Jess Willard not as bad as many seem to think

[Spartacus Sully]

Johnson was renowned for his ability to pick punches off and block with his gloves. As far as the clinching goes....Jack manhandles an old but incredibly strong Jeffries. I don't think its a stretch to think he could do the same to big Jess.

I was looking back at johnsons weight and it seems in prime it was about 205-210. so ive changed my mind.

with a 210 johnson vs a 240 willard, johnsons going to be faster and hes going to be able to get inside on Willard and clinch much more easily.

i agree that a prime johnson beats willard almost allways. willard still has a punchers chance but its very weak.

and i wasnt saying that willard would manhandel johnson, i was saying with near equal foot speed due to relativly close weights when they did fight willards reach and his great jab he would be able to effectively avoid the clinches alltogether. though with the prime weight diffrence johnsons going to have alot better overall speed and would probly be able to negate the reach and jab of willard.

[sonnyboyx2]

Johnson was renowned for his ability to pick punches off and block with his gloves. As far as the clinching goes....Jack manhandles an old but incredibly strong Jeffries. I don't think its a stretch to think he could do the same to big Jess.

i have the fight Johnson vs Willard 22 of 26rds Willard is in the fight from the start, his jab, reach, strength & size are huge assets which Johnson finds difficult to deal with, Willard is very similar to Vitali in that he is excellent at "Being Big" and that gives him an advantage over Johnson, both fighters going 26rds is a testament to their prowess and fitness with Willard not being anywhere near as bad as many seem to believe he was today.

[McGoorty]

Yeah, for worst you seriously need to look at the post 1970 "beltholders".....guys like Trevor Berbick, Leon Spinks, Hasim Rahman, and Bruce Seldon were all jokes who somehow managed to secure a slice of the Heavyweight title. Guys in that vein deserve the "Worst In History"

Poet

EXACTLY,.......... and they weren't the only ones, I seen hundreds of "Champions" that were so bad that in the old days they wouldn't have made it out of JIMMY SHARMAN's touring boxing tent, HW's exausted after 4 rounds, they're a joke but I'm not laughing.

[McGoorty]

i have the fight Johnson vs Willard 22 of 26rds Willard is in the fight from the start, his jab, reach, strength & size are huge assets which Johnson finds difficult to deal with, Willard is very similar to Vitali in that he is excellent at "Being Big" and that gives him an advantage over Johnson, both fighters going 26rds is a testament to their prowess and fitness with Willard not being anywhere near as bad as many seem to believe he was today.

Johnson did a hatchet job on Willards reputation by that DIVE claim and there was no film to say otherwise. Now we have the film (I've only seen about the last 3 rd's) we can see that Jack was having us on, the bit I've seen showed a totally opposite version of events, I'll leave it at that.

[StarshipTrooper]

EXACTLY,.......... and they weren't the only ones, I seen hundreds of "Champions" that were so bad that in the old days they wouldn't have made it out of JIMMY SHARMAN's touring boxing tent, HW's exausted after 4 rounds, they're a joke but I'm not laughing.

I sure as hell ain't laughing when I waste an hour of my time watching them stink the joint out on HBO.

Poet