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- [00:00]
Ricky Mulvey
But it was when Ezzard visited the poorer parts of Cincinnati, in particular the areas where he grew up, that he was crushed by the people's disfavor of him because he had beaten their idol.
- [00:22]
William Dettlaff
Ezzard Charles is Cincinnati's heavyweight champion of the world. And today the city celebrates him with statues, murals and a major streets name. But when he held the title, Cincinnati didn't love him at all. A guy who fought 210 pound monsters at 180 pounds. So sure, people here nodded at him when he bought his vegetables at Findlay Market. But he couldn't sit in a box and watch the horses race at River Downs. So how did Ezzard Charles become one of the most disrespected heavyweight champs of all time? We're gonna answer that on this episode of Total Fighter. This episode of episode is part four of a five part series about Ezzard Charles. My name is Ricky Mulvey. You don't receive a heavyweight title. You have to take it from somebody. Ezzard fought for his first in a semifinal match versus a guy named Joey Maxim at the Cincinnati Gardens. And then he fought for the vacant NBA heavyweight championship against Jersey Joe Walcott in Chicago today. We would call it a sort of interim title. That's because Joe Louis sold his heavyweight belt to an organization called the International Boxing Club and signed on as a promoter for the fight who would determine his successor.
- [01:32]
Ricky Mulvey
What led to it is this fabricated tournament that Lewis and the guys and his advisors and the guys at the ibc, which were again a front for the mob, they wanted to put together this phony tournament to name a successor to Lewis and. And then build that fight between Lewis and that successor into a big money match. Because Lewis is just mowing guys down. And even at this point when he was, you know, old and what we would call washed now, right, he was still mowing guys down. And he was believed to be head and shoulders above everybody else.
- [02:03]
William Dettlaff
That's William Dettlaff, author of Ezra Charles A Boxing Life. Charles had hit the big time. He was officially fighting for a heavyweight championship. And it was time for anybody who stood in his way to get get out. Esrid's Cincinnati promoter, Sam Becker was left in the dust harshly and directly by the Mafia. Becker later testified to Congress about how the Mafia pushed him around and got Ezra's contract. When Ezzard beat Joey Maxim at the Cincinnati Gardens, the promoter, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezra Charles and both of their management teams discussed the upcoming match against Walcott in a Cincinnati hotel room until 2am that night, they adjourned. Everyone was tired, and they had an understanding that they would meet again for breakfast. But the next morning, the promoter, Becker, showed up and no one else was there. Joe Louis had allegedly said to Charles something along the lines of. If you don't take orders from me and Mr. Norris, who is the head of the International Boxing Club, you will never fight for the championship. So Becker had to go to Miami and meet Jim Norris. The tycoon told that Cincinnati promoter, if you want to get Walcott and Charles fighting, you have to give me $150,000. Becker was shocked. Why all that money? He said, after all, I've promoted Charles since he was 14 years old. Norris said, well, Charles belongs to me now. Mr. Walcott belongs to me. Because when fighters got successful in that era. It was impossible to make a big fight without dealing with some extension of the mob. So the International Boxing Club would control the fight, the heavyweight championship. And Sam Becker would join some of Ezzard's old managers. And even his first trainer, a guy named Burt William. People important to his early success. But then swept aside by the larger forces in boxing.
- [03:51]
Ricky Mulvey
Ezzard owed something to Burt Williams for the fighter that he became.
- [03:54]
William Dettlaff
Again, that's William Dettlaff.
- [03:57]
Ricky Mulvey
And Williams, by the way, became very bitter later on when Ezzard started, quote, unquote, getting into the money. Used to be said, when a fighter started getting successful. And I don't really blame him, but I don't know exactly why they split.
