BoxRec

..what rematch?..you say! never happened!...but it was supposed to..and actually scheduled...twice.

first time ....ezzard beat walcott, of course, in their second fight...but came out of it with an unusual injury....a badly swollen ear!! really....i mean it was huge...and took some time to heal. this blew the rematch with louis, which was supposed to take place on april 18..just about six weeks later. (charles ws one busy champion) then it was set again....to be fought after charles/walcott III (which was NOT supposed to take place..and i've done a long post on that one a long time ago... which i will do again if enough ask for it)....but....walcott kayoes charles....and out goes louis/charles II. I haven't seen the issue in years, but ring magazine actually had a picture on its cover...with charles and louis...and underneath the picture is the blacked-out but still visible caption..."squaring off for the rematch".... which i think were the exact words. maybe barry or someone who has a collection of old ring magazines can look it up.

so...instead...louis winds up fighting marciano....and charles gets the shaft in the final walcott fight...after jersey joe freezes the title for a year.

lots of interesting speculation here. charles had really battered louis in winning their fight. but..louis than put on a little win streak ....was said to be in better shape....and one of the greatest things in his career was his dominance in rematches. could he come back and beat charles if they fought again...or would he just have been older and slower and in for another beating. if he would beat charles, would he then retire again with the title? unlikely..irs fascists on his ass every day. so...this would mean a third match....a first time anyone had fought louis three times.

look at the above scenarios...check out box rec for where the other heavyweights of the time would have been at that point. marciano would have had to wait his turn...jersey joe probbaly would have retired if he had lost the charles III fight..and...well...as i said..play around with this one. it's a little bit of boxing history that's virtually forgotten today.

Rematch or not I don't believe Louis would have regained his title back. The first time they fought the scores were so one-sided, I think 13-2, 12-3, and 9-5. Louis was so busted up.

Even though he did gain the number one contender status again, he was far too slow I believe to have beaten Charles---I do believe yes he could of did a better performance than he did the first time, because the first time was after a long lay off, but it would still be wide.

Charles was at the heaight of his powers, Louis wasn't. Fair and simple.

..i'd pick charles in the rematch...he might even stop louis if the bomber pressed him more.

i'm just bringing this thread up to look at some variables that might have occured if the fight had been made.

Louis still had a KO punch but Charles would have dealt with him once again(and maybe lost even more popularity with the general public for beating a hero).

When Marciano got his chance against Ezzard it would have been perhaps a year before they actually met. It was a close fight (the actual fight that is) and with Charles just a little younger and fresher I feel that he could have taken the decision in that one too.

..ezzard...i agree...

Ezzard wrote:Louis still had a KO punch but Charles would have dealt with him once again(and maybe lost even more popularity with the general public for beating a hero).

When Marciano got his chance against Ezzard it would have been perhaps a year before they actually met. It was a close fight (the actual fight that is) and with Charles just a little younger and fresher I feel that he could have taken the decision in that one too.

disagree,

the 52-53 charles was the exact same as the 54 charles. in fact the preformance charles put on in 54 in first marciano fight was the best fight he had fought in years. no reason to believe a 52-53 cxharles could have fought any better than the charles in the first fight

i noticed after 1951 charles slowed down a bit, but the 52-54 charles was the same charles and still a very good charles

too beat marciano, charles would have to be at his absolute peak
1947-49

i still cant ever see charles winning a rematch vs rock even if he takes the first fight



a very interesting fight would be if the 51 marciano got a title shot vs charles in 1951. i can see marciano knocking ezz out, but i can also see ezz winning on points. id lean towards rock though since he had his full power then unlike the mid 1950s where he changed his style and lost some one punch power


charles always had the style to trouble rocky greatly, and i can see a peak charles beating rocky. however i see a peak rocky taking 2 out of 3

marciano should have got a title shot vs charles in 1951

but jaclem, very interesting thread. louis always wanted a rematch with ezz and he almost got it.

remember charles face was puffed up badly in the louis fight too


i think a 1951 louis would have done better vs charles cause he was less rusty, better timing, in better shape(lighter) but still he would have lost a wide points decision.

i break down charles this way


pre 1946 pre prime charles


1946-49 prime ezzard charles

1950-51 near prime ezzard charles


1952-54 past his prime but still great ezzard charles

post 1954 SHOT ezzard charles






*poster ezz, dont be decieved by charles record 52-54. the layne and harold johnson losses were robberies that should have been wins for ezzard. beating a great fighter like harold johnson shows how great ezz still was.


the valdez fight was a case of charles being overweight and out of shape taking on a unheard of jounreyman at the time(valdes) lightly. i have no doubt a in shape charles would have won the rematch