If Tyson gets in the clinch with him he's just as good as dead. Tyson was not a good inside fighter and Johnson was faster and more powerful than he looked. I say Johnson by late KO.
Jack Johnson had to box over 25 rounds so I don't know how his conditioning would be less than that of Tyson simply because he was born in the early 1900s. All that talk about 'nutrition' and 'diet' is nonsense and mostly pseudo-science, people have known what to eat and what not to eat for centuries.
Johnson was a terrific inside fighter.Tyson was crap,.Tyson had blistering fast hands and top end power. Johnson might frustrate Mike to the point that Jack loses an ear!
Didn't the same rules apply equally to his opponents? Of course you have to be capable of knocking them down first.
Johnson survives an energetic onslaught by Tyson in the first round by clinching Tyson, grabbing both his arms in an embracing fashion. This continues through the 3rd round as Johnson, the Human Octopus, frustrates Tyson's ability to throw left hooks and right uppercuts inside. By the third round, Lil Arthur is taunting Mike "hit me in the belly, Mikey", the grabbing and laughing in his face. In the 5th, Tyson attempts to bite the nipple of the much taller Johnson but fails to gain a mouthful. In the 7th, Johnson hurts Tyson with a lead right then begins a vicious multi punch attack until Tyson slumps to his knees and spits out his mouthpiece. Tyson shakily gets to his feet and survives the round. 8th through the 12th has some brief interludes of action but Tyson is smothered by the Galveston Giant's grabbing. Johnson smiles at the TV cameras and taunts Cus D'Amato in Tyson's corner. In the fateful and unlucky 13th, Tyson literally collapses after a flurry of lefts and rights by Jack, falls to the canvas, rolls over on his back as the referee, Arthur Mercante Senior, counts him out. Jack Johnson, the NEW heavy weight champ of the world. His wife, Scarlett Johansson, climbs into the ring and plants a kiss on his bloodied lips.
Round 1: Johnson takes ring center and tries to parry, maul, and smother Tyson. He has some success at first, but Tyson keeps himself busy with body shots and high volume to push Johnson back. Tyson easily wins the round as Johnson only lands a few jabs and is on the defensive most of the time. Round 2: Johnson again tries to stifle Tyson's offense, intercepting the hooks with open hand grabs and counters. Tyson however is much quicker and times Johnson with reverse counters of his own landing a brutal hook that drops Johnson who is more embarrassed than hurt, but still hurt. Johnson covers up in his shell, then tries an uppercut momentarily wobbling Tyson who wins the round. Round 3: Johnson now tries to jab and grab to recover and keep Tyson from getting his momentum going. This works the first few times as Tyson's own non stop aggression leads to him naturally falling right into Johnson's vice grip clinches. We then see some similarities to the Mathis fight as a war on the inside at ring center explodes with Tyson attempting his short sharp combinations and Johnson doing pinches, lacing, etc mixed in with legitimate blows to disorient Tyson. This of course leads to strong reprimanding from the ref when Tyson lands an elbow and all sportsmanship is lost in nearly a full round of chaos. Both men have lumps and cuts. Tyson is still in the lead, although some judges may have scored the round even. Round 4: Johnson is determined to slow down the relentless offense of Tyson who keeps dropping punches like rain and won't back off. He is now pushing, using quick turns, and matador maneuvers to walk Tyson into punches (notably more uppercuts) along with some stiff arms which gets him another stern warning by the ref. Tyson decides to invest in body shots again and just landing to score rather than wind up for 1 big shot now that the action has slowed down again. Towards the end of the round, Tyson lands a double hook the body then head then sends Johnson stumbling backwards and covering up. Tyson bombards him with a 5 punch combination that nearly breaks his gaurd before Johnson ties him up and refuses to let go until the bell rings. Round 5: Johnson is now sorely behind and getting desperate. He is also badly hurt. Tyson comes out of his corner applying intense pressure and slipping Johnson's pedestrian punches along with his now obvious attempts to clinch. Johnson throws pawing jabs to draw Tyson in and throws a powerful uppercut which misses completely. Tyson has the timing down, slips to the left, and lands a hook that flattens Johnson. Johnson is up at 6 on wobbly legs. Tyson is all over him missing a few wild shots, but then starts connecting which forces Johnson to go into his fortress yet again. But the punches don't stop coming and he grabs tightly forcing the ref to deduct a point. Tyson continues to punch before managing to slip a hook through a crack in the guard busting Johnson's lip as blood splatters before the ref stops it. Tyson TKO round 5. Really bad matchup for Johnson. Regarding Johnson's inside game and superior clinching, he still has to effectively use it in such a way that he can both A) neutralize Tyson's offense and B) win rounds. People can point to the Smith fight, but Smith lost by a wide margin because he only had one of those ingredients and wasn't effectively mounting his own offense while simply fighting to survive. Johnson would quickly discover that hoping to wear Tyson out bit by bit with spoiling tactics wouldn't work as Tyson's hand speed, ferocious aggression, and accuracy all combine for a style that would win him rounds even if he doesn't land that many flush bombs. Johnson's passive, low volume, defense-oriented style attempting to slow the action down to a snail's pace would be a terrible strategy against a fast starting firecracker like Tyson. The best case scenario for Johnson would be to spoil and cover up hoping to avoid a KO loss and last the distance, but this is very unlikely to happen especially because Johnson would be too prideful to let things end that way and Tyson would hurt him at some point and probably end it when he does.
You act as though Tyson would be able to hit Johnson easily, and that Johnson would just back off and clinch without offering any resistance, you also don't take into account that Johnson had very fast reflexes and certainly would catch Tyson coming in - Tyson walked into plenty of uppercuts against Mitch Green. You also don't take into account that Johnson was physically superior in terms of height and raw strength though Tyson was the better one-hitter quitter. Tyson only had one speed and only one way of fighting and a fighter like Johnson would pick up on his fight pattern and frustrate him as Tyson went for the same attacks with little or no variation; lets also not forget that Johnson fought in an era of genuinely tough heavyweights, he fought and beat guys like: Sam McVey, Joe Jeanette, Sam Langford, Frank Childs, Young Peter Jackson, Fireman Jim Flynn, Fitzsimmons (washed-up), Jim Jeffries (washed-up) and Stanley Ketchel. All tougher than anybody Tyson fought. If Tyson fights the way he always does then getting into the clinch with Johnson is inevitable and Tyson doesn't have the ability to contend with Johnson in the clinch wouldn't be able to take the uppercuts from close range. I think Tyson has a few good rounds but once Johnson gets the hang of it Tyson would get played with and stopped inside 15. If Holyfield and Bonecrusher Smith and Quick Tillis and Tony Tucker could frustrate him then I think Johnson would do that tenfold and finish him.
