To be considered a tough guy, you have to fight tough guys. Larry Holmes was a tough guy. He fought high level competition at a constant rate. Earnie Shavers, Michael Spinks, Mike Tyson, Ken Norton, Mike Weaver, Evander Holyfield, Ray Mercer, Oliver McCall, Randall Cobb, Gerry Cooney, Tim Witherspoon, Leon Spinks, Trevor Berbick and even a way over the hill Muhammad Ali. Holmes retired with a record of 69 victories and 6 defeats.

Holmes is one of many tough guys who would fight anybody, at anyplace and anytime. However if I had to pick just one man that was the toughest of them all, I would have to pick Ezzard Mack Charles. Born July 7, 1921 in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Charles is widely regarded as one of the greatest Light Heavyweights that have ever lived. With an outstanding amateur record of 42-0, Ezzard Charles turned professional in 1940 with a points victory over John Reeves. His career spanned 19 years and ended in 1959, with a professional record of 92 wins, 25 defeats and 1 draw in a total of 118 professional bouts.

The record alone is impressive, but it’s the men he fought during his career that makes it that much more impressive. He’s stepped into the ring with Rocky Marciano (2x), Archie Moore (3x), Jersey Joe Walcott (4x), Joey Maxim (5x), Rex Layne (3x), Joe Louis, Harold Johnson, Bob Satterfield, Jimmy Bivins (4x), Ken Overlin (2x). He fought 10 Hall of Famers and several highly regarded fighters. To put it straight, Ezzard Charles fought everyone. He’s regarded as one of the greatest Light Heavyweights ever without ever winning a title at the weight.

After leaving the Light Heavyweight scene following military service, Charles began his career as a Heavyweight where he racked up wins over several tough fighters. Then in 1948 he met a tough young fighter in Sam Baroudi. Baroudi fought well for the first five rounds but Charles took over, knocking Baroudi out in the tenth round. Baroudi died from the injuries sustained in the fight. Ezzard Charles was devastated, so devastated that he almost quit the sport. Charles decided to adopt a cautious approach, so cautious to the point of trying not to hurt his opponents. Prior to this fight Charles was known for his slick and ultra-dangerous boxing skills, but following the Baroudi incident it seemed he lost the venom that made him so dangerous in his prime year.

With victories over Joey Maxim, Jersey Joe Walcott, Jimmy Bivins and Joe Baksi, Ezzard Charles defeated Joe Louis to become Heavyweight Champion, defending the belt four times including victories over Joey Maxin and Jersey Joe Walcott. He lost his title belt after being knocked out by a devastating left hook at the hands of Jersey Joe Walcott. Charles campaigned on picking up another win over Joey Maxim and top contender, Rex Layne. He then went after the Heavyweight title again, losing a controversial decision to Jersey Joe. Had Ezzard won, he would have been the first man ever to regain the Heavyweight title.

Following the loss to Jersey Joe, Charles was defeated again by Rex Layne and went onto pick up another nine victories (including another win over Layne) however it was clear Charles was many year past his best. Financial problems forced Ezzard Charles to continue fighting and in his last 30 fights, his record was 13-17. Perhaps the most notable fights of his career were his classic double fights with Rocky Marciano. The first fight saw Charles take Marciano to the wire, where Rocky won a close UD in a fight that saw not a single clinch. The rematch was another classic, with Marciano bloodied and down twice, the undefeated Rocky was in grave danger of being stopped before he KO’d Charles. He continued to fight on fighting 23 more times after Marciano and losing, losing 12. Slowly Ezzard faded out of the Boxing scene, fighting on for many years more then he should have and perhaps tarnishing his legacy in the short term.

Charles was as tough as they come, one of the toughest ever and a man who fought anyone, anytime and anywhere. He’ll go down in history as one of the greatest P4P fighters that have ever lived and while many of his fighters were to early for the television era, he will no doubt go down as a great fighter.