- [04:11]
William Dettlaff
Cincinnati Post editor Joe Astin interviewed him before the fight against Jersey Joe Walcott. Williams remembered what in his mind was the early days. He said that while he was in debt, he refused to take a cut of Charles early fight purses. And when Ezzard needed money to even make a car payment. Burt Williams said his wife sold her diamond ring to give EZ the money. And after being squeezed out, Williams says that he wrote to EZ for a little bit of cash to pay for some hospital bills. But he received a cold shoulder. Williams went on to say about the Walcott fight, I think Jersey Joe will knock Ezzard out in less than 10 rounds. If he doesn't, the fight's not on the level. Jersey Joe's more of a fighter in every respect than Ezra Charles. I'm not just saying that because of what happened in the past, either. Jersey Joe Walcott was an enigma, a sphinx. And he'd proven to be a very tough out for Joe Louis. He shuffled across the ring and rarely threw more than two punch combinations. Walcott baited opponents with a backwards movement and then creamed them with a hard counter shot. And Walcott wasn't the quickest, but he knew how to use leverage. And he constantly tripped up some of the best fighters of the day by switching lead legs and changing punching angles. But the gamblers thought that Ezzard's speed would beat that experience. Jersey Joe had a listed age of 35 years, but he was probably older. And while the fight was advertised as the official heavyweight championship, its real purpose was to find an opponent for Joe Louis.
- [05:33]
Ricky Mulvey
So they needed to generate some interest in a big money fighter. They already fought Walcott a couple times.
- [05:36]
William Dettlaff
Again, that's William Dettlaff.
- [05:38]
Ricky Mulvey
So this is really, again, a way to maneuver the fans into paying for a big Lewis fight.
- [05:44]
William Dettlaff
So on fight night at Kaminsky park in Chicago, Joe Louis may have been quietly rooting for Ezra Charles to win. That's because Lewis had won a gift decision over Walcott in their first match. The fans were convinced that Lewis had lost too. Champion of the world Joe Lewis. Walcott had actually knocked him down twice. And Lewis was so convinced that he lost that he tried to leave the ring before the announced decision. In their rematch, Lewis knocked out Walcott. But it wasn't before he was knocked down himself. Like Ezzard, Walcott wasn't a crowd favorite at heavyweight. Baiting fighters with a puzzling shuffle step took a patience that most fans did not have. And at heavyweight, Ezzard was an undersized counterpuncher.
- [06:36]
Buddy LaRosa
He was a natural light heavyweight. He only weighed 100 and walking around 190 pounds, maybe soaking. What?
- [06:45]
William Dettlaff
That's Buddy LaRosa, the founder of LaRosa's Pizza and a long time Cincinnati boxing icon. Charles and Walcott had the impossible task of fighting in Joe Louis shadow. Joe Louis was the closest thing that America ever had to Superman. And for 12 years he reigned as the heavyweight champion.
- [07:05]
Buddy LaRosa
He respected Joe. See, that was the thing. Joe Louis in the Negro African American community, he was the biggest big shot.
- [07:13]
William Dettlaff
That's Ezra Charles ii, the Minister Ezra Charles.
- [07:17]
Buddy LaRosa
That's what inspired my dad and other young African American fighters was Joe Louis and having the fame that he got.
- [07:25]
Ricky Mulvey
Because Lewis, you just can't compare anybody to Joe Louis in terms of the excitement he can bring to the table.
