[GIF] Dempsey batters Willard

JC! He had not fully recovered in 1959! Broken cheek bones were still wobbling in his face! The hematoma seen in that photo covers the length of the right side of his face. Obviously an indicator that bones are broken.

 

He'd need BIBLICAL healing qualities to heal himself ("fully recovered") from that battering within 2-3 days. It's virtually impossible without divine intervention.
I guess he might have had some magic potion.

Yes. He said he lost a good degree of his hearing then too.
I wouldn't believe everything Willard had to say but the idea that he suffered some permanent damage from the fight seems far more plausible a story than the one where he was right as rain 2 days later.

 

Of course.

We want you to quote anything that would bring another line of evidence to bear!

 

"The champ was taken to Casino... where he bathed. 'I felt physically able to continue but my head wasn't clear and my eye was closed.'" This was Jess' only physical complaint the day after the fight.

"Willard has entirely recovered from the effects of the punishment Dempsey gave him, and has decided to motor to his home in Lawrence, Kan." July 7, Jackson Citizen Patriot

"Jess Willard and his wife slipped quietly into Lawrence Friday (the 11th) night... Willard plans to leave here shortly on a business trip to the Texas oil Fields." July 13th Pueblo Chieftain. Hardly the plans for a man who was supposedly on death's door... after he drives his own car on a multi-day trip over primitive roads.

According to an Associated Press story widely published on the 8th of July, he left Toledo on the 7th. The article states, "The swelling over his left eye had entirely disappeared and the only marks he bore was a slight discoloration over his eye and a cut lip." That is how he looked three days after the fight.

One funny anecdote repeated in many stories is that regarding the mass calls of "quitter" when he refused to come out for fourth. Enough people suggested the fight was a fix that there was an investigation initiated.

 

From Willard's wiki page:
However, the extent of Willard's injuries have been highly disputed, since contemporary reports show that only a few days after the fight, there were few traces of any damage other than a couple of bruises:

A statement was issued after the fight by Jim Byrne "official physician to a local athletic club in Toledo" that Willard had a dislocated jaw, a fractured cheek bone and several "mashed" ribs and that it would be "at least six weeks before Willard is back to normal condition and can move comfortably." This was reported in the Kansas City Times, July 8, 1919, p. 10 "Willard's Jaw Dislocated.”
Pacheco and other reporters based the extent of Willard’s injuries off of this widely distributed report by Byrne who was not a physician. However it soon turned out that Jim Byrne was not a doctor, but was rather a "rubber" in a bathhouse in Battle Creek, Michigan. According to the reporter in an article, "Willard's Jaw is All Right," Kansas City Star, July 8, 1919, p.11, Byrne "doesn't know a nickel's worth about the human anatomy."
Other reports also make it clear that Willard was not as severely injured as has been claimed. An interview by a reporter from Kansas City on July 5, 1919, "Jess Refuses to Alibi," Kansas City Star, July 6, 1919, p. 14, the day after the fight, showed that "aside from the swelling on the right side of his face, which is under cold applications, he was none the worse apparently for his encounter with Dempsey."
In an interview on July 7, the Kansas City Times announced that Jess and his wife were leaving Toledo and driving their car back to Lawrence, Kansas that day. His condition seemed to be fine. "The swelling over his left eye had entirely disappeared and the only mark he bore was a slight discoloration over the eye and a cut lip." ("Willard starts for Home," Kansas City Times, July 8, 1919, p.10).
Another reporter interviewed Jess in Chicago on his way home. "Hello, Jess" said the reporter, "How do you feel ?" "Hello," said Willard, "I'm feeling great. Would you like to spar a few rounds ?" (Kansas City Star, July 10, 1919, p. 10).
Later, according to a reporter for the Topeka Daily Capital, July 16, 1919, p. 8, who interviewed Jess when he got back to Lawrence, "The ex-champion didn't have any black eye, nor any signs that he was injured in any way."
Contemporaries also reported that Willard had lost no teeth, and that his jaw was not broken. A day after the fight, the New York Times interviewed Willard at length, and speaking would have been very hard if his jaw really had been multiply fractured

 

Willard..."He closed both my eyes and cut my face to ribbons".

"The entire right side of my face was caved in."

"Put your hand here. Feel that bone moving around? That's what Dempseys left glove did to my face"

 

more like a well built LHW

 

Once again, lore speaks louder than fact to some.

 

Ottawa Journal March 1963

Yet Willard, gentle as he is in many ways, has steadfastly stuck by his charge of being victimized in the Dempsey fight. When the short bout ended,-Willard was terribly beaten. One aide of his face was caved In, his jawbone broken. He's never changed or relented. ....MOBSTERS JOBBED ME! The 80-year-old Willard. repeated his version. "I was Jobbed. Them mobster jobbed me. I put all of em in the same category Rickard, Kearns, the labor man they appointed as my trainer. They wouldn't let me train. They kept me awake all night. And then they used cement on Dempsey." "Sure. it was cement. You don't suppose a little squirt of cement would do lots of damage on my face do you? Feel my face here. Do you feel that bone moving around? That's what Dempseys left glove did to my face. It was completely caved in". FISTS TOO HEAVY TO LIFT? "No glove fist done that!" he exclaimed. "You notice he knocked me down in the first round and then-couldn't even lift his fists the other two." "I was beat all to hell I had to go to the hospital. My wife got to the fight in enough time to see those mobsters jobbing me it was the worst thing she said she ever saw and I wish she hadn't."

 

So if you believe the veracity of Willard's injuries in this statement you must also take the veracity of the cement in glove claim.

Checkmate.

 

More silliness from the game player.

Willards own words show he was severely injured. Broken bones, hospital etc. This is all first hand accounts from the man himself.

The cement idea is Willards speculation. Of course we have first hand accounts that disprove this. Fleischer for one watched Dempseys hands being wrapped. There are photos very clear photos that show Dempseys wrapped hands just prior to the gloves being put on. All you see is a thin wrapping of tape.

Alternatively we can also see photos of Willards during the fight with a huge hematoma covering the right side of his face further proof bones have been broken.

 

There are reports from people who interviewed him at his rented house in Toledo. Acording to those who were there, he went to the Casino where he training camp had been, showered and received some "first aid" for his eye and an hour later was on the sun porch of said rented house. No hospital. No life threatening condition. He was speaking to reporters so no broken jaw.

But was there cement and backstabbing criminal shenanigans from Dempsey's canp?

 

Again it was important to the career of Willard that he was in no way portrayed as damaged goods.

Willard himself is telling you his facial bones were broken and he went to the hospital. He was horribly beaten by Dempsey. Believe the man himself concerning his own injuries or keep playing your games. Your choice.

 

Believe what he says during the entire week after the fight, statements that are backed by his actions and his demonstrated faculties ... or believe some crock he cooks up 40 years later?

Are we still believing that Johnson threw the Havana fight, too?

Please, go find me among the many next day and next week on site articles a mention of Willard going to a hospital.

 

Since you have a learning disability I will repeat one more time. It was important to a fighters career that he not be portrayed as damaged goods. Willard and those around him had great reasons not to announce how badly he was hurt and that he went to a hospital. I would also expect most in the press would not want to ruin Willards livelihood.

There is no doubt Willard was horrifically beaten in this fight. That huge hematoma that covers the right side of his face means a bone or bones are probably broken. This relates directly to Willards comments in 1963.

Fleischer who sat at ringside mentioned this as the worst beating he ever saw. Willards body was covered in welts, jaw hanging open pouring blood, eyes cut and bleeding, eyes swollen and closed, cheek bone broken. All consistent with what you see when watching the fight. Fleischers account mimics other ringside reports.