A defence of Jess Willard

I see a lot of people beating Willard.

 

Willard would be big, durable and strong in any era. Unfortunately he was a bit clumsy, not fast, and really did not like boxing. The 12 round limit would be to his determent.



Willard’s athletically ability and skill level on offense and defense is very low. If you want to project, you could argue with a modern trainer he could be similar to a Robert Helenius.



I would give him Willard a puncher’s chance today, but because he was anything but a boxer, he would get many opportunities to cash in on them vs top rated opponents. The modern division is full of talented big men, and even tier two super heavies like Wach look far better on film.

 

Gunboat Smith was pretty good for a while with wins over Willard and Langford, and of coruse his infamous 4 round encounter with Jack Johnson when he had Johnson down and dazed to the point where Johnson's manager halted the action.



Willard is not an easy guy to defend. He had a chance to enhance his legacy, but was inactive as champion.

 

Willard drew that fight and it certainly isn't a consensus view that the decision was unjust. I rate McCarthy as a good fighter in that era and your comparison isn't too far from the mark, but Willard can't be credited with a victory here.

In fights with no footage were opinion is split, it's difficult crediting anyone with a victory.

 

it would have been a good win, even better had mccarthy not tragically been killed and gone on to have a successful career.

 

I'm sorry this doesn't relate to the post you quoted.

 

Jack Johnson would have lost to 5 or 6 contenders in 1915. Willard too.

 

well you quoted a post and your response was completely unrelated.