Jersey Joe Walcott and Marciano needed a knockout to win, according to two of the three official scorecards. In the thirteenth round with Marciano pressuring Walcott against the ropes, both threw simultaneous right hands. Marciano landed his punch first on Walcott´s jaw in what is considered one of the hardest punches thrown in boxing history. Walcott collapsed with his arm hanging over the ropes then fell to the canvas where he was counted out. There was a rematch in Chicago, on May 15, 1953, and the second time around, Walcott was again defeated by Marciano by a knockout, this time in the first
Jersey Joe Walcott world title for the first time. Walcott lost early bouts against world-class competition. He lost a pair of fights to Tiger Jack Fox and was knocked out by contender Abe Simon. But that would change in 1945 when Walcott beat top heavyweights such as Joe Baksi, Lee Q. Murray, Curtis Sheppard and Jimmy Bivins. He closed out 1946 with a pair of losses to former light heavyweight champ Joey Maxim and heavyweight contender Elmer Ray, but promptly avenged those defeats in 1947. On December 5, 1947, he fought Joe Louis, at thirty three years of age breaking the record as