Bob Fitzsimmons vs. Jack Johnson

Who wins?

 

I back Jack but it would not be the fight they actually had, when Fitz was little more than a relic.

Even Johnson ,no shrinking violet, said he took no credit for that fight.
For the record Johnson rated Fitz as better than every champion up to ,and including Tunney, pretty high praise!

 

Johnson wins,prime for prime.

 

Any chance of some links that stuff mate, sounds interesting :good

 

It is , but not for you,you disagreed with me.











Oh, allright.Page 27?
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=SCE0ypLQHGcC&dat=19290427&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

 

I could also see Johnson going in for the clinch, Bob shifting and coldcocking him.

 

Johnson was just as clunky and primitive as Jeffries, McVey, and Fitzsimmons were.

 

Prime Fitz would be the hardest puncher Johnson ever faced. And a very crafty one as well. If Ketchel could put him on the canvas, Fitz would put him through it.

 

Johnson probably schools him like Corbett actually did but busts him up more along the way before stopping him

 

Johnson spoils and wins a decision.

And I doubt Fitz would be the hardest puncher Johnson ever faced. I'd bet Choynski hit harder.

 

Well, yes. I didn't say that Jeffries and co. were superior to Johnson either. It's just that I occasionally see people claiming that Johnson was some sort of modern slickster when he wasn't.

It puts him on equal terms in the sense that they're all primitive, but not in the sense that they all have identical styles. Johnson's uppercut would threaten a crouching Jeffries a lot more than a spindly counterpuncher like Fitzsimmons, for instance.

And yes, Johnson's size is an advantage.

 

Johnson wasn't very mobile, though. Harder hitting than Corbett and a great defensive fighter for his time, but not mobile.

 

I agree with the first part.

I disagree with the second part. Choynski was a hard puncher, no doubt, but Fitz was freakishly powerful, perhaps the all-time hardest lb for lb puncher. In an era of no decision bouts, he was refreshingly emphatic. He just KO'd everyone, and as he aged, got KO'd by some. And, well, he did stop Choynski.

 

Corbett also had freaky-fast reflexes, but yeah, I see your point.

Then again, Johnson didn't move like Corbett did, and a Fitz vs. Johnson match would be counterpuncher vs. counterpuncher. Whoever can sucker the other more consistently will win it, since both men had the power to hurt the other, but both were reasonably durable.