gunboat smith.....

Smith was a paid sparring partner of Johnson's. He would not bite the hand who feed him. If you ask a fighters sparring partner something about him, he's always going to say something kind or thoughtful.

The bottom line is Smith deserved a title shot long before Willard did in 1915.

 

Smith was a sparring partner for Johnson in October 1909,[for the Ketchel fight],that was the extent of his work for Johnson.Willard was offered the title shot ,at the end of1913 ,he accepted and the fight took place in April 1914,5 years AFTER Smith had worked for Johnson ,it had no bearing on his not accepting a shot at Johnson .

 

Come on now.

Smith was offered a shot at the title.

Johnson practically begged him to take it.

Willard did not need asking twice.

 

Then I would like to see a source in a news paper which says Gunboat Smith offered 30-50k to fight for the world title, and rejects it. If I see that, will change my mind.

I beleive you going on a quote that is taken out of context where Smith had a conflict of interest.

Johnson played games, and felt the gangily Willard would be an easier fight for him. Smith was a red hot fighter in 1913. In addition he KO’d Ross, who Johnson took the distance in a title fight, and stopped Flynn sooner. This screams of a #1 ranking. Yet, Johnson gave title shots to Moran, who defeated by Smith in 1912, and Willard who defeated by Smith 1913.

This does not seem fair. Perhaps if Smith lost these fights, he'd get a title shot.