-1884654213

External links

• Jersey Joe Walcott at boxingrec
• Jersey Joe Walcott Biography

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