Barbados Joe Walcott

Walcott first challenged for the Lightweight Championship on October 29, 1897, at the Lennox Athletic Club in New York, but was TKO'ed by the champion George "Kid" Lavigne in the 12th round. He was also unsuccessful in his first attempt to win the world Welterweight championship when Mysterious Billy Smith outpointed him on December 6, 1898. Likely his most frequent opponent, Walcott fought Smith six times in his career.[1]

On February 23, 1900, Walcott met the Jewish light heavyweight, Joe Choynski, winning in a surprising seventh-round TKO, though outweighed by 16 pounds and conceding his opponent a full foot advantage in height. Likely sensing the need for a quick start against his gifted opponent, Walcott sent Choynski to the mat five times in the first round and was the aggressor throughout the bout.[1] Choynski, a 3-1 betting favorite before the bout, suddenly became a 2-1 underdog after the sound of the first round bell.[4] Walcott seemed to have a slight advantage in the second, though Choynski landed a solid blow. By the third round, Walcott pressed his advantage with a superior defense, and landed blows nearly at will before the sound of the bell. The fourth seemed even, with the fifth entirely in Walcott's favor, while in the sixth Walcott cut Choynski's right eye. Walcott sent Choynski to the floor again in the seventh, battering his clearly exhausted opponent. Stopping the final round 38 seconds in, the referee said later that he "felt another blow to Choynski would have put him out."[5]

On September 27, 1901, Walcott impressively defeated Irish boxer George Gardner in a twenty-round points decision at the Mechanic's Pavilion in San Francisco, California. The pre-fight betting was light before the match with Gardner a 10-8 favorite.[6] Gardner, at just under six feet, and holding a serious reach advantage over Walcott, would briefly hold the light heavyweight championship of the world from July through November 1903. Walcott was the aggressor throughout the bout, landing more clean blows, though there was a great deal of clinching and wrestling throughout the furious bout, likely a result of the mismatch in reach between the two opponents. In the first round, Walcott brought Gardner to his knees from a left and right to the head for a nine count, though Gardner returned to the fighting unfazed.[7]

Walcott won the world welterweight title on December 18, 1901 in Buffalo, New York, from reigning champion James "Rube" Ferns achieving a technical knockout in the fifth round. Ferns, from the reaction of the Buffalo crowd as he entered the ring, appeared to be the favorite. Walcott sent Ferns to the floor twice in the fifth round, the first a solid blow to the jaw. Rube took the count both times. At the end, the referee stopped the bout to prevent a knockout. Ferns began to weaken as early as the third round, and in the fourth Walcott sent Ferns through the ropes.[1][8] The bout featured a clinch in the fourth round that brought both boxers to the mat, possibly a result of a tiring Walcott attempting to counter Fern's six inch height advantage and superior reach. The match brought roughly 2,000 spectators to the club house, and tickets ranged from a respectable $2 to $5.[9]

On June 18, 1903, Walcott fought Young Peter Jackson, an exceptional black contender to a twenty-round draw, in Portland, Oregon, in a match billed as a world welterweight championship. The title did not change hands due to the draw decision.[1] Walcott would later lose to Jackson on June 10, 1904, in a fourth-round knockout during a non-title fight in Baltimore, after receiving a punch to the stomach. Up until the time of the knockout, Walcott was considered to have a slight lead over Jackson, as his blows to the head and neck of his opponent were not landing with much force.[10] Walcott had previously fought Jackson twice in the winter of 1902 to a win and a draw.[1]

On April 4, 1904 Walcott defended his title against black contender Dixie Kid. He was winning the fight handily when the referee disqualified Walcott for no apparent reason in the final seconds of the 20th round. "Duck Sullivan", the referee, was a last minute replacement, and Walcott protested the choice before the bout began. In the one sided contest, Walcott appeared to have a clear advantage in all but the seventh round. Many in the crowd were shocked with the decision, and Walcott himself was immediately angered at referee Sullivan who made the call.[11] The match was disregarded as a title bout when it was discovered, not surprisingly, that referee Sullivan had bet on Dixie Kid to win the match.[1]

Sam Langford, circa 1910

Walcott fought the exceptional black boxer Sam Langford in a non-title fight before a modest crowd of 1,200 in Manchester, New Hampshire on September 5, 1904, with the fight ending in a fifteen-round draw.

Langford had the better of the bout for the first seven rounds and staged an excellent defense, but in the remaining eight rounds, Walcott fought furiously in a close battle where the crowd could not anticipate the outcome til the referee's decision.[12] In the third round, Langford brought Walcott to one knee with a blow to the jaw.[13]

Walcott (left) with Joe Gans in 1904

Walcott met world lightweight champion Joe Gans in a non-title fight at Woodward's Pavilion in San Francisco on September 30, 1904, and scored a draw after 20 thrilling rounds. Many in the crowd believed Gans should have received the decision. The lightweight champion gained a lead from the second till the tenth using his right almost exclusively on the body of Walcott. Walcott, however, put tremendous force behind his blows, weakening the lightweight Gans in several points in the bout.

After the tenth, Gans became the superior boxer, avoiding the blows of Walcott, and connecting with solid rights and lefts to the face. In the nineteenth round, Gans landed a solid blow to Walcott's jaw that might have ended the fight. In the final round, Gans showed dominance in the in-fighting, though neither fighter took a clear lead. An examination after the fight showed that Walcott had broken the elbow of his right arm in the fourth round, though he fought on valiantly.[14]

After the Gans fight, on October 18, 1904, Walcott accidentally shot himself in the hand, losing several fingers. Walcott took a year off of boxing to recover from the injury, but it may have effectively limited his remaining years as a world class prizefighter. Walcott, however, continued to box until 1911.[1][3]

Honey Mellody, 1910s

Before a crowd of 3,000, Walcott officially lost the world welterweight championship on October 16, 1906 against William "Honey" Mellody at the Lincoln Athletic Club in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Falling to a twelfth-round technical knockout, Walcott quit the bout, claiming his left arm had been injured in the ninth round.[1] In the first round Walcott scored a knockdown. Melody, fighting cautiously against the reigning champion, landed mostly body blows throughout the remainder of the fight, but scored enough to appear to dominate.[15] In the sixth round, Mellody landed a strong right to the jaw which backed Walcott against the ropes. In the eleventh, Mellody put in punches at will, and in the final round landed a flurry of rights to the stomach, before Walcott retreated to his corner before the bell ending the bout.[16]

Returning to the ring on January 15, 1907, Walcott lost a fifteen-round decision on points to Mike Donavan in Providence, Rhode Island. Though winning only a few of his remaining bouts, Walcott succeeded in twice beating George Cole, a competent hard hitting middleweight from Philadelphia, in December 1907 and January 1908. In fact, of their December meeting in Philadelphia, one source noted that "with the exception of the third round when Cole sent over some very hard punches," the "battle was Walcott's all the way."[17]

On January 7, 1908, Walcott lost to a noteworthy opponent Jimmy Gardner, in twelve rounds at the Armory in Boston. Gardner would become a world welterweight contender against Mike "Twin" Sullivan in April of that year. New York's Evening World, wrote that Walcott's performance "did not come up to expectations", and that Gardner's win "was one of the easiest victories he ever earned."[1][18] On November 2, 1911, Walcott fought his last reported bout against Tom Sawyer in Lowell, Massachusetts. He walked out of the ring before the bell at the end of the one-sided 12-round technical knockout, and said to the crowd "I'm 40 years old and I guess I'm done with this game."[1]