A Superheavyweight from the 30's who never made it big (Video!)

This is Jack Pettifer. He never made it to the world class stage, despite his 6'7 240lb build.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1zooOLCOIw

This guy is not an oaf. He's quick for 6'7. He can move, and has pretty good balance for a giant. He has power, and although rough around the edges, he can box.

And despite all his physical gifts, he never made it farther in the heavyweight division than Billy Conn.

To me, it sounds like the old timers on this forum who swear up and down about the depth of talent in the 30's are starting to sound like they're right.

 

Those big "super" sized heavyweights were quite rife in the 1930s.

What always puzzled me was how, twenty years later - the 1950s - featured so many small men at heavyweight again.

 

Thing is, maybe he is an "oaf", maybe he isn't.
I've long lost the relevance of the "oaf" slur/debate.
Tyson Fury looks oafish if you take his movements in isolation.
Being an oaf is okay if you can box and fight with it a bit.

 

Oaf was a word used to describe old school super heavyweights before we had clear footage.

But I know what you mean.

At a certain height, your balance gives. No giant has been impervious to it, including Lewis and Klitschkos.

 

Damn speaking of Lewis, I'm going to see him Thursday. That's insane. I'll probably see a lot of legends actually.

 

Jack Pettifer lost his undefeated record when he was knocked out by Jack Doyle, who was a decent boxer and pretty big in his own right.

I think Doyle was 6'5 himself. Lost a challenge for the British title to Jack Petersen on a disqualification for a low blow, and was beaten by Buddy Baer, another big man, in Madison Square Garden.

Jack Doyle :

[yt]JNXc1MHvb08[/yt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNXc1MHvb08

 

Lol seriously you think that this big bum can be used as example And comparing him with modern talented big guys? Lol

 

It depends on who you're talking about when you say talented.

 

Well.. klitschkos,lewis,bowe etc even tyson fury could be included

 

Those punches he throws towards the camera look scary.

So what are we to make of a deep pool of giants in the 30's finding nowhere near the same success as todays giants?

 

I never said he was better than any fighters of that caliber.

Some people here make the argument than any big guy with a decent jab would handle anyone before the 70's.

Or that Jess Willard was some freak outlier, and that with a deeper pool of giants, they would surely rule the division.

And slowly this evidence is piling up to the contrary, and we're starting to realize it.

 

I guess a lot of them were badly managed. Lots of build up surrounding them because of their physical stature, ala Carnera, but never truly developed as boxers.

Some of them probably just couldn't take a punch. I suspect that was Jack Pettifer's issue.

 

Are you having a laugh mate?

At the end he looks like he's a blind man reaching for the toilet flush. Looks absolutely shocking.

 

Do you know how to punch?

 

Yes I do.

I also have eyes, do you have eyes? If so, you can't possibly think this bum is any good or you're trolling.