Some points 1. Byrd was much harder to hit than Dempsey and stylistically very different. Dempsey has worse losses than this 2. Willard was 37, inactive for years and unskilled. Firpo was not a SHW being only 6'2 and nowhere near as skilled. Fulton was fragile and ko'd easily by many. Vitali is in a different league to these men.
I look at the circumstances and find myself impressed, you don't. The jeffries victory was the final requirement to sealing his legacy. 100 years on people might downplay it, but at the time the fight was seen as a necessity probably between the two best heavyweights in history. It was the original fotc and the outcome dictated championship policy for the next quarter century. I don't have an overt desire to justify choices I make since I embrace the subjective nature of the sport. I see something I like, you see something you don't. **** happens.
Jeffries was considerably better and Langford was considerably more dangerous at 180 than at 155. This should be self apparent, but it was testified to by almost everybody from the era including the fighters themselves.
1. Byrd demonstrated that a small man who isn't aggressive can get inside vitali and dictate the action. Jack's defence was miles behind byrd's but vitali is very slow. Jack's handspeed can match chris's and his power can better it. He'll hit vitali as often as chris did. 2. Again, skillwise I consider vitali inferior to jack. I used to favour him based on size. I see the flaw in my pryor thought process now.
No, I do. Impressed enough to rank him amongst the 15 best HW's of all time. But you seem to be handing out credit for Johnson's taking out the top 10 of his era. Johnson didn't do this. He took out men who were, or would be the fighters in the top 10 of their era. You surely don't hand Holmes credit for beating Ali? You surely don't hand Rustico Torrecampo credit for beating one of the greatest fighters or our era in Manny Pacquiao? Same thing here. Neither man was anything like a win, in terms of value, representing one of the ten best of a given era. Now there are degrees. Jeffries was less useless than Ali for example. But still, the point stands I think. Yeah, but on the other hand it's also a fact that Jeffries was totally inactive and apparently hardly sparred in the run up to the fight. In all seriousness, if Lewis came out of retirement, turned in a bad training camp, and Wlad beat him up, you'd regard it as a significant win? Almost none of these wins ever end up meaning much...Ali and Holmes met under very similar circumstances and it's mostly ignored now. Even in cases where the ex-great looked good and worked hard coming back, as was the case with Carlos Zarate, very little notice is taken of the loss - or win - in the Fenech fight. Christ, even when a fighter comes back and eventually becomes champion it's never something people get overexcited about. Ask for a list of Holyfield's best wins and see how many people offer up the name of George Foreman. Which is almost exactly my point. The subjective hysteria of the press pre-fight turned this fight into something that it wasn't at the time. An objective review reveals this (and did in the immediate aftermath) Yeah, agree to disagree is absolutely fine, but it makes for a kind of boring forum.
I don't think it's comparable since I wouldn't have thought that ali was one of the guys of larry's era(78-85). Ofcourse torrecampo gets credit. It's probably his career highlight. If we as a public demanded lewis leave retirement and challenge wlad. If we considered these the two greatest and the winner the goat. If we were to consider it the crowning achievement of a great career, I certainly would classify it significant. Foreman is one of holy's best victories, as is holmes. Taking out men who were or would be the top ten of your era is a great achievement. Boring it would be.
If it makes ya feel better, on another thread i'm arguing louis batters jack and yesterday I argue wlad pushes his **** in.
Jeffries skills were coming to their peak around the time he retired. HE had 1 of the hardest longest training camps in his career. Now in his prime he was probably fitter but he still looked in great physical shape for Johnson Langford was only 155 but Johnson was only 185. Langford was also much more experienced. He also looks a bit fleshy in some pictures in his later career so some of that 185 may have been overweight Now again neither were 100% of their powers but dominating them both says allot. Then looking at the likes of JEanette and Mcvey also get disparaged as wins. Both men probably had many more fights than listed although Mcvey young and pre-prime. Jeanette I believe has been proven to be 180+ when he fought Johnson