Jess Willard in today's heavyweight division

Imagine Vitali vs Willard...

Two awkward giants bashing the hell out of each other.

Sounds hilarious.

 

L..

I agree.. Very Od timers.. lol.

Merry xmas mate. All the love and happiness you'd wish to yourself ,and those deserved of it too mate.
:good

 

i think that willard fought in a much harder time, he was not mayweather who go to smackdown for the money. willard was 6´6 and 235-259 pounds of natural weight, he is not a little cruiser with tons of artificial muscle or a little man with overweight like many fighters today, and he fought 26 rounds when he faced jack jonhson, and he was very big, today even a flyweight might not fight more than 15 rounds and much less a hw. willard would ko the 90% of the modern fighters(today).he would give a hard time to vitali,haye,adamek.. and wladimir has not a good chin, willard might ko him with a lucky shot, he was not the most skilled fighter but he was a hard guy,durable with heart, good hitting power,great stamina(much more than any modern fighter) and he was very strong. he was bigger than anyone except valuev, he had similar size to vitali and wlad, imagine willard training weights... he would have weighed more of 260 pounds for sure.he would be even stronger. and he would take a punch even better

 

cheers.i wondered what had happened to that L...bloody thing
all the best to you too:good

 

A big man with toughness, conditioning, and punching power would translate to at least a reasonable amount of success in any era. If he were fighting today and paired up with Manny Steward, I see no reason why he couldn't become a belt holder.

 

Reasonable success in most eras and even today a top-10'er. He was a bit slow, much slower than Wlad or even Vit (tho just wait, he gets slower every fight)... I think a dedicated, well trained Willard could crack the top ten in any era and even have been a force in some.

AND if he has Don King to pimp him, reigning world champion for perpetuity!

 

despite the beating he took to Dempsey, he lost the fight conscious. He didnt get knocked out. I think he is one of the toughest fighters in the history of boxing. His fight with with Floyd Johnson was one of the greatest comeback fights ever. Damon Runyan wrote: "Youth, take off your hat and bow low and respectfully to Age. For days and days, the sole topic of conversation in the world of sport will be Willard's astonishing comeback."


Willard sustained enough damage in the Dempsey fight, that a doctor said it was comparable to a very bad accident. Despite that, he never got knocked out. And were talking PRIME Dempsey.


That freakish toughness alone gives him a chance in any era is you ask me. His 1 2 was not bad either. Other than that his punching arsenal was not great.

 

He would probably beat everybody except the beltholders.

You don't have to be particularly good in historic terms to be a force in this heavyweight division.

 

I don't think we have any indication of how fast he could have been in his prime as he did not fight in his early 20's and there is zero film of him prior to 34.

 

Thank you for the responses. I am now more than ever wanting to read a biography of Willard. Are there any out there?

 

I am sure Adam Pollack will get round to it eventualy.

 

I sure hope so.

 

A very happy Christmas to you and yours ESB.
Comrades in ARMS ! b.b.

 

we live in an era where guys like valuev can hold belts

joke

 

He probably wouldn't crack the top 10 today.