Fight:1393645

Ezzard Charles 160 lbs beat Melody Johnson 160 lbs by KO in round 4 of 4

• Date: 1940-03-12
• Location: Armory, Middletown, Ohio, USA
• Referee: Charlie Garrett

"Ezzard Charles, Negro middleweight from Cincinnati, made his first professional start against Melody Johnson, also of Cincinnati, and lived up to his advance billing as a finalist in the 1939 Golden Gloves when he smacked Johnson with a deadly right in the fourth canto and put him down for the count. It was Charles' fight all the way, as he had Johnson on the floor in the second and hanging on the ropes when the bell sounded at the close of the third canto." Source: the excellent reference librarian of the Middletown library but technically the Middletown Journal.