Johnson V Langford in 1909 ?

Jeff Clark as a suitable challenger for Johnson?

Clark had his first pro fight in 1908 the year Johnson beat the **** out of Tommy Burns for the title.

1908 Clark was kod ,and lost another fight to welterweight Dixie Kid.

1909 Clark lost to Jack Reed 1-2-0

1909 Clark again lost to welter weight Dixie Kid x2

1910 Clark drew with Welterweight Christy Williams 2-2-0

Drew with Middleweight Larry Temple x2 Drew with Joe Jeannette [his best result by far].

But Clark was kod by Langford that year too.

1911 Clark drew with middleweight Frank Mantell,and with welterweight Kyle Whitney,Clark did beat Levinsky and McCarty that year ,but both were7 fight novices.

In 1911 Clark did beat Jim Barry ,but Barry had been thrashed by Porky Flynn in his previous outing, losing every round.

Even so the Barry result was probably his best win over a heavyweight,up to that time,[and ,one of his few contests with them].

1912 Clark drew with and lost to Harry Wuest 5-1-1 drew with Kid Cotton ,[a Johnson sparring partner]5-2-0.

1912 Clark beat Joe Jeannette nws 6rds, his best win.

1913 Clark drew with Mike Twin Sullivan a middleweight.

Clark had 2 fights with Jeannette in1913 losing one the other was a NO contest when the refree stopped it because Jeannette ,far out in front was carrying Clark.

Clark drew again with Kid Cotton, now 5-4-0

Clark drew with Harry Wills 8-1-0

1914 October Clark beat Langford over 10rds.

Summarizing Clark's wins over heavyweight contenders, we have.

A 1911 win over Jim Barry.

A 1912 nws win over Joe Jeannette 6rds

A 1914 win over Langford in October. Johnson was defeated for the title in April 1915 .

When should he have defended against Clark?

In 1912 when Clark was drawing with his sparring partner?

In 1913 when he was beaten by Jeannette, and thrown out because he was being carried?

In 1914 when he had his best win ,against Langford?

But that was in October , Johnson had just defended against Frank Moran, and was then in Argentina.
The justification for a defence against Clark would have been very tenuous to say the least the vast majority of Clark's fights,whilst Johnson was champion, were with welters and middleweights,and the window of opportunity ,not to say the only viable time for such a fight ,would have been between November 1914 and April 1915.
As late as April 1915 Clark could only draw with Rough House Ware 1-4-4,and, in November with Battling Jim Johnson over 15rds.[ Jack Johnson had managed that at the age of 35 with a broken arm]
In closing, Clark was palpably not a viable contender for Jack Johnson's title.

 

Choynski said Johnson was naturally skilled, and that he thought slugging was his best chance.
" Johnson was awfully long and reachy,and I remember I had a hard time getting my punches to his face.
When the third round started I decided to take a chance,I felt that if I lost the fight it would hurt my prestige,and I couldn't afford that.

I walked out for that round with my guard high, to tempt Johnson to lead for my ribs,he bit like a hungry bass at the bait,and ,as he did , I lashed out with all my weight for his jaw,with my left hook ,which pardon me for saying so was the equal of any man's punch, [Jeffries,Fitz, Johnson and Corbett agreed on this,],bar none,It landed just below the temple".
Johnson said on film that he had nine fights with Jeannette.

 

Thanks for the very valuable input.

 

Johnson wins in a cake walk and NO knockdown scored by Langford.

 

I repeated the Smith quotes to you loads of times you chose to ignore them.NO ko of Johnson ,no TKO ,Johnson put through the ropes as stated by the man who did it.In a Sparring session.
Smith had a brief purple patch of just under ONE year this has been discussed ad nauseum on here.
During Johnson's reign Smith lost to .
Georges Carpentier
Charley Miller
Jim Barry
Porky Flynn
Battling Levinsky
Jim Stevens
Jack Dillon
Jim Stewart

And Was kod by
Jack Geyer
Jim Barry
Sam Langford
Joe Wiliams

Smith won the spurious White Heavyweight title from Arthur Pelkey who was totally shot, and won 5 of his next 25 fights, being kod in 11 of them.
Smith held the ttile exactly 6 months being beaten in his first defence by 170lbs Georges Carpentier . Smith did not want to fight Johnson and never campaigned to do so.

 

His purple patch lasted around 10 months.But was he the standout challenger or,just the standout white challenger? And he was only that for 6 months till Carpentier beat him.
Smith could not even beat Carpentier , how does he beat Johnson?