Barbados Joe Walcott have a clear advantage in all but the seventh round. Many in the crowd were shocked with the decision, and Walcott himself was immediately angered at referee Sullivan who made the call. The match was disregarded as a title bout when it was discovered, not surprisingly, that referee Sullivan had bet on Dixie Kid to win the match. Walcott fought the exceptional black boxer Sam Langford in a non-title fight before a modest crowd of 1200 in Manchester, New Hampshire on September 5, 1904, with the fight ending in a fifteen-round draw. Langford had the better of the bout for
Joe Baksi and then fought a thirty-one-year-old Jersey Joe Walcott. Walcott had lost earlier bouts with world-class professionals, and was an underdog against Baksi. But Walcott won, scoring 6-3-1 on the single referees scorecard. Walcott's dancing and dodging allowed him to escape Baksi's reach, and he was able to get in enough hooks to make Baksi groggy. Baksi lost his next fight with Jimmy Bell (a split decision in which Baksi was penalized two rounds for a low blow), but then racked up four easy wins before traveling to Europe. Baksi left for Europe on October 9, 1946 to fight the two