Harry Wills 6'2 76 inch reach (say 1922 211 lbs) Nino Valdes 6'3 80 inch reach (say 1953 210 lbs) Who wins this?
Everything suggests that Nino Valdes wasn´t in the same league as Wills.......So, I would take Wills.....
Very hard to say given the lack of footage we have of wills. As vic says though, wills is in a higher class than valdes based on resume and achievement so barring any significant style clashes he should be a favourite to prevail.
Harry Wills was more consistent but it's hard to judge how good he was compared to Nino Valdes, taking them both on their best nights.
I understand that Wills has the greater resume and higher ATG placement...But Valdes was rated #1 (and got no shot) for 2 years, and at his best won a decision over Ezzard Charles. I would have to believe that it shows that he belongs and can compete on the highest stage even if he might fall short once there.
I see him more as being the type of name that a top level heavyweight should be beating. Beating a past prime Charles is quality and he has a handful of other good victories as well, but he war far too inconsistent for me to favour him over a genuine atg.
I would tentatively pick Wills , but not with any great confidence. I think Wills is slightly overated.
I feel Wills was just a bit more clever and skilled than Valdes, who was strong but somewhat ponderous. It would likely be a very physical fight but Wills did display during his career than even when matched for strength, he adjust and could outbox opponents of his own size. Lack of film on Wills makes any pick of him in a match-up mere speculation however, we do not truly know for example how good of a jab he had. Valdes if nothing else did have a punishing jab.
Hard to gauge, I do not think too much of Valdes, he was a decent fighter but Wills was known as one of the better black fighters of his era,thus one of the greatest of the time so I am going to go with Wills, in reality it is hard to compare era's so far apart but I still go with Wills being the better man
