But doing so would have stunted him as a fighter, not to mention denying him what he’d lusted after for years.

Virtually every fighter stays in boxing to become a world champion. Some may adjust and lower their aim after a few years in the sport, but everyone wants victory and the belt that proves it happened. Even so, some fighters exude boxing.

They are lifelong students who view boxing more as a belief system and philosophy than as a sport or pastime. That was Walcott.

Born Arnold Raymond Cream, Walcott turned professional as a teenager and fought near the middleweight limit. Not only did his early pro record fail to impress, it took him several years to hit any sort of stride as he grew physically.

The man who took his fighting name after early 1900s welterweight champion Joe Walcott didn’t break into The Ring’s annual heavyweight rankings until he was well into his 30s, the age at which most heavyweights were spent, or at least plainly winding down, and it was just as well since the division was ruled with an iron fist by Joe Louis.

Some kind of switch flipped around 1945. Suddenly Walcott began tearing holes in the rankings by defeating high-level contenders.

At only about 6 feet and 195 pounds or so, what Walcott lacked in overall size, he made up for with guile and tricky maneuvers. He was a good puncher, but usually not a great one. His skills took him to 8-1 in 1945 and he continued his assault into the following calendar years, avenging close losses to Joey Maxim and the hard-swinging Elmer “Violent” Ray before finally getting a crack at Louis in late 1947.

Walcott battered Louis and clearly defeated him before losing one of boxing history’s most wretched decisions and finding no justice in the rematch, as Louis stopped him late. Walcott then tangled with former light heavyweight star Ezzard Charles for the vacant heavyweight crown in 1949, losing a decision and officially going 0-3 in heavyweight title fights.

The man was snakebitten, everyone said. The throne, sometimes assigned sentient qualities, as if it chose its own king, simply did not want Jersey Joe Walcott for whatever reason.

An upset loss to Rex Layne in 1950 followed a string of good wins. Shortly after turning 37, Walcott still received a fourth opportunity to fight for the heavyweight title as Charles signed on for a rematch. A dodgy verdict went Charles’ way this time, reinforcing Walcott’s reputation as a no-hoper. Walcott was even named “Fighter of the Month” by The Ring despite the loss.

The question of whether Walcott could ever reach the pinnacle became as engrossing as following the champions themselves. And as Walcott aged into his mid-30s, the number of doubters grew.

Overlooked through all the novelty was the champion himself. Ezzard Charles all but leveled the light heavyweight division despite never winning the title there, and he made a smooth transition to the big men as Louis’ time at the top came to an end. He sized up well to Walcott and was similarly more boxer than puncher, but also not to be trifled with. Charles defended the heavyweight title eight times in a row over two years, including against a comebacking Louis, though in Louis’ wake he struggled to become a popular champion.

Charles revisited an old rivalry with Maxim, a former light heavyweight champion, in his final defense of the heavyweight title, winning a decision before agreeing to a third fight with Walcott, who hadn’t done anything in the meanwhile, days later. Fight three was to happen at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh on July 18, 1951, 75 years ago today.

The Ring’s adjectives describing Walcott read like a thesaurus describing the elderly. He was aged, old, aging, a veteran, an old man, cagey, creaky, washed up, a Methuselah and more. Sometimes his age was expressed in winters rather than years. Charles was considered a heavy betting favorite at anywhere from 3-to-1 odds to a much wider 9-to-1, though The Associated Press called Walcott a “sentimental favorite.”

Charles’ inability to impress as heavyweight champion concerned promoters, though ticket sales probably got a boost from a local broadcast blackout in Pittsburgh, which was about halfway between Charles’ hometown of Cincinnati and Walcott’s home in New Jersey. About 28,000 fans showed up, paying nearly $250,000 at the gate to watch a heavyweight title bout. As the judges were announced, members of Charles’ team furiously protested and the fight was delayed several minutes before police were called to restore order.

One week after Randolph Turpin upset the great “Sugar” Ray Robinson for the middleweight title, the odds that another world-altering event might happen again so quickly after the last seemed astronomical. And early in the fight, Walcott began falling into the clutches of a slow and tedious affair.

Charles jabbed well and tied Walcott up on the inside, much to the displeasure of the crowd. While neither fighter feared a brawl, it wasn’t a first instinct, and at times there was too much feinting. Then in round 3, the action became more chippy and they traded body punches, with Walcott appearing to get the best of it. He followed up, rocking the champion with a handful of right hands to the head. Walcott’s momentum continued into the next round, and by the fifth, Charles’ mouth was bloodied.

The fighting got the crowd’s blood moving as both Walcott and Charles engaged more desperately, Walcott to claw at the title eluding him for years and Charles to maintain control of it. In round 6, Walcott jabbed at swelling under Charles’ eye as the champion tried to fend him off with roundhouse combinations and short right hands inside. Walcott’s heavier punches wore the champion down, however, and Charles’ corner was in a panic between rounds.

In a fateful round 7, Charles leaned on Walcott and tried to push the challenger to the ropes. The problem with that was Walcott could physically sense Walcott’s fading strength and he shed all fear. About a minute into the round, Charles retreated to the middle of the ring and attempted a simple 1-2. Walcott, who’d followed Charles from the ropes, timed the attempt with the kind of left hook/uppercut that dug into each of his 37 years and all four of those failed heavyweight title attempts.

The punch had everything on it. Had Walcott missed, who knows what kind of danger he would have then found himself in? But he didn’t miss. Charles absorbed all of it on the jaw and crumbled to the canvas, unable to beat the count. He later said he only remembered some of what happened.

Walcott also fell to pieces, just for reasons everyone knew but couldn’t fully understand. Nearly four decades of being a student finally paid off in the form of the one and only heavyweight championship, and Walcott did it in violent and iconic fashion over an all-time great foe.

Robinson’s triumph in winning, losing and regaining the middleweight title during the year crushed the idea that Walcott, who went 1-1 on the year, could be The Ring’s “Fighter of the Year.” A busier Walcott may have snagged the honors, but he returned to Camden, New Jersey a proud champion, still a student, and now the standard bearer for refusing to concede defeat.

Fighters making euphoric and quixotic last stands in boxing owe Jersey Joe Walcott a debt of gratitude. He may not have done it first or last, but he probably did it best.