before a crowd of 3,000, walcott officially lost the world welterweight championship on october 16, 1906 against william "honey" mellody at the lincoln athletic club in chelsea, massachusetts. falling to a twelfth-round technical knockout, walcott quit the bout, claiming his left arm had been injured in the ninth round. in the first round walcott scored a knockdown. melody, fighting cautiously against the reigning champion, landed mostly body blows throughout the remainder of the fight, but scored enough to appear to dominate. in the sixth round, mellody landed a strong right to the jaw which backed walcott against the ropes. in the eleventh, mellody put in punches at will, and in the final round landed a flurry of rights to the stomach, before walcott retreated to his corner before the bell ending the bout.