They sparred less in those days. They kept sharp by fighting more often. If you see a fighter burn out these days, chances are its because of the sparring, which they have to do because they only fight 2-3 times per year.

Ezzard Charles fought about 34 fights at light heavyweight (see below). At light heavyweight, Charles beat the two greatest light heavyweight champions of his era. He beat Archie Moore every time he fought him (3 times) and Joey Maxim every time he fought him (five times). At light heavyweight, Charles also beat another hall of famer Jimmy Bivins twice. Charles got revenge by knocking out two great boxers who beat him earlier, Lloyd Marshall and Jimy Bivins. Charles was beaten at light heavyweight by a controversial split decision to the very experienced Elmer Ray and then Charles knocked Ray out a year later at light heavyweight the next time they fought each other. Charles was never given a chance at the light heavyweight title and he moved up to heavyweight to get larger pay days. At light heavyweight, Charles knocked out all 3 boxers (as mentioned, two of them hall of famers) who had beaten him earlier in his career. Nobody ever got the better of Exxard Charles at light heavyweight including the 2 bestlt heavyweight champs when Ezzard boxed, legendary, Archie Moore and the dude who beat Sugar Ray Robinson, Joey Maxim. Charles is P4P one of the best ever. The greatest light heavyweight that ever lived, absolutely, Ezzard Charles. Jimmy Bivins 66 12 1 Griffith Stadium, Washington W UD 1948-05-20 Erv Sarlin 41 13 3 Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo W UD 1948-05-07 Elmer Ray 95 20 11 Chicago Stadium, Chicago W KO 1948-02-20 Sam Baroudi 41 10 2 Chicago Stadium, Chicago W KO 1948-01-13 Archie Moore 89 13 7 Arena, Cleveland W KO 1947-12-02 Fitzie Fitzpatrick 38 11 3 Arena, Cleveland W TKO 1947-11-03 Teddy Randolph 19 23 6 Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo W UD 1947-10-27 Clarence Jones 22 17 2 Radio Center Arena, Huntington W KO 1947-10-16 Al Smith 7 20 3 Armory, Akron W TKO 1947-09-29 Lloyd Marshall 60 15 3 Crosley Field, Cincinnati W KO 1947-09-16 Joe Matisi 20 4 2 Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo W UD 1947-07-25 Elmer Ray 91 20 11 Madison Square Garden, New York L SD 1947-07-14 Fitzie Fitzpatrick 37 9 3 Crosley Field, Cincinnati W KO 1947-05-05 Archie Moore 84 12 7 Music Hall Arena, Cincinnati W MD 1947-04-14 Erv Sarlin 39 9 2 Duquesne Gardens, Pittsburgh W UD 1947-03-10 Jimmy Bivins 56 8 1 Arena, Cleveland W KO 1947-02-17 Oakland Billy Smith 35 14 4 Music Hall Arena, Cincinnati W KO 1946-11-12 Jimmy Bivins 52 7 1 Duquesne Gardens, Pittsburgh W UD 1946-09-23 Oakland Billy Smith 32 13 3 Music Hall Arena, Cincinnati W UD 1946-07-29 Lloyd Marshall 58 14 3 Crosley Field, Cincinnati W KO 1946-06-13 Shelton Bell 12 4 0 Idora Park, Youngstown W KO 1946-05-20 Archie Moore 80 11 5 Forbes Field, Pittsburgh W UD 1946-05-13 Tommy Hubert 21 9 0 Music Hall Arena, Cincinnati W KO 1946-04-15 George Parks 17 18 2 Duquesne Gardens, Pittsburgh W TKO 1946-04-01 Billy Duncan 38 11 2 Duquesne Gardens, Pittsburgh W KO 1946-03-25 Tommy Hubert 21 8 0 Music Hall Arena, Cincinnati W UD 1946-02-18 Al Sheridan 17 29 5 Music Hall Arena, Cincinnati W KO 1944-12-16 Al Barlow debut Brancaccio Theatre, Roma W PTS 1944-12-13 Stanley Goicz 11 2 2 Brancaccio Theatre, Roma W PTS 1943-03-31 Lloyd Marshall 38 7 2 Arena, Cleveland L TKO 1943-01-07 Jimmy Bivins 31 5 0 Arena, Cleveland L UD 1942-12-01 Joey Maxim 21 6 0 Arena, Cleveland W UD 1942-10-27 Joey Maxim 21 5 0 Duquesne Gardens, Pittsburgh W UD 1942-09-15 Mose Brown 20 8 1 Forbes Field, Pittsburgh W KO 1942-08-17 Jose Basora 34 6 2 Hickey Park, Millvale W KO

Charles was a better boxer than Robinson but Robinson was a better fighter than him.Charles was an only boxer type fighter.Robinson was a fighter and a boxer type fighter.

Yup way better defense , could you imagine Sugar Ray Robinson vs Ezzard Charles

As a young PHENOM, he TWICE beat the LEGENDARY CHARLEY BURLEY, who SUGAR RAY ROBINSON avoided like the plague.

