If Jack Johnson Had Lived In To His 90 's..?

If he stayed lucid, that would give us a Marciano opinion on everyone upto even an ageing Wlad Klitschko.

 

Nobody disputes that he was taken from us too soon, but I would really have liked him to see Tyson and Holyfield in their primes, and perhaps be a commentator on that era.

While we are on the subject, it is not a stretch to keep Joe Louis alive for a couple more decades.

 

Certainly. The Rock was pretty classy during & after his career. I think Tyson would have been too much for him but he & Holyfield I could see producing an absolute barn burner.

 

Could you imagine if Corbett was alive to see footage of his Fitz fight go mainstream in the 50s/60s and watch journalists/fighters clown him? Lmfao

 

I’d liked to have seen Jack Johnson well into his 90s writing and talking with the boxing world.

 

Definitely not. He’d be 110 years old when Lennox won gold in Olympics.

 

Why do you believe he was so intelligent?

 

Lol Ferg.

There’s a few here who were trying to kill your hypothetical before it could even got off the ground.

It’s not like you asked what if Johnson lived to 90 but was non compos mentis - a stumbling, mumbling mess. Not a lot to discuss with that mental caveat in place.

So, we’re talking a 90 something year old Jack Johnson with all his faculties intact, still driving like a mad man and drinking like a fish if he so wishes.

Jack was a bit of a megalomaniac. He would see no one fit to usurp him, not even Ali.

He’d be hypercritical of the modern fighters, who he’d say wouldn’t have lasted 1 round with the comp. Jack tangled with and defeated.

Otherwise, he’d be a damn entertaining listen - per the literature and scant audio we have of Jack - I believe he was extremely intelligent and articulate. He could talk on many a subject with fair knowledge.

I think Ali would’ve been quite deferential to a still living Jack Johnson.

Ali certainly acknowledged Johnson’s huge balls and admitted that he was a far more fearless and crazier cat than he (Ali) ever was. Huge compliment.

 

Let’s give him another 20 + years then. Going, going...gone. 110 + yo it is then...unless we want his opinion of Tyson Fury also....?

 

Yes, it’s one of the rarest sights in Boxing - to see Ali talk with 200% genuine awe & deference of someone. But he does of Johnson.

 

I envisage Jack being very supportive of Muhammad during his exile from the ring. He may well have taken an active stance in getting his boxing license back. Jack may well have seen Ali's predicament as a modern day (for the time) equivelant of his own and that's where the empathy would come in.

 

Great point Stevie. Wonder if Jack might’ve had some empathy for Liston also - so common struggles shared between them also I think.