Arnold Cream - Goodnight Irene

One of the truly great stylists in boxing history fought his last bout 55 years ago today. Thirty-nine years young at the time, Jersey Joe Walcott (née Arnold Cream) met Rocky Marciano on May 15th, 1953 in a rematch of their legendary bout from September of '52, one of the most famous heavyweight title fights in history and maybe the most famous knockout of all time. Behind on points in the 13th round, the Rock unleashed a ferocious right and took the heavyweight title from Walcott with a single brainblasting shot: The rematch, fought at Chicago Stadium, was not nearly so epic. In fact, it didn't make it out of the first round. Marciano put Walcott down with a one-two at about 2:10 of the first. Dazed but sentient, Walcott watched the ref give the count, seemingly ready to get back to the action. But he mistimed his rise to his feet and was still on the canvas at the count of ten. The ref waved it off and the thing was done. He protested, his handlers protested, but there wasn't much to argue about. Watching the video below, you'll see that although the ref did count at a mighty quick pace, Jersey Joe was most definitely still down at ten. Walcott retired after the fight and remained retired, although he certainly didn't fade from the limelight. He made an appearance in the great Bogart boxing film, The Harder They Fall, tried the pro wrestling hustle, and of course, he did an infamously bad job of reffing the Ali/Liston "phantom punch" fight in 1965. Later on, he became the sheriff of Camden and then the chairman of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission. He died in 1994.