Harry Wills was the number one nemesis to Jack Dempsey for several years , for whatever reason the fight did not happen,Gene Tunney ,pursuing his own title path, stated he would agree to face Wills for the right to meet Dempsey. Wills was the number one man to Jack and ,refused to risk his status taking on Tunney. Without getting into the wisdom of that decision, what would have happened if Harry had taken on the ambitious Tunney,at that stage of the Black Panther's career?
I think that Wills would have started to get old at just the right time for Tunney. Wills vs Gibbons was another one that was talked about.
Tunney would have schooled Wills. Tunney offered the match to a past his prime Wills. Wills declined.
Tunney would not have schooled Wills in his prime. What top black fighters did Tunney ever face? What 6'3 210lb fighters with power and skills did tunney ever fight?
Tunney was the man to upset both Dempsey and Wills by 1926. Years earlier they would have been difficult fights to pick. Wills was the far bigger man and knew how to use his size advantage well, unfortunately by 1926 he had slowed down a lot. He had only fought twice in the past 2 years and those fights didn't last very long.
The fact that Wills was black does not make him an automatic favourite over Tunney. What 6'3 210lbs fighters with power and skills, did Wills ever face? The best facsimile was probably Fulton whom Wills kod in 2rds in 1920, problem is Dempsey had done it 2 years earlier,[1918,] in 23 seconds, including the count. Do you want to count Denver Ed Martin, he qualifies on size, power, and skills? Problem again is ,he was 40 years old when Wills stopped him in 1921 , not the young buck he had been when Johnson beat him in 1903 and 04. How many 6'3 fighters, 210lbs, with power and skills were there in the heavyweight division, prior to Wills rise to prominence? How many did Sullivan,Corbett,Fitz,Jeffries,Hart,Burns, Johnson,Willard,Dempsey ,fight?
The little footage we have does not suggest great mobility from wills. I have to go tunney, but its on only a small amound of real info.
I think the point was though Tunney would be the 1 facing a 210lb 6'3 fighter, something he'd never faced, Wills would just be facing another 6'0 fighter, nothing new size wise, maybe his fastest opponent though BTW I think a 2 round bodyshot KO is as good as a 23second blowout when an opponent maybe still cold. Both are dominating and devastating Wills was shot in that footage though
Horrible, horrible style for Tunney IMO. Sometimes mobility doesn't matter when you're the bigger man, you fight bigger and you are very experienced. Tough fight for Tunney. He certainly caught a break meeting Dempsey instead...past it Dempsey far easier for him than past it Wills. I'd still pick Tunney that late on, but no money going down.
What about Tunney against Ruiz? Maybe Wills was only ever as good as Ruiz. Take away the film of Ruiz and you have a man who went 1-1-1 with the great Holyfield, was feared by Lewis (according to lefthook31), deserved to beat the 7'1 giant Valuev
God, that´s so getting on my nerves. Even quality postes act as if this would mean anything. It´s the quality not the size, guys.
A 7 pound weight difference in the lower weight divisions can mean everything but a 20+ pound difference at heavyweight does not? When two fighters are as great as each other, you start looking for whatever advantages one may have over the other. When the other has never fought a legitimate 200+ pound heavyweight throughout his career, not to mention a man who imposed his size on his opponents, that's a definite advantage. That's not to say that Tunney couldn't deal with it, but we have no definite proof that he could against a man of Wills' class. Objectively you have to call that a potential factor in favour of Wills in this match-up, the same as if Wills had never fought anyone with Tunney's speed or footwork (you could argue he did though).