And Jim Corbett stopped winning fights when his opponents didn't get drunk between rounds and someone else learned how to jab. (LOL) It's like comparing amateur boxers and pro boxers. Different worlds, different sports.
LOL, you think Tunney did not see Corbett vs Fitzsimmons, or other films? He did spar with the man, you know.
I don't think you know enough about this era if you think that the rounds were shorter, rests longer or fighters drunk between rounds.
Jackson went to the sauna after the fight and so did Corbett.Jackson did not have broken ribs. Siler said Jackson was a heavier hitter then Johnson and that there was not much to choose between them for cleverness.I've corrected you on this a dozen times,and I've also pointed out that Siler died before Johnson won the title so he only saw the first part of his career. Sam Fitzpatrick was a manager not a trainer he was briefly associated with Jackson and Johnsons manager until he was sacked he was hardly going to give Johnson any credit after being dismissed.I would want to see a primary source for that quote anyway, and you never produce them! CYBER ZONE BOXING "Corbett and Jackson fought sixty-one rounds in 1891 in one of the ring’s greatest battles. Jackson entered the contest with a cold and a sprained ankle. These two conditions caused him to stop training ten days prior to the fight. Yet, it was Corbett who was more hard pressed during the contest." "After 1892 Jackson was unable to obtain fights. Past his prime, he was debilitated by fast living and probably even then tubercular. He taught boxing, worked as a publican, toured as an actor in Uncle Tom's Cabin and boxed exhibitions. In March 1898 he was sacrificed to Jim Jeffries, who flattened him in three rounds, and next year suffered the third of his losses in thirty-seven fights at the hands of a fourth-rater at Vancouver. Money was raised to send him to Australia, where he toured with Fitzgerald's circus but he was too ill to box. After several benefits he was sent to Queensland where he died of tuberculosis at Roma on 13 July 1901."
I know we saw the sparring session and the fight. It was embarrassing. Based on watching Corbett get stopped by Fitz and Corbett sparring with Tunney, where would you rate "Dr. Steel Belly" Corbett all-time right now? Top five? Number one, like Tommy Gibbons did? (LOL) Seriously, give it a rest.
It's true, but it doesn't make all of us as knowledgeable. I don't know much about Sullivan times (Janitor, Matt and a few others know much more than both of us) but I know enough about 1890s to be sure that you are wrong.
That argument completely falls apart when you consider Tunney's praise of Joe Louis, saying that "if Jack Dempsey is not the greatest fighter who ever lived, then Joe Louis is,"
I was commenting specifically about Jim Corbett and his record and his opponents. Look at his Cyberboxingzone record. 95 percent of the matches were scheduled six-rounders or less and the vast majority were exhibitions with their own rules negotiated beforehand. You can't take his record, and Jack Sharkeys, and compare them apples to apples. It was a different sport in the 1800s than it was in the 1930s. There's no debating it.
Fights were called exibitions back then to cause no problems with its legality. Besides, you basically said that fighters weren't professionals back then and it's not true. You also said that rounds were shorter then (not in gloved boxing) and fighters drunk between rounds (again, not true).
My argument falls apart? You mean Tunney didn't draw the color line, did fight a bunch of black fighters, did defend his heavyweight title against black fighters and did have a great fondness for Jack Johnson? (LOL) Regarding Louis, from the book "Beyond Glory" about the Louis-Schmeling fights, it says when the British newspaper The Mirror reported before the Louis-Schmeling rematch that Tunney had visited Joe's camp to help him study films of the first fight: "Tunney promptly wired Schmeling, calling the story 'ridiculous' and insisting on his neutrality. Schmeling, for one, believed him. 'Gene, he not only never fought a Negro fighter, he never had one for a sparring partner,' he explained." As much as Jack Johnson was hated, Joe Louis was loved by white fight fans and white former champs because he acted totally different than Jack Johnson. I'm sure Gene Tunney had nothing but praise for Louis when Joe's career was over. Joe was a hero for most Americans. Unfortunately, the white former champs and fans didn't want that HERO to swim in the same pool or sleep in the same hotels they did. As late as the Patterson-Johansson fight in Miami in 1961, Joe Louis wasn't allowed to stay in the same hotel as Max Schmeling and the other former white heavyweight champs attending the fight, because Joe Louis was black. And Florida was still segregated. The Patterson camp and Louis had to stay at the hotel for blacks.
AGAIN, I was referrring specifically to Jim Corbett and his opponents. I know you want to change what I said by adding "you basically said" ... but just stick to what I "actually" said. And, since you don't know much about the era, fighters drank between rounds regularly because unpurified water back then could kill you. Whiskey and beer (because it was boiled during processing) were commonly consumed between rounds. John L. Sullivan was wasted on whiskey during the Kilrain fight because he drank so much and the fight went on and on. People blamed his vomiting during the fight on the booze. Ever been so drunk you threw up? That's how drunk Sullivan apparently got during the Kilrain fight. How many shots of whiskey do you think Sullivan drank in the corner in between 75 rounds of rolling around in the grass against Kilrain? (LOL) Boxing in the 1880s and boxing in the 1930s were different sports.