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
William "Honey" Mellody once facing both a young Joe Walcott, and former welterweight world champion "Mysterious" Billy Smith three times. Mellody's third round knockout of contender Willie Lewis in Chelsea, Massachusetts three months before facing Walcott foreshadowed his imminent conquest of the World Welterweight Title. Mellody got his first shot for the vacant World Welterweight title against the legendary Black Joe Walcott on October 16, 1906, at the Lincoln Athletic Club in Chelsea, Massachusetts. The "Pittsburgh Press" noted Mellody was barely 21 at the time of the fight and had been fighting professionally for only around three years. The bout required the full