Past-prime champions who would have beaten Willard under those rules?

Okay, you made me do it ....
1 Sullivan
2 Corbett
3 Fitz
4 Jeffries
5 Hart ?
6 Burns ?
7 Johnson
8 Willard
9 Dempsey
10 Tunney
11 schmeling
12 Sharkey
13 Carnera
14 Baer
15 Braddock
16 Louis
17 Charles
18 Walcott
19 Marciano
20 Patterson
21 Johansson
22 Liston
23 Ali
24 Frazier
25 Foreman
26 Leon Spinks
27 Holmes
28 Michael spinks
29 Tyson
30 Douglas
31 Holyfield
32 Bowe
33 Moorer

etc. etc.

:good

 

Five

 

Is this a thread about how Willard is underrated? He's not. Willard was a good HW, not a great one. He beat a past prime Jack Johnson and was stopped in the 3rd round by a much smaller Dempsey. Willard was kinda old vs. Dempsey but he didn't fight many fights so it's not like he had " been in too many wars" at that point.

Past prime fighters who would have beat Willard on the night he beat Johnson? Ali, most nights before 1976. Holmes, maybe even when he fought Butterbean at age 54. Holyfield almost any night, Foreman any night he ever fought, Tyson up until the Lewis fight, Louis prior to the Marciano fight (maybe even that night).

 

Willard's gonna beat himself? Or are you just listing the Lineal HW Champs, do you count Briggs? You didn't mention Lewis or Rahman. Who do you consider the lineal HW Champ now. You'd have to go with Wladimir Klitschko. Vitali is retired and Hall of Famer Lennox Lewis is not coming back.

 

Ali was Lineal 3 x and Patterson 2 x

 

Patterson held it twice. Ali held it three times.
2+3= 5

:good

 

I stopped at 33, just showing there's been over 30, (in contrast to 'well under 30').

 

I find it hard to assess the Johnson-Willard fight.
On the footage they both look a bit ****, standing still like statues not throwing punches.
But it's a 45 rounder .. in the midday sun .. inside the tropical region. It's hard to assess how the other HWs would look/perform in the same conditions.

And on the other hand, it's remarkable that they even went 26 rounds, Johnson for the fact that he was visibly out of shape and over the hill, Willard for the fact that Johnson landed some heavy shots on him that he crudely absorbed early on.

I really can't imagine the Ali who lost to Spinks doing much better than Johnson, or even as well. But I'm not sure.

 

Right on

 

"2+3=5"

I have no dog in this hunt, but what I love about this board is the amount of new information one picks up. It is always good to expand the old horizons.

 

Past prime champions who would have beaten willard

James Corbett 1900
Jack Dempsey 1927
Max Baer 1940
Joe Louis 1946
Ezzard Charles 1951
Jersey Joe Walcott 1952
Max Schmeling 1938
Rocky Marciano 1955
Floyd Patterson 1967
Muhammad Ali 1973
Joe Frazier 1974
George foreman 1977
Larry Holmes 1985
Mike Tyson 1996
Evander Holyfield 1999
Lennox Lewis 2003
Riddick bowe 1996
W klitschko 2014