- [07:33]
William Dettlaff
And while the guys at the International Boxing Club thought Joe Louis would be great at promoting a fight, he was unfortunately, honest. When a radio broadcaster asked Lewis how ticket sales were going to. You would expect the response to be absolutely wonderful. We're Gonna sell out soon. But the perpetually honest Joe Louis said, I don't know, we ain't sold none yet. But the fight was still a heavyweight championship taking place in a big city. So promoters were able to drive up some interest. And 26,000 fans reportedly came out to Kaminsky park to watch that fight between Walcott and Charles for the interim title. Those fans crowded in the folding chairs on the infield of the baseball diamond, but the lower level seats were sparsely filled. The cheap seats in the balcony, though, were rowdier and drunker. Both Walcott and Ezzard didn't try to entertain them. Though they fought to win, Ezzard's trainer, Jimmy Brown, had created a very cautious game plan. Brown knew that Walcott had knocked Joe Louis down three times in two fights. He made Ezzard study that film. And Jersey Joe did exactly that. He looked for that quick knockout in the second round, but Ezzard punished him with hooks to the head and didn't give him time to load follow up punches. And Jimmy Brown always made sure that Ezzard didn't fall into Walcott's shuffle step trap even when he was ahead. Ezzard hurt Jersey Joe in the eighth round, but instead of going for the knockout, he stepped back and chose to score the points. The crowd booed. They wanted to see blood. And in the championship rounds, both fighters coasted. The 35 year old Walcat had nothing left in the tank. And Ezzard still didn't want to risk getting hit with a. And the most exciting moment of the fight may have actually come after the decision, when Ezzard's bombastic manager, Jake Mintz, fainted in the middle of the ring when he was so elated with the good news. As his fighter had been declared the winner. The judges gave EZ a solid decision. But the disappointed fans filed out of Kaminsky Park. Those fans were angry that EZ didn't take a chance and go for the knockout. The writers were pissed that Charles didn't fight like his predecessor, ez. And that night, Ezzard didn't feel like a champion. After the fight, sportswriters, glad handlers, and one of Ezzard's new promoters, Joe Louis, hung out in Ezzard's locker room. A writer asked EZ who he wanted to fight next. He looked to Joe Louis and said, whoever the champ wants me to. And the morning after, Ezzard's longtime confidant Richard Christmas, asked him, do you feel like a champion? Nope, Ezzard said, do you? When Ezzard got Back to Cincinnati. The city hosted a parade to honor their new heavyweight king.
- [09:55]
Ricky Mulvey
The parades went exactly like you would expect them to in terms of the, you know, the frenzy by the crowd and the speeches and politicians getting their hands in everything.
- [10:03]
William Dettlaff
That's William Dettloff, author of Ezra A Boxing Life.
- [10:07]
Ricky Mulvey
There was a woman who allegedly was hit by a car in one of the. During the motorcade, I think might have been. Might have been Ezra's car. Who claimed afterwards she was crippled for life and wanted to sue everybody. And that kind of thing, that kind of thing always happens. For some reason.
- [10:20]
William Dettlaff
That woman sued Ezzard for $24,000 more than he took home for the Walcott fight. I don't know if she got anything out of him though. But for the most part, Cincinnati loved their hero and his generosity.
- [10:31]
Buddy LaRosa
I don't remember a heavyweight or a champion that would take the time to give a kid a silver dollar. He gave me a silver dollar again.
- [10:40]
William Dettlaff
That's Buddy LaRosa. And Ezzard the champ launched new business ventures now that he had some money in his pocket.
- [10:47]
Buddy LaRosa
The thing is, you can't just give money to a business and expect to thrive in it. You've got to be hands on. And he was never hands on with the businesses.
- [10:55]
William Dettlaff
That's Kevin Grace, an archivist at the University of Cincinnati and the author of Cincinnati Boxing. The champ opened a multi purpose fitness and entertainment complex. The Ezra Charles Health and Athletic Club. Even had a slenderizing salon where roller massages would melt your belly fat away. Allegedly. Who knows? Ezzard spent more time upstairs where there were heavy bags and a boxing ring.
- [11:19]
Buddy LaRosa
If you're an athlete and, you know, entertainment, you know, a lot of people, what he wanted to do in this Ezzard Charles center or whatever he wanted to call it, was to do the same thing. He wanted to be a gym, he wanted to be a music venue. In essence, he wanted to be a lot of things rather than a particular thing.
- [11:37]
William Dettlaff
EZ charged $0.25 admission to get into the gym. But he didn't often bother with having someone at the entrance to collect admission. He had made plenty of money from fighting and he had no problem giving that money to his friends and family.
