Obie Walker (September 19, 1911 - May 23, 1989), born Obie Dia Walker in Cochran, Georgia, was a professional boxer. Walker was the penultimate World Colored Heavyweight Champion from 9 October 1933, when he out-decisioned title holder George Godfrey in a 10-round fight at the Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to 20 July 1935, when he lost the title on a decision in a 15-round bout to former colored heavyweight champ

Larry Gains Lawrence Samuel "Larry" Gains (12 December 1900 – 26 July 1983) was a Black Canadian heavyweight boxer who was champion of Canada and the British Empire. One of the top heavyweights of his era, he was denied the opportunity to become World Ch ...

on 20 July 1935 in Tigers Rugby Stadium, Leicester, England. A heavyweight contender of the 1930s, he was avoided by many boxers. Sportswriter Ed Danforth praised the "Bearcat" in the ''Atlanta Georgian'' in a column published on 5 July 1938:

"Walker became the toast of Paris. He knocked cold every topnotcher he met on the continent.
Max Schmeling Maximilian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling (, ; 28 September 1905 – 2 February 2005) was a German boxing, boxer who was heavyweight champion of the world between 1930 and 1932. His two fights with Joe Louis in 1936 and 1938 were worldwide cul ...
shrewdly dodged him, the best of the Englishmen too, sidestepped the squatty brown man who carried lighting bolts in both fists. Competent critics say he could have knocked out Schmeling,
Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He rei ...
and Jim Braddock in one night within the space of 10 rounds."

Though short, Walker was quick on his feet, could take a punch on the chin, and was a strong puncher. Among the top heavyweight contenders he defeated was Two-Ton Tony Galento, who fought Joe Louis for the heavyweight championship. It was Louis's long reign as champ that ended the World Colored Heavyweight Title. In his career, Walker won 77 fights (53 by K.O.) and lost 16, with 5 draws. He was never K.O.'ed himself.

Legacy and honors

In 2020 award-winning author Mark Allen Baker published the first comprehensive account of The World Colored Heavyweight Championship, 1876-1937, with McFarland & Company, a leading independent publisher of academic & nonfiction books. This history traces the advent and demise of the Championship, the stories of the talented professional athletes who won it, and the demarcation of the color line both in and out of the ring. For decades the World Colored Heavyweight Championship was a useful tool to combat racial oppression-the existence of the title a leverage mechanism, or tool, used as a technique to counter a social element, “drawing the color line.”

Professional boxing record

All information in this section is derived from

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

, unless otherwise stated.

Official record

All

newspaper decision A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a "no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Club o ...

s are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.

Unofficial record

Record with the inclusion of

s in the win/loss/draw column.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Obie 1911 births 1989 deaths Boxers from Georgia (U.S. state) Heavyweight boxers African-American boxers World colored heavyweight boxing champions American male boxers 20th-century African-American sportspeople