How great was Willard's KO over Jack Johnson

I think Johnson was out and exhausted.

He was never continuing.

Johnson was an excellent fighter and it was a good win, but Johnson was pretty far from his best, and the conditions did a lot of favour Willard.

Still the claim Willard was taking a beating just isn't true. Johnson was probably winning the rounds on workrate, but it's completely irrelevant in a fight that was never going the distance.

I think both knew Johnson needed to get the stoppage early. Johnson tried, and Willard did a very good job of neutralizing his attacks (Willard clearly hadn't taken a 20+ round beating at the end of it). Willard waited until Johnson was spent then went for the kill, cutting off the ring and getting in a bomb.

Overall I think Willard deserves much more credit than he usually gets for it.

 

Or according to Johnson it took that long for his wife to get the $ and flipped him the signal. It was time to give Whitey the title back so I can go back to America and see his dying mother. Then jail.
The End

 

Meh. Johnson was past it by then and Willard was a very big and strong dude if nothing else. His stamina was ridiculous for a guy that big. It was almost inevitable that JJ at that stage of his career was going to lose to a guy like Willard. Willard ground him down and clubbed him, end of story. It's a little as if the Jeffries event had occurred in reverse ... a great champion degraded by time whupped by a younger, better challenger. I think any top fighter through history would have beaten JJ that day. It was his time.

 

Schedule a title fight today for 45 three-minute rounds and see how many guys are willing to even try?

Then tell the guy who scores a knockout over the dominant champ and wins the title in round 26 that he's a bum.

It was a great win.

 

Cant take anything from Jess,still a great win.Any time you win title is great

 

A great win. Willard was only 3 years younger and, as the saying goes, didn't have an air conditioner in his corner. The right he landed looks pretty scary on film.

 

Even at this stage of his career, Johnson might have beaten every other contender in the division.

Gunboat Smith had been offered a shot at him, but he was waiting for Johnson to get older, because he was not confident of his chances.

Willard took the chance when he was offered it, and found a way to win.

As for the issue of the rules and conditions favoring Willard, it must be noted that Johnson agreed to them.

As the champion he could have dictated any terms that he pleased!

 

This. Johnson was 37 years old and admittedly several years past his best, but considering Willard wasn’t that much younger than Johnson and started fighting at 29 years old he deserves all the credit in the world.

 

It was a great win but Johnson clearly took terrible terms for the money .. to agree to a long distance bout against such a big strong guy when he himself did not even win a KO victory in five years at the age of 37 in a hot climate is very short sighted. By all accounts Johnson fought a terrific fight thru the first fifteen or twenty rounds displaying more aggression than he had in almost any other title defense .. just did it against thew wrong opponent ..

 

Nah

Johnson wanted the money!

He could have got other terms, against other fighters.

He was still viewed as being an overwhelming favorite over any realistic challenger.

Let's not act like Johnson was pressured into these terms!

 

Yea but not scary enough to stop Johnson from shading his eyes the sun and ordering a Margarita. The camera being 3 miles away also makes it easy to cast doubt.

 

excellant post

 

We agree!!!!....YES!!!

 

Agreed