- [11:48]
Buddy LaRosa
He was buying guys suits, you know, cause they were hanging out with him, you know, they had it look good. Cause he looking good. He was buying suits and everything else, man. So he didn't even have to ask, you know, he was going to take
- [11:59]
William Dettlaff
care of his friend again, that's Ezzard Charles. I. Ezzard had the heavyweight Crown. He was a king in his city, but he was still black. On one of his off days, Ezzard went down to the horse track at Cincinnati's River Downs. It was a hot day, and he tried to enter the clubhouse to get away from the heat. But security asked him to leave that club. Whites only. But even through that, Ezzard still loved his city.
- [12:25]
Buddy LaRosa
People were telling him to go to New York, Chicago, get out of Cincinnati, go to the big city of New York, which he loved. He used to play at the Cotton Club, you know, because he played bass.
- [12:38]
William Dettlaff
The heavyweight champ never claimed to be particularly good at playing the double bass. But he did love to listen to jazz music. And he had a hand in helping build the jazz scene in over the Rhine, or otr, which is an urban and then more working class neighborhood.
- [12:53]
Buddy LaRosa
When he would travel the world, he would grab vinyl. One of the great stories about him is he would grab vinyl, and then when he'd come off his plane in Lincoln Airport, he'd have some vinyl with him. And he'd hand it out to OTR jazz musicians. I mean, he was his own Apple Music Service, the OTR jazz people.
- [13:11]
William Dettlaff
That's Andrew Vansicle, a West End native who's an artist and also leading the effort to get a statue of Ezzard Charles in Laurel Park. After winning a big championship, most fighters would take time off to heel, maybe fight in some exhibition matches and. And enjoy being the king. Ezra didn't get that luxury, though. And the mob or the International Boxing Club, whatever you want to call it, set up his next fight. This time against Gus lesnevich. Less than two months after he went 15 rounds with Jersey Joe.
- [13:39]
Ricky Mulvey
That's. And that shows the mob's influence, by the way. He could not get a shot at Gus Lesnevich throughout his light heavyweight career. Because the mob knew that he was going to kick Gus's ass. And as soon as Ezra wins a championship of the world at heavyweight, who gets the first title shot? Gus Lesnevich. It wasn't like Hazard made that call again.
- [13:58]
William Dettlaff
That's William Dettlaff. Lesnevich was the light heavyweight champion for years and dodged Charles for all of them. One author wrote about Lesnevich that he dominated the division. And, yeah, he held the title for years, but only risked his crown against less talented and strictly white fighters. Ezzard ripped through every contender, but Lesnevich and his managers always, always found an excuse to run from him. And Gus Lesnevich had absolutely no business fighting Charles for the heavyweight title. Joey Maxim just outclassed Lesnevich for 10 rounds at the Cincinnati Gardens. And his last win was over some poor guy who had lost five of his past six fights. Richard Christmas, Ezzard's confidant, was furious about the match. Lesnevich had dodged Ed's for years, and now he was fighting for the new title on the first defense. And not only that, Lesnevich was going to get the same cut of the gate revenue as Charles did. It was bullshit. But if Ezzard was frustrated, he didn't show it. Before the fight. When one writer asked him if he'd knock Lesnevich out, he said, oh, I don't know. If he walks into it, sure he'll get knocked out. In the 102 degree heat at Yankee Stadium, Ezzard ripped through Gus in front of a sparse crowd. That's because there are levels to the fight game. And Ezzard was simply on a different one than Gu Gus. In the early rounds, the Cincinnati Cobra hammered both of Gus eyes, swelling them to near blindness. He was hitting harder than he did in Chicago. EZ staggered Gus in the third, and in the sixth round, Charles opened a gash on his cheek. He was just playing with him at that point. And after the seventh round, Gus had enough. He quit on his stool. Gus retired after that fight in the locker room. And never stepped in a boxing ring again. And isn't that the kind of violence that sportswriters want in a prize fight? The headlines wouldn't cut Ezzard a break, though. Lesnevich made even Charles look good. One red. And the indignities would not stop there. Ezzard's next defense came just seven weeks later. He took on the hard punching Pat Valentino in California. And Valentino's manager complained about Ezzard's mustache, how it could hide punches. The boxing commission made him shave before the fight.
