He defeated fighters such as Tami Mauriello, Lee Savold, Lou Nova, and Freddie Mills, while losing decisions to Jersey Joe Walcott and Ezzard Charles.

[3][4][5] Baksi campaigned over the boxing circuit for a number of years, until he got his first big match with Tami Mauriello on February 25, 1944 at Madison Square Garden.

Baksi got off to a slow start, and though he showed advantage in the ninth and tenth rounds Savold boxed his way with left hooks and jabs to win a split decision that night.

[10] Baksi was in better shape that night, and fought a careful fight, out "left-handing" Savold, who was thought to have the best southpaw amongst the heavyweight contenders.

Oma, unknown six months previously, gained fame by putting up a spirited fight against Mauriello in September.

He scored easy decisions against Lee Dixie Oliver and Larry Lane, and then fought a thirty-one-year-old Jersey Joe Walcott.

[19] Baksi, a former miner, then returned to Britain to do a tour of coal mines accompanied by Fuel Minister Manny Shinwell, as a promotional exercise.

[20] At Hickleton Main Colliery, Baksi was confronted by an angry juvenile, Brian Blessed, who was distraught that the American boxer had defeated his hero, Bruce Woodcock.

[21] He also visited Butlin's Holiday Camp at Filey to meet up with Woodcock who was staying there with his wife and they were pictured together.

[22] He even found time to travel to Ireland to attend the European Amateur Boxing Championships in Dublin on 13 May.

[23] The following day, Baksi travelled on to the Abbey Cinema, Wexford as guest of honour at a 'Grand Boxing Tournament'.

However, Baksi, still in Europe, signed a contract to fight the Swedish champion, Olle Tandberg in Stockholm.

Then, in what the New York Times reported as the greatest upset in years, Baksi lost a split decision.

Baksi's manager, Leo Feureisen, collapsed during the fight and died in the dressing room a short while after.

[30] In the book Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, several of the characters use the phrase Joe Baksi to refer to a taxi, an example of rhyming slang used frequently throughout the UK.