An odd result for a pirme Jack Johnson?

FAO MENDOZA< Still waiting on your source [es], that Burns had yellow fever when he fought Johnson . Strange that the info never found its way into any of the 6 books I have read on Johnson:huh

 

Or that the guy shared a ring with Jem Mace and Joe Louis?

That is some history there.

 

J ,I have posted the Liebling quote on the parallell Johnson thread.

 

Uh, I'm no doctor but have read books on the ol' Yellow Jack and I really, really doubt Tommy had Yellow Fever. It was still extremely deadly at that time (and continues to be in many places in the world). Perhaps he was jaundiced from hep or blood poisoning or something similar.

In regards to my Willard comment earlier, that was in the context of a 25 rounder. And yes, I think Willard- with his power and monstrous strength- gives Johnson problems any time in his career.

What I would like, for academic reasons, is to see a list of what some consider Johnson's five greatest victories.

 

I don't recall posting a clipping which stated that

The one I may have quoted is still at boxrec, the Philadelphia Inquirer writer's comment, which states that there were a handful of journalists voting for both fighters.

 

The "Yellow Fever " has now been "diluted "to "Jaundice" ,and then to "Ill"


One source says Burns suffered a bout of flu sometime before the fight ,I
very much doubt it was Jaundice ,because that is allmost allways accompanied by a high fever.IT is worth noting that Burns weighed EXACTLY SAME 168 lbs WHEN he defended his title against Jem Roche , in DUBLIN ,and that was in 1908 THE SAME YEAR AS THE JOHNSON FIGHT.
Did Burns have Yellow fever, jaundice then?

 

There is no way in hell he had yellow fever but he might have been recovering from some sort or hepatatic infection if he was jaundiced. I also have read he was quite sick before the fight and the weight loss seems to attest to this. Regardless, there is no way the blown-up middleweight was going to win. I think we can all agree on that. Perhaps the best we can say, is it hindered his durability and performance to some degree.

 

On the weight issue, it has to be noted that weights were routinely misreported around this time for one reason or another.

Promotors would exagerate the weight of a smaller fighter or understate the weight of a larger fighter to make a bout look competitive.