- [16:00]
Announcer
Introducing in the blue corner, at 182 pounds, the heavyweight champion of the world
- [16:09]
William Dettlaff
from Cincinnati, Ohio, Desert Charles. And in a move I've never seen repeated, Charles made his ring walk before Valentino and was announced first. In the red corner, at 188 and
- [16:26]
Announcer
1/2 pounds, the challenger from San Francisco, Pat Valentino.
- [16:37]
William Dettlaff
It's the champion's privilege to be announced second in a fight. You make the challenger wait for you. You're the main event. But Ezzard was so disliked as a champion, even if he was an interim one, he couldn't even get that courtesy. And the 20,000 California fight fans booed him when he made his way to the Ring the Californian Valentino knew he was fighting against someone significantly better than him. Though he fought with nervous energy. He threw winging punches. Some landed, but most of them glanced off Ezzard's forearms. Valentino tried to bullrush Ezzard, trying to beat finesse with force. But whenever Valentino tried to clinch, EZ got into sharper punches, hit body shots and tired him out. EZ split apart his guard with lightning jabs to the head. And he finished Valentino with a one, two, a left hook and a right cross to his challenger's unguarded jaw. It's a good thing that Charles knocked his opponent unconscious. And because at that point, the judges were actually giving Valentino a steady lead right until that knockout round. After the fight, a radio reporter gushed over Valentino.
- [17:39]
Announcer
Think you might wear them down and then put them away? I thought I would wear them down. What are your plans for the near future, Pat?
- [17:45]
William Dettlaff
The reporter, I guess, didn't have time for the black fighter in Cincinnati. You know, the one who threw the right hand that knocked him out.
- [17:51]
Announcer
Well, all for the showing. You made up till the time you were hit with that right hand. I certainly believe you deserve it. Best of luck, old boy. See you, Pat. About Ezra.
- [18:04]
William Dettlaff
Ezra couldn't catch a break. And when he got home from California, he found that his former Cincinnati managers were suing him. And any luster from the interim title had already worn thin. His next defense was in Buffalo, New York, and it drew just 6,300 fans, which was a record low for the heavyweight title.
- [18:20]
Ricky Mulvey
To say that he wasn't popular on a big scale is not the same as saying he wasn't still looked upon as a hometown boy who made good. Clearly, there were plenty of people in Cincinnati who revered Charles and looked up to him because he was a Cincinnati boy.
- [18:32]
Buddy LaRosa
Right?
- [18:33]
Ricky Mulvey
But on a larger scale, and especially on a national scale, he wasn't particularly liked.
- [18:38]
William Dettlaff
Again, that's William Dettlaff. The International Boxing Club hopes that keeping Ezra busy would generate some money. But they were already getting sick of the small profits. And Joe Louis had a high enough tax bill. That he was starting to get ready to fight for real again.
- [18:56]
Buddy LaRosa
I think in his mind, he wished Lewis would retire. Because Lewis was close to the end of the road by the time he fought Charles. I mean, he was still a great boxer, but he wasn't in his prime any longer. And he was an American hero again.
- [19:13]
William Dettlaff
That's Kevin Grace, an archivist at the University of Cincinnati. Ezzard. Charles and Joe Lewis signed a Fight at Yankee Stadium in New York. It would be the biggest fight of Ezzard's life and he'd have to box a man who he considered his hero. I mean, he used to collect newspaper articles featuring Joe Louis and put him in a scrapbook when he was a kid. And while Joe had slowed, you know, a touch, he hadn't lost a fight since EZ was 14 years old. And he'd been keeping active in exhibitions. Like in one, Lewis battled Pat Valentino. Ezzard sat ringside and in the eighth round, Lewis actually knocked out Valentino and placed him right in front of Ez's ringside seat. It was like a cat presenting him with a dead bird. Lewis even had three exhibitions then against violent Elmer Ray, a fighter he swore that he'd never face and had previously given Ezzard a lot of trouble. Rey came close and was even in one of the four round exhibitions. But he made the mistake of asking for a rematch and, and in that one, Lewis knocked him out. EZ was not preparing to fight a hapless old man. But age was an issue and Joe Louis was on the wrong side of 35 years
- [20:16]
Ricky Mulvey
in that age. And even until fairly recently, 31 or 32 was considered washed up.
