For All Jess Willard s Faults..

InMemoryofJakeLamotta · May 4, 2024

Mike Cannon said: ↑

Hi Buddy.
Agree with all your points, he is sort of in the same category as Carnera in some way, big strong HW , but not really fighters, both showed immense courage in title fights, when you see the beat down of both of them, it saddens you somewhat, Carrera's loss to Bear is uncomfortable viewing on lots of levels, and poor Willard barely on his feet before Dempsey hits him, and hits him hard, two seemingly nice men, not cut out for the brutal side of our sport.
stay safe Pugguy, chat soon.
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They both beat Larry Holmes

apollack · May 4, 2024

HistoryZero26 said: ↑

People try to chalk up some of the inactivity to WW1 but unlike WW2 none of the top HWs served. Also the US was only in WW1 for a year and a half.

It must be said that before Tunney(who retired after 2 defenses) most HW champs had large swaths of inactivity. Tommy Burns is really the only champ who was active his whole reign. This was normal.

The 2 fighters considered the best during Willards sabatical were Carl Morris and Fred Fulton. While Willard had a win over Morris from 1913 there was really no excuse for not fighting Fulton. After being the first fighter to stop Sam Langford since 1906 Fulton was a pseudo champ and as clear a number one contender as there could be.
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Actually, Willard scheduled a title defense against Fulton, but as a result of the World War, authorities prevented the fight from happening. In the meantime, Jack Dempsey beat the number one contender Fulton in lightning fast fashion, which set up the Willard-Dempsey fight once the authorities would allow it.

HistoryZero26 · May 4, 2024

apollack said: ↑

Actually, Willard scheduled a title defense against Fulton, but as a result of the World War, authorities prevented the fight from happening. In the meantime, Jack Dempsey beat the number one contender Fulton in lightning fast fashion, which set up the Willard-Dempsey fight once the authorities would allow it.
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This is apparently true but I find this perplexing on a number of levels. Also given federalism and Canada I'm very hesitant to put the blame on the authoritys. Also that fight was originally scheduled years before WW1 although at that time it wasn't as obvious or needed a matchup.

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For All Jess Willard s Faults..

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For All Jess Willard s Faults..

InMemoryofJakeLamotta I have defeated the great Seamus Full Member

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