his first attempt to win the world welterweight championship when Mysterious Billy Smith outpointed him on December 6, 1898. Walcott fought Smith, likely his most frequent opponent, six times in his career. On February 23, 1900, Walcott met the Jewish light heavyweight Joe Choynski, winning in a surprising seventh-round TKO, though outweighed by 16 pounds and conceding his opponent a full foot advantage in height. Likely sensing the need for a quick start against his gifted opponent, Walcott sent Choynski to the mat five times in the first round and was the aggressor throughout the bout. Choynski, a 3-1 betting favorite before the bout, suddenly became a 2-1 underdog after the bell ending the first round. Walcott seemed to have a slight advantage in the second, though Choynski landed a solid blow. By the third round, Walcott pressed his advantage with a superior defense and landed blows nearly at will before the sound of the bell. The fourth seemed even and the fifth entirely in Walcott's favor, but in the sixth Walcott cut Choynski's right eye. Walcott sent Choynski to the floor again in the seventh, battering his clearly exhausted opponent. Stopping the final round 38 seconds in, the referee said later that he "felt another blow to Choynski would have put him out." On September 27, 1901, Walcott impressively defeated Irish boxer George Gardner in a twenty-round points decision at the Mechanic's Pavilion in San Francisco, California. The pre-fight betting was light before the match with Gardner a 10-8 favorite. Gardner, at just under six feet, and holding a serious reach advantage over Walcott, would briefly hold the light heavyweight championship of the world from July through November 1903. Walcott was the aggressor throughout the bout, landing more clean blows, though there was a great deal of clinching and wrestling throughout the furious bout, likely a result of the mismatch in reach between the two opponents. In the first round, Walcott brought Gardner to his knees from a left and right to the head for a nine count, though Gardner returned to the fighting unfazed. Taking the world welterweight championship from Rube Ferns, 1901 Walcott won the world welterweight title on December 18, 1901 in Buffalo, New York, from reigning champion James "Rube" Ferns achieving a technical knockout in the fifth round. Ferns, from the reaction of the Buffalo crowd as he entered the ring, appeared to be the