- [20:22]
William Dettlaff
But the last thing any fighter loses is the power. And Joe Louis still had a ferocious left jab. Ezzard could easily lose and was the underdog. He, he took a real fight camp in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. Mintz had also brought on the trainer Ray Arcel to act as Ezzard's second. And while Arcel was a great trainer, coaching more than a dozen world champs, he had earned the moniker the Meat Wagon because he'd worked in so many of the corners of the heavyweights that Lewis would go on to knock out. He worked with so many challengers that in one fight, Lewis looked at Ray Arcel from across the ring before the bell and said, huh, you're here again.
- [20:55]
Ricky Mulvey
He got stuck with a lot of these palookas that I shouldn't call them palookas, but guys that didn't stand a chance against Lewis. But he trained some great, great fighters and knew what he was doing. That's the first thing. Secondly, there's no way in hell that Ezra Charles made that decision again.
- [21:08]
William Dettlaff
That's William Dettlaff.
- [21:10]
Ricky Mulvey
There's no way, there's absolutely no reason he would have made that decision because not only was he perfectly comfortable with Jimmy Brown as his trainer, that means that's more money out of his paycheck. He's got to pay Ray Arcel. Especially a high profile trainer like Ray Arcel.
- [21:26]
William Dettlaff
Here's how you train for a fight against Joe Louis. Or here's how EZ did. He woke up every morning at 5:30am for a five mile run. He took a quick nap and then had an athlete's breakfast of dry cereal, prunes and lamb chops. No coffee. In the afternoon, he'd hit the heavy bag and jump rope if he didn't get his miles in. But Jimmy Brown did his best to get live bodies in to spar with ez.
- [21:47]
Buddy LaRosa
Heavy bags don't punch back. Speed bags don't punch back.
- [21:51]
William Dettlaff
Again. That's Buddy LaRosa.
- [21:53]
Buddy LaRosa
When you shadow box, there's nobody hitting you back. Well, you're in the ring with a guy and you're boxing him. I don't say fighting him. You're boxing him. He's gonna hit back at you.
- [22:05]
William Dettlaff
At night he'd eat steak and vegetables and watch films of Lewis old knockouts. Maybe he'd listen to a jazz record. At night, Lil Billie Holiday lights out. Then at 9:30pm the training was built around using speed and stamina to beat the aging Lewis. And Lewis built his training around the opposite strategy. Knock EZ out early. One sports writer who visited both camps said that Lewis was slower but more powerful than ever.
- [22:30]
Ricky Mulvey
But he was crushing guys and sparring the whole time. Ezra was doing his thing, his usual thing. Lewis is by all accounts very confident during training.
- [22:38]
William Dettlaff
That's William Dettloff, author of Ezra A Boxing Life. Give old man Strength some credit too. Lewis needed just one punch to beat Ezzard. Charles his left and and he had more power than any fighter in the planet in his 12 years as the heavyweight champ. He also had 34 pounds on Ezzard. So just about everyone in the boxing world picked Lewis to win. The almost exception was Sugar Ray Robinson, who said that Charles looked superb in training and that he refused to pick an outcome in the fight. But when he was pressed, he said it's treason to pick anyone other than Joe Louis.
- [23:10]
Ricky Mulvey
It was absolutely lose, lose. Because if he wins, he beat up a an old Joe Louis. And if he loses, he lost to an old Joe Louis. But at least in his mind he was A going to get recognition as the heavyweight champion of the world. Which he didn't really right the way he wanted to. And B was I'm sure, a career high payday for him.
