Barbados Joe Walcott name as his own ring name. Walcott was born on March 13, 1873, in Demerara, Guyana, according to several sources, though he spent part of his youth in Barbados. As a youngster he set out to see the world and got a job as a cabin boy on a ship sailing to Boston that arrived around 1887. He soon settled in Boston as a piano mover, and porter and took other odd jobs as well. Later, he landed a job in a gym, and became popular with even the best of the boxers as an able opponent before turning professional.
Barbados Joe Walcott ring on January 15, 1907, Walcott lost a fifteen-round decision on points to Mike Donavan in Providence, Rhode Island. Though winning only a few of his remaining bouts, Walcott succeeded in twice beating George Cole, a competent hard hitting middleweight from Philadelphia, in December 1907 and January 1908. In fact, of their December meeting in Philadelphia, one source noted that "with the exception of the third round when Cole sent over some very hard punches," the "battle was Walcott's all the way". On January 7, 1908, Walcott lost to a noteworthy opponent Jimmy Gardner, in twelve rounds at the Armory