In a Biopic over TWO DECADES AGO, I could picture "A Young Morris Chestnut" portraying Ezzard, what actor could you see portraying Ezzard now???

Yeah, Marshall got beat by the likes Ceferino Garcia and Teddy Yarosz, and was flattened in a round by Don Cockell. But you think he would have beaten the best of the era. I suppose the reason he never got a title shot was because he was black, even though guys like Robinson, Turpin, and Archie Moore did.

@@nigelsmith2457Yeah, Marshall beat your precious JAKE LAMOTTA (the one they made a movie about, 😂) and the newspapers said he won 9 out of 10 rounds..Marshall called Jake one of his EASIEST fights, and he said that Charles, Burley or Moore would have beaten Jake easily as well. Jake went on after this and got a title fight, while Marshall, who was clearly superior, did not. Most black fighters (like Charles and Moore) had to wait until the 50’s to get their long overdue title fights while undeserving whites like Jake Lamotta, Rocky Graziano etc, got their shots in the 1940’s when they were young. Archie Moore was almost FORTY when he got a title shot. Yeah, Robinson got a shot at the welterweight title in the 40’s but he had a record of 75-1, and the one loss (by decision against Lamotta) came against a MIDDLEWEIGHT who Robinson beat FOUR TIMES in rematches. As far as Marshall is concerned, the loss to Cockell came late in Marshall’s career when he was well past his prime..Cockell was a relatively mediocre fighter who never could’ve beaten a young Lloyd Marshall.

@@patrickbrowne4606 But then LaMotta did beat Bert Lytell, who had multiple wins over BMR fighters such as Holman Williams, Cocoa Kid, and your precious Charley Burley. Marshall was a good fighter, worthy of a title shot in my opinion, but probably not good enough to win a title. Denigrating the white champions of that era won't change that.

@@nigelsmith2457 EDDIE WELCH, a Boston sportswriter who attended the fight between Lytrell and Lamotta in 1945, said that Lytrell won “eight out of ten rounds.” Ring magazine called the split decision in Lamotta’s favor “one of the worst decisions in boxing history.” A rematch was scheduled because of the controversy over the fight but Lamotta pulled out “because of a hand injury.” ALL of this information is available online. Lamotta, along with Tony Zale, Graziano, Cerdan, etc, was just another example of white privilege enabling a clearly inferior fighter to receive opportunities that clearly superior fighters didn’t receive. And for you to write that LLOYD MARSHALL “couldn’t have won a world title” is RIDICULOUS. Besides your precious Jake Lamotta, Marshall defeated Joey Maxim and 7 other fighters who won world titles, so what are YOU talking about?!

I agree,Edward had a heart of gold,also, Edward spoke fluent Italian

​@@robertdipaola3447He spoke FRENCH AND SPANISH as well.

@@freddy8479 WIOW!-- VERY INTELLIGENT, TERRABLE THAT HE FELL ON HARD TIMES

Kevin Kallvet And horribly too, I read. he dropped Charles 8 times before knocking him out and winning every round.

Kevin Kallvet Charles had just come off a long lay off, and was in the military.

Agreed sir, my no. 1 p4p boxer if all time.

INDEED AND AGREED 💯

The Hatchet Man Curtis Sheppard!

I agree. We should not take any credit away from Marciano. I am no Marciano fan but let's give the credit where the credit is due.

Delusional. Rocky had also fought cans and didn't have nearly the same mileage.

Charles was knocked down eight times, as follows: down for counts of one and two in the first round; dropped once in round three for a one-count; down in round five for a two-count; down for counts of one and eight in round seven; down twice for no-counts in round eight. The referee stopped the fight after the last knockdown. Charles's handlers said that he had a hip injury going into the fight. Ezzard didn't win a single round.

​@@nycinstyle I think that the CHARLES/MARSHALL bouts became DETRIMENTAL to Ezzard's health later on in his life, the origins of ALS!!

For me, he was more like a more defensive version of Sugar Ray Robinson.

One of Ezzard's Corner man, Bill Miller became James trainer for most part of his career.

Charles was a natural light heavyweight and he fought Marciano at heavyweight. By the time he fought Marciano he held back in all of his fights due to the Baroudi fight. Prime Charles would've beaten Marciano

+Charley Burley I want to counter the prevailing opinion that Charles held back due to the Baroudi incident. Charles started fighting heavies from that point on and had to change his style to accommodate the bigger guys; he couldn't go all out since they were too big for him to demolish. Also, his cautiousness came from winning the title after years of struggle. He didn't want to risk losing it and so became careful in the ring. The Baroudi effect is overstated - even Charles himself disagreed that it caused him to change his approach.

@@Charley.Burley prime charles could beat evander holyfield imo

@@leodavies9383 No. But Charles beats any version of Ali young or old. Equally fast hands, hits harder with either hand, better footwork, equally smart and tough.

​@@Charley.Burley INDEED AND AGREED 💯