What Made Ezzard Charles such a fantastic fighter. From a technical Viewpoint.

[edgarg]

Oh, John Ruiz.

But I was not talking about his personal habits or how he is at a barbecue. He will also beat the hide off 99.99% + of men who think they will punch him in a bar. Professional fighters at world level can handle normal men like they were children.

I don't recall saying anything harsh about Ruiz in this thread. I insinuated he was boring in the ring, a very easy assertion to stand behind.

You want us to speak of boxers as if they were Medal of Honor winners. You are a product of the conditioning expected of one who partakes in the organizational tasks for events and promotions honoring boxers. I can dig it. But here at Battilda's we have true diversity, which is diversity of opinion. And one must protect himself from it at all times.

The straight fact is Ruiz was able to fight some of the toughest boxers who ever lived. Most of us could not do that. Almost all of us could not do it. We would be dead or laid up. But he was from the right mold to be able to compete with great fighters. That alone is a distinction of rarity, which sets him apart from the vast tides of men.

If I knew him (as you apparently do), I would probably become something of a fan too, simply because of this distinction.

And of course we would never say: "John, you were pretty tough all right, but damn you were boring with all that clinching."

He could just say: "Well, it is the way I had to fight to make millions of dollars."

Since it is illegal for him to kick my butt.

I totally agree with you. Unlike most who just want to see blood and thunder, I always liked to see him go against top punchers and nullify them. I liked Chris Byrd the same way for the same reasons. He was a very brave fighter indeed. When he was brought out of retirement to be a sacrifice for Haye, the way Haye fouled hum by having him bending forward over the ropes and clubbing the back of his neck was so disgusting to see. He should have been DQ on the spot and given a 2 year suspension from Boxing altogether.

[Willie Pep 229]

Charles lost two good years (44;45) to the War.

In annual ratings

#2 contender at MW in 1941
#3 at LHW in 1942
1943 no ranking 1943 **
1944 no ranking (War)
1945 no ranking (War)
#3 at LHW in 1946
#1 at LHW in 1947

1948 he is a HW

** At first blush one might think that Charles is unranked in 1943 because the 1943 Ring Ratings didn't appear until Feb. 1944, by then Charles was in uniform.

But the truth seems to be that he had a terrible 1943 season, being decisioned by Bivins over ten rounds and then stopped (TKO 8) by Loyd Marshall. Charles would avenge the loss in 1946 stopping Marshall in six rounds and again in 1947 stopping Marshall in two rounds.

Boxrec claims that Charles claims the eight round loss to Marshall (with eight KDs against him') in 1943 was due to a hip injury, but I have a hard time with that, since it didn't keep him out of the service and he fought twice in 1944 when in uniform. Beside who ever heard of a minor hip injury?

Charles got KD often. 30 times in 12 fights. If we accept the hip injury for the first Marshall fight and take off its eight KDs, he still has 22 KDs over 11 fights.

But 13 of those 22 came after the Marciano fight. So we can conclude that he was KD nine times during his prime years (that's without the Marshall fiasco added in).

This includes four by Bivins; and by Marciano three times.

I'm not sure he could stand up to either M. Spinks or Patterson. I am thinking now, with the right odds I might bet against him. He looks to have had dimple in his chin.