Head to head, I would pick ****ey beat him ten times out of ten... and I don't even think that highly of ****ey.
At the end of the day, you can't overlook what these fighters did in the real physical universe. C00ney never beat a fighter ranked in the top ten, while Willard was a lineal champion. This means that we have to assume that Willard was better, or place a heavy burden of proof on anybody asserting the contrary. They would be making an extraordinary claim, which by definition would require extraordinary evidence to back it up.
C0oney's wins are on par with Willard, plus if you're not blind you can see he's 10 times the fighter. Would a prime C0oney have lost to some of the dropouts who beat Willard? Doubtful.
Based on what? I can't say that you are definitely wrong, but as the person asserting this, you assume the burden of proof.
No reason to think Willard would have even beaten the 37 year old Johnson in a 10 or 12 round fight. He was badly outpointed to that point, although I guess one could fairly make the argument that Jess was laying back and pacing himself for the long haul. How many of these top ten best Johnson in ring generalship, athletic talent, reflexes, etc.? While I agree boxing has evolved, this opinion strikes me as over-the-top.
I would pick Willard over Gerry C in a finish fight, or over the 20 round distance of Jess' day. Jess had way more stamina. If Gerry C doesn't get Willard out of there quickly, not an easy task with a prime, in-shape Willard, things will get sticky for him as the fight drags on.
John Galt I heard Willard on a radio interview back in the sixties, and for what's it worth, he mentioned he had a lot of unlisted fights, "including bare-knuckle fights" Who knows what was happening in small towns in Kansas and Oklahoma in the 1890's (when Willard would have been old enough to start fighting) and the early 1900's. So at least on the issue of his experience I would part company a bit with you, and say he might have been much more experienced than his official record implies.