- [23:31]
William Dettlaff
And for once, Ezzard actually gave the newspaper writers a story. Charles said he wasn't going to try to stick and move against Joe. He was going to try to mix it up and out punch him. But ticket sales didn't go quite as well as the promoters hoped. They couldn't drum up interest. And 23,000 fans half filled Yankee Stadium. And maybe a dozen or so were people from Cincinnati who took the train from Union Terminal to New York. If you walked by Ezzard's locker room, you wouldn't know he was about to be in a fight. Ezzard stretched and nodded his head to a Sarah Vaugh. He'd finished training. The fight was the fun part.
- [24:11]
Buddy LaRosa
All the wars that you're in in the gym and then training is hard. The fights are easy. But Ezzard was in a lot of wars in the ring because he was
- [24:21]
William Dettlaff
a small heavyweight again, that's Buddy LaRosa. Joe Louis was jittery before a fight. For the first time in a long time, he had a shortened training camp. He still had a powerful left, but he knew he'd lost the stage. And he even thought about calling a fight off. But the crowd was ready to go. The politicians, the celebrities. Athletes already had their tickets. Frank Sinatra was ringside with his girlfriend, Ava Gardner. So was the governor of New York and a Supreme Court justice. The fight began, and Ezzard kept his promise. He charged directly at Joe Louis, landing sharp, slicing punches and set the tone for the rest of the night. And he didn't have one punch knockout power like Lewis, but he stood and
- [24:59]
Announcer
banged with them both, both with those beautiful lefts. One off a counter by Charles, which is unusual. And now they're punching.
- [25:08]
William Dettlaff
The first few rounds were relatively even. Joe Louis kept Ezzard at bay with a powerful left jab. Ezzard buzzed around like a hornet and landed counters when he could.
- [25:16]
Buddy LaRosa
He would make so many subtle movements, like if you don't have a trained eye, you wouldn't know what's happening. Like he moved his hand a bit like this. He dropped down a level. So Lewis would think he's about to the go to the body. He would always keep a guy guessing like that.
- [25:28]
William Dettlaff
That's Hamad Youssef, an amateur boxer and a scholar of the sweet science.
- [25:33]
Announcer
And the crowd likes this one because this is really a good fight.
- [25:37]
William Dettlaff
Jimmy Brown had crafted a beautiful strategy to beat Lewis.
- [25:40]
Ricky Mulvey
Principally, it was not to stand in Lewis's punching range or at that mid range when Lewis could extend his punches, even his short punches, and need a little bit of room to get him off. And Ezzard's job was to get in There get his punches off and get it out a little bit. And to maul him a little bit on the inside and help to tire him out there too. And importantly, to use his better hand speed to beat loose to the punch inside, which he did again.
- [26:01]
William Dettlaff
That's William Dett loss.
- [26:03]
Announcer
Different Joe Lewis missing three blows in a row. Half a minute to go. The fourth round.
- [26:07]
William Dettlaff
And Lewis only put Ezzard in danger at one point in the fight. That was late in the 10th round.
- [26:13]
Announcer
In close then the camera couldn't reveal it. A terrific short right. It landed on the button of Ezzard Charles and he's bleeding more profusely.
- [26:20]
Ricky Mulvey
Joe's best friend Lewis finally caught Charles with the hook and hurt him. The crowd just exploded because they could see that Hawk Charles was hurt also and he had him wobbly.
- [26:30]
William Dettlaff
But in the championship rounds from the 10th and the 15th, after that, the fight was all Ezzard. Late in the 14th, Joe Louis was so tired that he actually hung his arm off the top rope. Superman now was a tired old human.
- [26:43]
Ricky Mulvey
All you ever read about is how awful people felt watching Joe Louis get beaten up because he was so revered and so loved by everyone. But if you watch that fight at that moment when Ezert hits him with an uppercut.
- [26:59]
Announcer
Joe back up on that one. His eyes went slightly glazy on that one, as if he retired.
- [27:06]
William Dettlaff
He's really in pain.
- [27:07]
Ricky Mulvey
And he grabs the top rope to steady himself. The crowd explodes. And I don't think it's because they didn't love Lewis, but it's that individuals hurt when they see their fighter get beaten up like that. The crowds love it.
