The Demon Demonstrated His Impressive Punching Power One of Joe Walcott's greatest victories was against Joe Choynski. Choyinski had gone 28 rounds against Jim Corbett, and drew with the likes of Bob Fitzsimmons and Al Kid McCoy and would knock out a young Jack Johnson the following year. Choyinski outweighed Walcott 173 to 137 pounds. The bookies had Joe Choyinski 5-1 odds-on favourite to beat the little Joe Walcott "The Barbados Demon" demonstrated his impressive punching power by flooring Choyinski several times in the first round and gave the latter a terrific beating before stopping him in the 7th round. Tommy West was a pretty good middleweight who had fought 17 rounds with Tommy Ryan for the middleweight title. Joe Walcott clearly dominated him, winning three times, once by a knockout, with 1 decision against, 1 draw, and 1 no decision. Walcott also fought a draw with middleweight and who would later become the future light heavyweight champion, the Philadelphian Jack O'Brien over 10 rounds. Joe Walcott beat a number of other top middleweights including Jack Bonner, Kid Carter, George Cole, and the ever resilient Joe Grim. Referee Disqualified Joe Walcott in the 20th Round For No Apparent ReasonJoe Walcott fought the light heavyweight champion George Gardner twice, winning once by 20 round decision and losing by the same. Joe Walcott also defeated light heavyweight Young Peter Jackson. One wonders whether modern era welterweight champions would have success against the reigning light-heavyweight champion if their opponents weighed in at 175? Mysterious Billy Smith was good enough to win the welterweight championship, and once beat Tommy Ryan, flooring him three times in the process, it was ruled a no contest because the police intervened when they saw Tommy Ryan was about to be KO'ed. On another occasion Joe Walcott was leading in a fight while defending his title against Dixie Kid when the referee disqualified Walcott for no apparent reason in the 20th round. This incident took place on the 4th April 1904. Walcott and Smith fought on numerous occasions, with the Barbados Demon proving to be the much better fighter, winning 3 times, twice by KO, with 2 draws, and one loss by decision. His Herculean Physique Gave Him Tremendous PowerBecause of contractual agreements, Walcott was forced to come into the fight greatly under weight of his normal fighting weight. Joe Walcott was a natural welterweight boxer but because of his brawny built in body, trained down to 136 for the first fight which he lost on a 15 round decision. He had to make the weight and was physically drained before the fight even started. Their second fight was for Lavigne's World Lightweight title, means Joe Walcott had to come into the fight weighing 133 pounds which was then the lightweight limit. Walcott lost by TKO in the 12th round. He fought lightweight champ Joe Gans to a draw. Walcott accidentally shot himself badly injured his right hand, yet Walcott still was able to defeat many of top fighters. Joe Walcott was just under 5'1½ and never weighed more than 148 pounds. Walcott spent part of his youthful years in Barbados. As a youngster, he set out to see the world, and got a job as a cabin boy on a ship sailing to Boston. Joe Walcott decided to settled in Boston doing odd jobs here and there he worked as a piano mover and porter doing whatever type of jobs he could get. |
Joe Walcott Fought Sam Langford to a DrawAs luck would have it, Walcott landed a job in a boxing gymnasium, after a while Walcott became popular with the other boxers using himself as a human punching bag before taking the professional route of boxing. Walcott first challenged for the lightweight crown on October 29, 1897, but lost to a TKO against the champion George "Kid" Lavigne in the 12th round. He also fought the well known Sam Langford who himself was a great puncher. His fight with Sam Langford ended in a draw. Joe Walcott long reach and Herculean physique gave him tremendous power. Joe Walcott died on the 1st of October 1935 after being struck by a car in Manssillon, Ohio, USA. He was Aged 62. | |
