There is a taped interview with Smith in Peter Heller's book "In This Corner".He talks about sparring with Johnson ,and his various fights.
Do you mean. Barry Willis Barry Miller Geyer Geyer Stewart Flynn Carpentier Levinsky Langford Dillon Weinert Bell Coffey Dillon Flynn Morris Levinsky Cowler Levinsky Dillon Norfolk Norfolk Dempsey Fulton Weinert Walker Turner Miske Greb Miske Dempsey Kruvosky McCormick Farmer Tate Fulton Anderson Wiggins Roper Greb Roberts Martin Wills ????? Mendoza appears to beleive that Johnson ducked Smith,,an opinion NOT confirmed by Smith when he was interviewed. Gunboat had ONE good year ,1913 ,which coincided with Johnson taking it on the lam, to become a fugitive and exile from the States. Smith's best victory is an extremely debatable decision over Sam Langford ,avenged shortly after with interest ,via a devastating 3rd ko. There is nothing in Smith's record to suggest that he would have made a viable opponent for Johnson,he was beaten multiple times and kod 12 times.His best victories apart from his win over Willard, who was having his 15th fight, were over men Johnson had allready comprehensively beaten
Gunboat fougt Moran twice the first time Moran was not considered a contender.They fought again , when Moran was more established , but by then he had been beaten by Johnson in between times.Moran allmost kod Smith in their second fight .
I think this is a bit of spin. Smith fought the three men Johnson defended against between 1910 and 1915, Flynn, Moran, and Willard, and defeated them all. According to boxrec, the fight in which Moran "almost knocked him out" was a newspaper decision for Smith. Smith was credited with defeating Moran in all three of their fights, once by official decision, and twice on newspaper decisions. Smith was 5-0 against these three men with official victories over all three plus two newspaper decisions over Moran. I think Smith, for all his erratic record, was a worthier opponent than the men Johnson actually fought during those years.
I would not expect you to agree with me ,indeed I would be astonished if you did Spin? How's this? Frank Moran was a more viable contender when he fought Johnson , than when he first fought Smith.He was coming of a ko of Al Palzer a leading heavyweight. When Smith fought Moran in 1916 Moran had lost his last two fights one to Dillon whom he outweighed by 35 1/2lbs. Moran beat Cowler then lost to Morris and Smith again, he was done as a class man. If you think Smith should have fought Johnson then realistically it should have been in 1913 when he was going well ,but Johnson was on the run. Smith fought Wells in London,afterwards he was asked if he wanted Johnson,he said," Johnson will wait ,and the longer he waits the better".
Moran, Flynn, and Willard might have been "viable" contenders, but Smith did defeat all of them, as well as Langford. I think Smith would have been a reasonable challenger not only in 1913, but 1914 or 1915. Whether he wanted to fight Johnson is another matter. My only point is I don't see Smith as inferior to any of these other white contenders.
Yes but Smith defeated Moran and Willard before Johnson gave either man a title shot. Usually beating contenders earns you a spot. Clearly Smith was the #1 guy for a while, especially after his win over Langford. If you add in a knockdown that lead to a stoppage in a 4 round ex match ver Johnson himself, I think Gunboat Smith falls into the avoided category.
The Langford fight was considered to be a very debatable decision ,and Langford bombed him out in 3rds in revenge In 1912 ,when Smith beat Moran ,Moran had 15 fights and won only 7 of them ,in fact he had lost 3 consecutively before he lost to Smith ,to Kubiak 18-10-2 Kennedy1-1 -0 Ross 18-7-5. I submit he was not a contender at that time. By the way Ross who beat him, had been toyed with by Johnson in 1909 Willard was still a work in progress with only 15 fights, he would have another 11 before he met the 37 year old Johnson. I dont know how many times you are going to mention that Gunboat Smith knocked Jack Johnson down in a 4 rd sparring match. What does that prove? Toxie Hall dumped Marciano on his arse. Greg Page dropped Tyson. Should they have got title shots? One was a former alphabet champion,the other an experienced a pro fighter,with over 26 fights under his belt, against the likes of Archie Moore John Holman Bob Baker Harold Johnson They were certainly better qualified .At the time.Smith was not even a licensed boxer, he was a sailor awol from his ship. Smith never claimed that Johnson was in danger ,and it is entirely possible he caught an unprepared Johnson unawares,whatever , the incident did not qualify him for a title shot. You are infinitely qualified to talk about spin,because , on this forum, you have no peer at applying it.