Does the fact that Jack Johnson era fighters were drying out exclude them from h2h?

Johnson dried out for most of his career. That makes his performances and achievements all the more amazing because he still had excellent stamina, and still fought 20-round bouts. Just imagine if he didn't do so. He'd probably be even better. I've even heard interviews with George Foreman wherein he said he dried out in his first career, and felt that adversely affected his stamina. Drying out, like blood letting, are among those things some folks believed helped when in fact we now know it did the opposite.

 

Dont talk out of both sides of your mouth. You are the one who came on here and suggested that somehow our perceptions of these fighters should be altered because they supposedly willingly depleted themselves. I say again, TO ANYONE, show me where we know for a fact to what extent these fighters did this and to what extent it effected their performances. Until ANYONE can do that the rest is just conjecture. All you can do is take those fighters, judge them by their best performances, and if you are one of those who wishes to torture yourself with mythical matchups, compare them to whatever fighter from whatever era. To question whether its a fair matchup because they MAY have been dehydrated is quite frankly a bizarre starting point. To then question "Does the fact that Jack Johnson era fighters were drying out exclude them from h2h?" Is a silly blanket statement derived from a situation NOBODY today fully understands.

To compare the practice of drying out, and the extent to which some here seem to think it was carried out, to blood letting a bed ridden patient is comparing apples and oranges. A bed ridden patient is already sick and in the era when blood letting was vogue the symptoms that blood letting caused were often attributed to the original illness. Therefore the starting point of the individual as a baseline was already below the norm. You are talking about healthy, strong athletes preparing to enter often marathon contests of strength, endurance, and will. Those guys would know if they entered the ring at less than perfect and thanks to the miracles of the human physiology dehydration is one of the most basic detriments that a person can discern and treat, completely without the diagnosis of a doctor. "Youre thirsty for a reason stupid." Anemia is an entirely different animal particularly in a person already weakened by illness or disease.

 

A fighter being dehydrated is never a good thing. The same fighter without being dehydrated is absolutely better fully hydrated. However, how often does a superior fighter lose to a larger Inferior fighter at heavyweight because of dehydration?

Even in older times an opponent might not cut so much weight if he was fighting a bigger guy. Put Jack Johnson in with Shannon Briggs is he going to come in as light as he was for Tommy Burns?

Dehydration effects the larger guy cutting weight. Even old timers associated drying out with feeling weak. It would not be necessary to dry out against a bigger guy.

 

Is there not any contemporary literature on that? Why they dried out and whether it was just for aesthetics (even at the obvious expense of performance)?

Madness if that is how things worked.

 

I think that is what McGrain is trying to ascertain.
Or rather was.:yep

 

Me, knowing much about heavyweights? Sorry, but other than helping Adam with Johnson's royal battle reports and one or two other previously unlisted bouts, I don't know much about him. I don't even have the 1st part of the bio yet, haven't ordered, lacking funds.

 

Maybe Klompton would consider donating a portion of his book royalties to a worthy cause such as this ?

 

That would be worthy of an entire Care Bears after-school special on learning to share. :yep

 

Harsher: BE on Jimmy, or me on Clomps? :think

 

Im a firm believer that *** does indeed take something out of an athlete. If it doesnt you arent doing it right.