Bruns broke Johnson's ribs and was ill when they meet? This book says so

Well,he had bandages on till Johnson made him take them off,does that count?

 

I assume it would be a black mouse?:hey

 

Does this make Johnson tougher than JLC? Not sure, but we can agree he's tougher than Vitali

 

That has definitely been established.:good

 

I found the NY Times report on the moving pictures of the fight and it certainly backs up the traditional view of Johnson domination. Some selected quotes:

"the pictures were a disappointment on account of the miserable showing made throughout by Burns"

"there is no mystery why Johnson won. With 30 pounds in weight and 5 inches in height, the colored fighter appeared like a giant next to the French-Canadian, and there was not a single minute from the tap of the first gong up to the time when the Police Inspector stopped the contest in the 14th round that Johnson was not clearly the master of Burns."

"Try as he would, Burns could not land a clean blow on Johnson, but he nevertheless kept after the black and was always the aggressor. It was not until the beginning of the 14th round that he slowed up."

"Johnson got through Burns's guard with a left uppercut which lifted the white man off his feet. It was a terrific smash, and when Burns again faced Johnson the end was in sight."

"Blow after blow rained on Burns's unprotected face and body, and as the latter was hanging onto Johnson and completely helpless, the police intervened for humane motives."

"While it was true Burns was not knocked out, it is doubtful whether he could have lasted until the gong sounded, and no one questioned the fairness of the decision."

*Backs up London. One possible issue is that body punches might not show that well on film.

 

Mcintosh ,the referee went to Burns corner between the 13th ,and 14thrds and asked him if he wanted to quit,with commendable bravery he said he wanted to continue.

 

Hmmm.....yellow, sickly, undersized...are we positive Jack even fought Tommy Burns at all? Can we be sure it wasn't Monty Burns, shown here in one of his blatantly racist lead-ups to the fight?

This content is protected

 

Its official ,it was MONTY!

 

I always envisioned johnson as a beautiful master of the conservative art. Never wasted punches, could pick off any shot he chose. Add to that his proven heart (as per this thread) and he moves up my estimation.

I'm still unsure about his ability against volume punchers (block and parry doesn't work against high workrate) but this thread has definitely increased my viewpoint.

 

I've got to say I really love the video of Johnson throwing combinations at the end, uppercuts, leaning forward to get leverage, it really is Sugar Ray Robinson type stuff

 

I think you grossly underestimate clinching and wrestling in Johnson's style. And this is a pretty proven tactic against Volume punching and workrate.

Watch Johnson closely. every picture i have ever seen of him (just about) has his arms on the inside of his opponents. From there, he can land at will, and he can also protect himself far better than the opponent. with his hands in close, his opponent cannot land cleanly, becaue the arms are obstructing the clean punch. And this wears down the opponent, making them ripe for the picking in later rounds.

I understand your concerns, but under the longer fights and particularly with the different gloves, realistically, he actually has plenty of advantages over more modern fighters, in some respects.

 

It's a bit preposterous to claim Burns was in that fight. Pardon my sarcasm.

 

Excellent reading of strategy. :good I wonder how many others have picked up on this?
It would be foolish for me to assert Johnson would assimilate straight in to the modern game, but I do think his style might be modified, and adjusted accordingly to todays strictures a lot more readily than others seem to believe. Work rate would be the main area for improvement imo.

 

But under modern rules, put him against any heavy throwing more than 30 a round and I think he struggles a lot.

 

As I said, work rate, would have to be addressed.