Anybody Know about George Godfrey

See... That's what is ****ed up....... LOOK! I am a BIDNESS man... I'll market anything that can turn a buck..... Black or White, I want the best fighter out there who'll deliver the goods, etc..... Fans and the public will always pay to see two heavyweights with a punch and skills go to war.... Heavyweights were good for BIDNESS back in the golden era of Hollywood and Boxing..... YES! People hated Jack Johnson, but he still packed the halls and brought in cash flow...... Harry Wills and George Godfrey could've done the same had they been handled by good management.....

NOW! To really get down to it.... The trick to get a black fighter with skill and power some much needed exposure and publicity back in the 10s & 20s, is to get the black fighter to hook up with a good white team who'll look out for him.... I'm guessing "Wills & Godfrey" didn't have that type of team.... Due to the times in America, a black fighter with an all black team was NOT gonna go anywhere here in the States.... The USA is a strange land......

MR.BILL

 

Wasn't Godfrey managered by Jimmy Dougherty?

 

I'm not sure who was managing Godfrey.... Yet... If he was connected with Jack Dempsey, you'd think some white guys would've aided George Godfrey to a certain extent..... This is way before my time.... I can't say what the hell the promoters were thinking or what they failed to see in Godfrey...... Hmmmmm.... It just sounds and seems that George Godfrey was a cross between a typical 1980s heavyweight contender / chump like a "Tubbs, Page, Dokes, Smith, Berbick, Spoon, Thomas, Tucker & Buster Douglas." All very good when in proper shape, but all too often lazy and absent from the gym.....:huh

MR.BILL

 

http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/Jimmy_(The_Baron)_Dougherty

 

I posted earlier about NOT being impressed with Dempsey's title fights with "Gibbons & Carpentier." Well, I am also NOT impressed with Gene Tunney defending and retiring after his fight with Tom Heeney...... The 1920s was a classic decade for many things of the 20th century, however, some of the heavyweight title fights were questionable.... Cheers.....

MR.BILL

 

Thanks for posting the fight TheGreatA.

 

When did the polished version of Carnera show up ? If the raw version beat a focused and determined, I'm dying to see the finished product ...

 

I would like to second this. Thank you very much for posting this.

My own take is that Godfrey looks very limited in this film. He is basically a come forward mauler. The camera is so far away it is difficult to judge things, but Godfrey does not seem to have a jab at all, carries his hands low, and does not have much head movement. Carnera did not seem to have that much trouble hitting him although his punches appeared to have no effect on Godfrey. One must wonder, though, how Godfrey would have stood up if the opponent were someone like Baer.

Carnera was certainly still a somewhat green opponent.

Was Godfrey wearing the cuffs. That is certainly possible, given both of these men's reputations but there is really nothing to back that up on the film, and I wonder why he would abjure throwing left jabs but throw overhand rights again and again if he was going into the tank.

 

Old Fogey,

First off, Godfrey was about as overweight in this bout as kirk johnson was when he fought vitali klitschko.

2ndly, IF you rewatch the film I think its end of first or early 2nd round...Godfrey finally decides to open up and he throws a very fast 1-2 left jab straight right hand followed by a combination left uppercut overhand right hand which staggers carnera back into the ropes. Very good punching technique during this exchange,. The one time godrey tried, he opened up and hurt carnera, i felt like he decided to show carnera for a brief moment how much better he was. Blackburn was godfreys trainer remember, thats a hell of a punching coach. godfrey was defintley on the cuffs though for the rest of the fight IMO

 

Carnera was still learning in this fight I agree, and Godfrey probably believed he deserved a title shot years ago. You really have to ask why fighters like Tunney and Dempsey avoided fighting Godfrey in the late 20's? Godfrey had lost at least 4 fights by DQ's for hitting low and continued the trend in the Godfrey-Carnera fight. Godfrey was a feared fighter during this era and had sound skills. He is in the Hall of Fame.

I am saying Carnera should not be the barometer of how good Godfrey was - you should look at the Dempsey/Tunney era and ask why they avoided him. Probably because Godfrey would knock them silly.

 

Anyone can guess whatever they want about Godfrey. The fact is his record is studded with losses when he got a big chance--Godfrey lost to Renault, Sharkey, Risko, Jack Gross, and Walter Cobb, as well as to Carnera on a foul, and he barely edged Uzcudun in a close fight. His defenders fall back on claiming he wore the cuffs, basically on his own word. Who knows? but there is faint evidence he was quite the world-beater he is cracked up to be, certainly not off the film against Carnera.