[Photo] Jess Willard, Max Baer, Jim Jeffries, Jack Dempsey, and Primo Carnera

Willard quit against Joe Cox and in several major fights seems to have turned extremely defensive to avoid engagement.

 

Yeah the revision on Willard is patently ridiculous. He was CHOSEN for one purpose specifically because of his size. Credit to him for coming from WAY behind against a fat old inactive champion to pull it out but nothing in his record, including his LOSS to gunboat smith who he outweighed by 50 pounds points to him being anything more than a mediocre HW who just happened be enormous for an era when the average height was nearly a foot shorter and the average weight was about 100 pounds less.

 

Leave it to F&D to refute photo evidence. They are all standing practically in a row. The angle makes 0 difference.

 

:deal

 

The average height was not 5'6" nor was the average weight 138 lbs. Willard's loss to Gunboat Smith is nothing to be ashamed of. Willard's problem was he didn't have experience. Back then that was the way to really get good a boxing. Experience. And it still is the way. Smith was the 10 to 6 favorite over "The Giant Cowboy" so to say that Willard should have dominated Smith is very uneducated. Even Willard's contemporaries thought he was going to lose. In defense of Willard many people thought he won or should have been at least awarded a draw.

 

"The average height was not 5' 6" nor was the average weight 138 lbs."

It might well have been smaller. I have just looked up some info on World War 1 and World War 2 soldiers, and

For the British Expeditionary Force WWI

Average height-----5' 5"
Average weight----8 stone (112 lbs)

For the Americans

Average height-----5' 7.49"
Average weight-----137 lbs

*however, the American height and weight might be distorted upwards as a great many draftees were rejected as undernourished and below acceptable weight.

In WW2

For the Americans

Average height-----5" 8.1"
Average weight-----144 lbs

Civil War

Average height-----5' 7.6"

A WWI American soldier was slightly shorter than a Civil War soldier. Why? Probably increasing urbanization. Farm kids got better nutrition than city kids in those days.

*I have read that when the Americans started arriving in France in 1917 and 1918 the French were impressed with how tall they were.

 

Well, all sources I have seen credit Willard as being taller than Carnera, and Willard's height seems to have been disputed now and then. He might have been close to 6' 7". He was probably heavier than Carnera when this photo was taken as he was old and heavy. My guess he might have been around 300 lbs.

What impresses me is how spiffy Willard looks with those shoes, or are those spats.

Jeff looks great in that well-tailored suit, also.

As for Jeff not looking that big, or certainly tall--he always looks surprisingly short in photos and films I have seen.

 

willard could be taller but the frame (bones) of carnera was much much bigger,carnera was light at 260 pounds and he was pure muscle at 270-280 he looked perfect and brutal,willard was soft at 238 ,he was more lanky, like i said willard was fat and old at that time and carnera was in shape, the angle of the camera is a big factor

 

"louis took shots from punchers like billy conn" by Mr.dagowop

 

As Curly Howard would say:"Nyuk...Nyuk...Nyuk!!!"

 

Are we not talking about heavyweight boxing here? Who gives a **** about the average non boxer height lol.

 

I'm 100% positive I have never said that. Not because of the outlandish statement that Billy Conn was a puncher but because I never would have phrased it like that.

I can see why they banned you 3x. Can't even make up a believable lie.

 

That is I understood klompton2 to be referring to with the word "average"

He certainly wasn't referring to an average heavyweight.

Anyway, it is info.

 

agreed

 

your accurate phrase was " louis had a great chin because he took shots from guys like max baer,galento ,buddy and billy conn ( 2 posters died of laugh because obviously you did not even know who billy conn was because you mentioned him like if he was a big puncher,of course he is a lhw more than a runner cute boxer type and no puncher),pathetic