Harry wills vs paulino uscudun 1927

Terrific extended footage ... however let's be honest. Gaging Wills at 38 and this bout is like gaging Dempsey one year younger getting slapped silly by the Kingfish .... or Ali by Holmes ..

 

I think more fighters should celebrate paolinos "flip flop" when they win. bring back the flip flop!! what a guy! he even caught a straw hat wearing boxing gloves too!

 

Leroy Haley was also known for celebratory gymnastics after winning a big match, clearing the ring from corner to corner so he could execute his springs and flips. He was boxing's answer to baseball's Ozzie Smith.

 

Uzcundun was a character. I have seen a photo of him jumping over the ring ropes.

Uzcundun was also a gritty fighter. I have seen him and Schmeling go at it. Schmeling had the skill and power, but Uzcundun would not back down. He had a crab like stance and guard and would rapid fire body shots whenever he could to slow Schmeling down.

Not much to go on for Wills here. Except in most cases power is the last thing to go. Did he even land on the Basque Woodchopper?

 

uzcudun was a good fighter, in another era he may have even been a belt holder. to think 9 years after this he was still a top contender fighting carnera, schmeling and louis in big fights.

dito wills. however, I think that freezing him out of the title picture actually has done quite a lot for Willis’s’ legacy. Despite being forced to languish on the coloured circuit his reputation is not all it seems.Wills best wins are over famous names (Langford and McVey), well past their best who actually beat him the first few times they met until they just got too old, or wins over men by decision that were kod by his contemporise such as Tunney and Dempsey. still, a great contender albeit one who never got a shot...

 

Thank you. Great quality on this film.

As for Wills at 38? Who knows what he had left.

I would like to have seen Uzcudun get the shot at Tunney in 1928 that Heeney got. I think he would have more of a test.

 

I used to subscribe to this theory that they got old before he dominated, but i have looked a lot into the results of fighters of this time, and it is quite clear that this is a common trend. I dont think it is all that those fighters aged (obviously this played some part), but it is most common of fighters who fought so much and Wills would be no different, that Wills actually got much better with the experience and by facing and beating the better fighters. I think that Wills was a much better fighter for having fought and lost to Langford and McVey and this is why he went on to be so good. This is common amongst fighters from this time, as they improved massively with confidence and experience.

 

Or maybe the money was bad or the fact he'd already won an eliminator and been denied a title shot, or perhaps Tunney's claim Wills turned the fight down was fraudulant? Who knows but their are 2 sides to every story

 

So what you are saying is Wills beat the best black fighters and the best white contenders not named Dempsey/Tunney? Wills was also beating Langford/McVey/Jeannete before they got old winning the first Langford fight

 

The best case scenario is that Harry beats Gene and gets screwed out of his deserved title shot yet again. He actually signed on camera to challenge Jack. I don't blame him for blowing off Tunney. He'd been the top contender for years. Now he's supposed to take on this light heavyweight upstart with next to nothing in the way of a heavyweight resume?

Dempsey always had the advantage of youth over Wills. Harry was certainly not getting any younger. He had already jumped through all the hoops which should have been necessary to get his shot at the Mauler.

What Wills really should have done was trap Jack Johnson in a Mexico bull ring, and beat the **** out of Lil' Artha' for causing Langford, McVea, Jeannette, and Harry himself to get shafted out of any chance to challenge for the big prize in Johnson's scorched earth wake. That might have scored huge points with those who blocked Dempsey-Wills out of fear for the potentially volatile societal ramifications of such a match.

 

wills was a great contender, he cut his teeth gaining seasoning from great older fighters he fought over and over until he eventualy sussed them all out. he had age, height and weight on them but he learnt from losing to them. its a pity they had to fight each other so often but wills benefited from being the younger of that group. even without a title shot wills became quite a draw and he retired wealthy .

wills and Sam Langford fought 16 times,Sam won a couple of the early ones by ko when he was 32 and 34,got a dec in another at 32 then a draw,when35 ,after this Wills won every fight,but two of those were when Langford was 35 ,and four when he was 36 ,and his eyes were bad.

wills beat Gunboat Smith 1 rd ko but Smith was 34 and past it.

Denver Ed Martin was 40 years old when wills knocked him out.

wills fought Jeff Clark 10 times ,the 1st was a draw,when Clark was 27 Wills won the next by dec Clark was 30.After this Wills wins each by tko,or ko but Clark is between 31 and 35 years old.

Sam Mcvey beat wills the 1st two times when he is 30 and 31, loses the next still 31 then loses again by ko at the age of 34.

at 34 Joe Jeanette drew with a younger wills then lost their next two fights but Jeanette is an old 40 years of age for the final of that series.