Your thread, VJ, conjures a poem I've never forgotten: A GLIMPSE OF BEAU JACK Philadelphia, 1946. Night. My father and I are walking home along a pavement raked by swirling snowflakes wherever the wind kicks up. Having just emerged from under the beamed shadows of the El we cross to the Arena, heading home to mashed potatoes, sisters, downcast eyes, anger and sullen silence past the wall in which a door stands open and I see in luminous blackness hundreds of black shapes, heads and shoulders, the sides of faces silvered in swirls of smoke, the embers of cigars glowing an instant and then blacking out far off in the black depths the source of light, the canvas square of ring circled by kliegs and a slim brown man who has a bigger man pinned on the ropes, digging blood-red gloves methodically, like a man chopping wood, into his ribs, the white skin splotching pink. Could I have seen at that distance the rocking and ripple of muscle under the bronze skin or did I just imagine all of this? It couldnt have been much more than a second my father was a very impatient man but there it is, as radiant as just now. My arm was jerked hard, I was dragged away wondering desperately who the man was then there he was on a poster, fists cocked, poised, smiling behind his gloves. I have forgotten the name of his opponent but not his name. I loved him, and I wanted what he had not the jeweled belt, the title, money, fame what could they mean to an eleven-year-old? No, what I wanted was the pride and power, prowness and speed and grace, and even more, fearlessness in the face of bigger men. And that most beautiful of names Beau Jack.
Beau Jack was strong as a bull and a little more skilled than he is made out to be in my opinion. I won't put it past DeJesus to score a win in a trilogy, especially in a 10 round fight, but for the most part Jack would outlast him. I think one of the real setbacks for DeJesus was his size and lack of physical strength in comparison to the likes of Duran and Cervantes. Otherwise he was pretty terrific. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH_6dOsbzMo[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bDFLsT1AJg[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3rPqivPbxQ[/ame]
Beau Jack at his best[ and no one on ESB has seen film of the prime Beau Jack], was a truly great fighter,who has a special place in my heart,because he was the main eventer in the FIRST pro card my dad took me to. Until he burned himself out fighting 21 times as a 20 year old,and thereafter, Beau Jack [Sidney Walker] was a non-stop action fighter who whipped welter Fritzie Ziviz twice,Henry Armstrong, Bob Montgomery,Willie Joyce,and a slew of other top fighters,by the time he was 23 years old. His nemesis was the great Ike Williams who had Beau's number. Beau Jack was my favorite action fighter ever,and he sold Out MSG 7 times in ONE YEAR... Jack defeats Estaban by sheer number of punches Beau Jack threw, and he was a powerfu Lightweight. And I have him over Duran prime to prime. Too bad there is no film of the prime Beau Jack, except for the fading Beau Jack I saw in Philly in 1948,when Ike Williams almost killed him due to a negligent referee...That is the only film of Beau Jack I've seen on the internet...Too damn bad...
I love the way Esteban mixes up his combinations, throwing three or four punches to the head, taking a step forward, digging two or three shots to the body, and then throwing a few more punches to the head. He was one of the greatest combination punchers I've ever seen especially because he threw all his shots with solid power, not just shoe shining like many fighters. He's direly underrated on this forum. Call it a hunch but Dejesus by UD.
