Jersey Joe Walcott is remembered for his shuffling and dancing in the ring, and there are a couple of stories that cast him as an inspiration for the movement of a young Cassius Clay. When studying the art of Ali, Walcott or our last subject: Willie Pep, a large part of their magic is in when they choose to abandon their stance for mobility in the ring, and when they return to it in order to resume the fist-fight. 

Classical Side Steps and Cross Steps

While he would dance around the ring in a number of patterns, much of Walcott’s movement was performed from a side-on stance. This meant that he could perform a classical side step by stepping “forwards” with his right foot, or circle around the opponent to their right by stepping “backwards” with his right foot.

By staying side on to his opponent, Walcott could circle the ring by jogging backwards in the style that Muhammad Ali later came to rely on. One interesting trick that Walcott employed while doing this was to let his right hand float out towards the top rope whenever he came close to it. As Walcott fought in a simpler time, when thumbs were not attached to the palm of the glove, he could grab the rope and use it to forcibly change directions while circling the ring at great speed. 

The majority of Walcott’s offence was done with jabs and counter right hands, with the odd left hook snuck in there. He was not much of a combination puncher or a body hitter. All the extravagance and all the variety came in his distracting or even enticing use of his feet.

Walcott’s sneakiest cross step was the one that he used to draw the great Joe Louis onto sucker punches. In every fight of Walcott’s that we have on film, he uses this little trick to tempt the opponent, but none ever fell for it like Louis. To Joe Louis, this cross step was a red rag before a bull, he could not help but attack in spite of getting knocked down twice off the same trick. 

In both Louis fights, Walcott had to behave more outlandishly to draw Louis’ aggression as the rounds progressed. This was when he marching around the ring, cross-stepping and pivoting around to switch stances and jab annoyingly off both hands at Louis.

Figure x shows a typical Walcott cross step. Jabbing at Louis, he springs back to his left in a V-step (c). Walcott’s left foot then leaves his stance and comes back behind his right (d). Now a southpaw, Walcott steps his right foot across himself top perform a cross step out to his left (f). Walcott would often back-hand southpaw jabs in from this position.

Figure x shows a common follow up to this stance change and cross step. As Walcott’s cross steps and proceeds to stroll around the ring with another cross step (a), (b), (c). As his opponent follows, Walcott rebounds off his left foot (d) to throw a southpaw left (e).

Often it was the distance from his opponent that allowed Walcott to perform his cross steps and invite danger, with a little bit of lead time on when his opponent could hit him. But comfort under fire was vital for Walcott to even attempt these cross steps because there was no guarantee his opponent could not catch up to him while he was out of position. Walcott’s reactions helped him enormously, and his shoulder roll, but the reverse shoulder roll opened up many options for him that just do not exist for the average fighter.

Figure x shows an example of a reverse shoulder roll. Walcott jabs at his opponent (b), and changes levels to slip a return (c). When no counter comes, Walcott follows with a blasting right hand (d). Whether his fist bounces off his opponent’s lead shoulder, glove, or skull, Walcott is close enough to get hit on the counter (e). As the opponent’s right hand comes back, Walcott has turned his shoulders all the way through and is tucked down behind his right shoulder (f).

The regular shoulder roll is almost always performed with the body bladed on a line behind the lead shoulder. To roll down behind the rear shoulder effectively, the upper body has to be turned away—as if overcommitting to a right straight—even if the feet stay almost level.

Stab-Step Left Hook

Walcott’s punching arsenal was somewhat mundane compared to many of his peers. Yet one trick that he used to great success was a lead left hook. Walcott’s most famous left hook was the counter he used to knock out Ezzard Charles and win the world heavyweight title in 1951. That was more an uppercut, but it was delivered off the inside slip of the jab, which Walcott attempted often. Walcott did not tend to land this punch clean that much.

Walcott had a much trickier left hook in the arsenal. This one was delivered with minimal load-up. Walcott stepped with his lead foot between the opponent’s legs, and turned his whole body to the right to drag the hook in behind it.

Fighting Against the Ropes