- [27:20]
William Dettlaff
Ezzard won by a solid decision. And after the fight, EZ got to speak to the crowd.
- [27:25]
Announcer
Joe, before you go. Joe, Joe, Joe for an old friend. Joe Lewis is going out of the ring and I haven't been able to get him. So we'll talk Ezzard Charles. I thought I could get Joe. We've been friends all through his fighting career.
- [27:39]
William Dettlaff
It helps that Joe Louis was unavailable.
- [27:43]
Announcer
Since I won the championship, I feel very proud about it and I'll try
- [27:50]
Buddy LaRosa
and do my best to keep it
- [27:51]
Announcer
as clean as the previous fellow who just stepped now in, Joe Lewis. I'll try to be as much of
- [27:56]
Buddy LaRosa
a Ray Arcel, who was a co trainer of Ezra Charles. He said on that night that the night Charles beat Joe Louis he would have been at any point in the career. Even if it was a prime Joe lose.
- [28:09]
William Dettlaff
Then it was time to party at the Edison Hotel. In times Square. The managers, Jake Mintz and Tom Tanis, drink like college kids on New Year's Eve. A large crowd had gathered in the hotel's barroom, smoking cigars and spilling ash and whiskey on the marble floor. Mintz shouted over them, I always knew that Joe Louis was a bum. Bud Schulberg, who later wrote on the Waterfront, was there. He wrote, quote, it was freeloaders night, with hangers on, relatives, gamblers, happy hoods and a smattering of sports minded gentry pouring the free scotch and telling each other other what a great fighter and a prince among men was Ezra Charles. But no one noticed that EZ wasn't there to join his party. He may have won, but he still took headshots from Joe Louis. He stayed in his room like a beat up Jay Gatsby. Schulberg went up to see him and wrote. Ezzard, who had looked from ringside, an easy winner, was stretched out on a bed and Ray Arcel was attending his swelling and lacerations. This was without question the high night of his career. But instead of smiles and festivity, the place had a sick room atmosphere. He may have been five years over the hill and at least 15 pounds over his best fighting weight, but that Lewis jab can still take your head off, Ray Arcel said. And ez, the newly undisputed champion of the world, nodded soberly. EZ tended to his wounds and rode the train back to Cincinnati. When he returned, the city of Cincinnati held a parade in his honor, starting at Union Terminal. Finally, Ezzard figured he'd be loved as the undisputed champ. He addressed the crowd and said, quote, there is no other land where a Negro could get the reception I have had from you. But when he toured his old West End neighborhood, the local kids didn't run to see him.
- [29:50]
Ricky Mulvey
But it was when Ezzard visited the poorer parts of Cincinnati, in particular the areas where he grew up. Those people weren't really able to get to the parade or probably had more pressing things on their agenda than attending parades, like, you know, surviving that. He was crushed by the people's disfavor of him because he had beaten their idol. Joe Louis was an enormous symbol to so many people during that time, especially black Americans living in ghettos. He was everything, and Ezra Charles was just a guy.
- [30:27]
William Dettlaff
Ezzard did just about everything right. But he made the unforgivable mistake of showing that Superman can't fly forever. Would Ezzard's reign as heavyweight champion ever get better? And what happens after you fall from that pillar that's next time on Total Fighter. This show is written, produced, edited, hosted by me. My name's Ricky Mulvey. Please do me a favor, review the show if you've made it this far. It really helps me out and helps other people discover the show. The next one, the finale, is going to be out in about two weeks. Also special thanks to William Dettlaff. He wrote Ezzard A Boxing Life. It's been an invaluable resource for me and I highly recommend buying the book if you're interested in the subject. Also thanks to Buddy LaRosa, Kevin Grace, Darryl P. Man Jones, Andrew Vansicle, Hamad Youssef, and thank you for listening. Music attributions can be found@totalfighterlueberry.net See you in about a couple of weeks. Thanks.
- [31:43]
Buddy LaRosa
Sam.