For All Jess Willard s Faults..

There's one thing I don't understand about Jess Willard.
Between the win over Jack Johnson and the loss to Jack Dempsey he had one fight (one title defense) in over 4 years (51 months).

 

Definitely deserves credit for his fitness, durability and courage.

It saw him outlast an old Jack Johnson and, sans the fitness, go down in gallant defeat against Dempsey.

I actually see the 1915 Willard being somewhat of a problem for prime Jeffries.

Seemed like a nice, likeable guy also.

 

Hi Buddy.
Agree with all your points, he is sort of in the same category as Carnera in some way, big strong HW , but not really fighters, both showed immense courage in title fights, when you see the beat down of both of them, it saddens you somewhat, Carrera's loss to Bear is uncomfortable viewing on lots of levels, and poor Willard barely on his feet before Dempsey hits him, and hits him hard, two seemingly nice men, not cut out for the brutal side of our sport.
stay safe Pugguy, chat soon.

 

Jess during his 4 years was squeezing as much money as he could out of the title between shows and plays ete. This was during the time where oddly the heavyweight champ made more money doing a play than well defended the title lol. Dempsey would follow suit with his 3-and-a-half-year break, Corbett would sit on the titles for YEARS, as did Sullivan and Fitz, now they were not sitting on their butts doing nothing but generating money just for being champ.

 

Like the guy in the movie said …

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It doesn’t promise for an exciting fight but two durable guys trying to outlast each other would be interesting - and, in that regard, Big Jess might do a lot better against Jeff that most people might give him credit for.

Even when he KO’d Jack in round 26, Willard looked like he might’ve been good for another 10 rounds perhaps.

Johnson agreeing to 45 rounds was crazy - but then Jack probably figured he’d get Jess out of there inside of 20 rounds - and Jack did have Willard’s measure over that number of rounds at least.

Interestingly, the first time Johnson faced up to Jess in the flesh, Johnson did say that he didn’t realise how big Willard really was.

6’6 1/4” is still very tall now, but in Willard’s day, perhaps it was the equivalent to a 7 footer in today’s market.

 

He was doing quite a bit better against Jack after the first round. But he hadn't trained hard and was old and disinterested, and called it a day.

He merrily drove back to Chicago a couple days later, and caught a train back to Kansas. No lasting damage.

 

People try to chalk up some of the inactivity to WW1 but unlike WW2 none of the top HWs served. Also the US was only in WW1 for a year and a half.

It must be said that before Tunney(who retired after 2 defenses) most HW champs had large swaths of inactivity. Tommy Burns is really the only champ who was active his whole reign. This was normal.

The 2 fighters considered the best during Willards sabatical were Carl Morris and Fred Fulton. While Willard had a win over Morris from 1913 there was really no excuse for not fighting Fulton. After being the first fighter to stop Sam Langford since 1906 Fulton was a pseudo champ and as clear a number one contender as there could be.

 

In the 1910s there were an abnormal number of giants in boxing. The guy Willard is mainly criticized for ducking Fred Fulton was also 6 ft 6. And there were a lot of guys north of 6 ft 3 like Carl Morris, Jim Coffey, Andre Anderson and Tom Cowler. While you had the shortest major HW in Langford this might have actually been the point in the 20th century where the average HW was the tallest.

Yeah 45 distance is a paper distance someone wouldn't expect to actually reach and if you're in the 20s you'd think the other guy is also exhausted. But in this situation I guess that wasn't the case. At this point there wasn't a formal decision system and that number was more about ensuring a knockout than anything.

 

It’s interesting when you dig deeper that giants in boxing weren’t exactly rare - they simply weren’t rising to or among the top of the heap.

Even relative to his own size, Max Baer engaged several giants - though their qualities as fighters otherwise might’ve been questionable.

If you stood Max’s brother, Buddy, side by side with Tyson Fury, you would see next to no difference size wise (height and bulk, allowing for Buddy looking more svelte) - though Buddy’s shoulder width would be more impressive than that of the Gypsy King.

Yes, the 45 round limit was set to ultimately see a KO or pass out from exhaustion, and it was a limit set very much in favour of Willard and his particular strengths.

Some have said that if the limit had been shorter, based on a concentration of the same actions and reactions, Willard might’ve put the pedal to the metal sooner.

I don’t see that, I see the 45 road limit having been worked in to fit Willard’s preferred and optimal pacing.

Interestingly, the Dempsey fight was only set for a 12 round limit - which would’ve obviously suited Dempsey due to his being more accustomed to the shorter route fights.

Big Jess probably erred like Johnson did before him, in so far as thinking he’d need less than 12 rounds to see Dempsey off or somehow outbox Jack over that limit - but of course, Dempsey got to Big Jeff first in super quick time.

If only we had film of the fights during Dempsey’s tear to the title - actually, whether they exist today or not (as far as I know, definitely none do) it would be interesting to know if any were originally filmed or not.

They definitely would’ve needed to be quick to start cranking the cameras for the Fulton fight.

 

WIllard"s career mirrors that of pat garret. Both were ambitious and both took out the most infamous two figures of their time. Both were the hero of that moment..for a little while. But people grew to resent both men. Garret was a mean tempered ******* and jess was a lazy uninspiring arrogant idiot. Both had long outstayed their welcomes and therefore there were people eagerly conspiring to get rid of both. Dempsey with a Margarito type plaster brick and jesse wayne brazel with a 6 gun.

 

Liston QUIT for a hell of a lot less...