Willard was a man's man, by all accounts a quality Gentleman, who took his licks like a fighter should, and never had a 10 count against him as a champ. As his corner, against his protest, pulled him out, because of the injuries you listed.
I read a book that said Harry Greb pretended he wasn't in shape and filled bottles up with coloured water whilst hanging around in bars so that Johnny Wilson would fight him, but he was in top shape actually and won apparently easily.
Maybe, but he nicked that off of Al 'The Real' McCoy; who pulled off that trick in the late 19th century.
I just read the bit in the book i got it out of just now, and it didn't mention the coloured water, is that McCoy then i might have got mixed up with? He did pretend to be out of shape in nightclubs and speakeasies though it says, Greb that is.
one of the oldest pieces of boxing memorebelia is the right arm of a bareknuckle boxer named dan donnelly who once fought in kildare ireland.a local pub owner has the arm displayed in his bar.he died in 1820 and the arm has been preserved since
Bad news Teeto and TBooze. Willard did not suffer the injuries that Ferdie claimed. Be careful with your sources -Alot of boxing pundits perpetuate myths. Willard had a closed right eye and a bruised and swelled right cheek ... he never recovered from the vicious Dempsey hook early in round 1, but he was lucid and talking soon after the fight -there goes the jaw fractured in 13 places story. Dempsey crushed him all right, but the injuries weren't nearly as serious as later reports indicated. And this further diminishes the other myth -that Dempsey loaded a glove with an iron bolt or plaster. It didn't happen. Dempsey had his hands wrapped in the ring, under supervision. Willard himself checked them. He wet the wraps because it was 110 degrees in there, which tightened them, and the gloves were 5 ounces. Dempsey hit like an army mule in a tantrum. It's as simple as that. PS/ he did in fact, announce that he would not defend against "colored" fighters. And he did duck Greb. So he wasn't perfect.
Stanley Ketchel was escorted off of Jim Jeffries training camp for being too friendly with Jack Johnson just before the Johnson-Jeffries bout. Possibly.
Thanks for that, there goes me being too nice for my own good again and taking the likes of Ferdie Pacheco's word as good. Haha
Julio Cesar Chavez holds the record of the fight with the largest audience with over 130,000 to see his fight against greg haugen, who stated before the fight that chavez only fights cab drivers, then after the fight chavez went up to him and told him thats why i dont fight cab drivers
nope never seen it i saw it on a YouTube video. Heard its a great DVD though. Ken Norton did the same with steak. Bet you didnt know on the run up to fights Ray robinson drank cows blood. i thouhgt Zale vs Graziano had a higher attendance?
The Azteca was the largest paid attendance; there was a show during WWII that was used to urge people to buy War bonds and attracted 200,000+ I always like Greg's response post fight to the Tijuana taxi driver quote, and he qualified the remark by stating they must of been tough Tijuana taxi drivers!