Jack Johnson vs Joe Frazier

Frazier was a left hooker with poor coordination between his left and right hands. Everything was a hook with Joe and this was very well known and understood. Very late in his career he began developing a right which was good enough to badly cut Quarry in fight two however Joe never developed the coordination necessary to use both hands in combination. Using both hands to the body requires no coordination. Name one top 10 hwt fighter he knocked down with a right hand

 

That must have stung

Actually I would LOVE to see 28 year old Klitschko vs 38 Klitschko.

The measured, ice-cold power-puncher vs the jab n grab veteran who knows all the tricks including when to rocket in with a left hook from hell.

I'll be cheering for the younger Klitschko ... :happy

 

Fair enough.

But some of the guys around here may have footage that's unavailable to the forum plebs (myself included). So, there's that to consider.

That said, Willard looks horrible compared to modern fighters and he handled (old) Johnson.

 

Frazier had an all time left-hook to the head or body.

Many comments on the power, or the stamina he had to throw it all night, but few comment on hand speed of this punch.

Some hardcore boxing guys say Frazier's left hook was as fast as Ali's cross or jab.

At his best in 1971, Frazier badly hurt Ali in round 11 ( 10-8 round in my book ) and famously floored Ali in the 15th round with a left hook that would have finished most.

I highly doubt Johnson could take the best from Frazier. He would have to wrestle and tie him up all night long.

 

Johnson will not be able to stall and fight as his leisure. Frazier will make him work constantly and Johnson will not be used to it.

Johnson's best chance is to catch Frazier early before starts to smoke. Frazier gave Ali life and death in their first and third fights. I don't expect Johnson to be able to do the same.

Frazier KO 10

 

Just watched Unforgivable Blackness and I'm now educated on
this outstanding champion and undoubted atg Jack Johnson. I go Jack.

 

The doc is decent, but with some errors. For example, they show Joe Walcott's photo when they talk about Sam Langford.

Many of Johnson's losses or draws are not mentioned or discussed.

On the plus side, they do show a lot of ring action, and most of the commentators are good.

I recommend the book. It's the best in terms of looking at both sides of the coin over an ego centristic, and complex man who was both a hero, a villain at the same time.

 

I need to read that. A controversial figure in a bigoted era but he transcended it in the end, although I agree he blurred the lines between hero and villain.

 

Johnson's dark side is explained in the book. He beat his wife within an inch of her life, and assaulted a 120-pound sickly man in a hospital, claiming self-defense. He was also a pimp in his Chicago nightclub.

The top black intellectuals of the time didn't like Johnson. Johnson didn't view himself as a hero, rather thought of himself as an individual sometimes at odds with the hopes of the black community of his time.

Indeed, Johnson reinforced the worst stereotypes.

He had problems in most nations he traveled, and many of them had no racial problems.

He was also a musician, a linguist, a flash dresser, and a daredevil who seemed to enjoy whites as company.

I would have liked him better in the ring if he fought Langford, Jeannette, GunBoat Smith, or McVey during his title run, and been more respectful in the ring when his opponent was overmatched.