How good was George Godfrey?

I found Godfrey's opinion of Jack Johnson interesting. Wonder if Mendoza did?

 

As far as I know Jack Dempsey and George Godfrey sparred several times. There is no information about the impressions of experts, who saw those remarkable fighters during their training-fights. That´s a pity!

 

The Risko fight seems to have been close--I still have notes I made when looking up some of the fight reports.

James Dawson--New York Times--Gave fight to Godfrey 6 rounds to 4, but commented that most of the crowd thought Risko won. Here is some of his description:

"The only thrill was the commendable work of Risko under every physical handicap. Godfrey was just a slow moving, cumbersome heavyweight, whose tremendous strength constitutes his only ring qualification." Dawson noted later that "Risko dominated Godfrey in the 8th and 9th . . . Godfrey looked foolish in those two rounds as Risko pounded him. The big man was helpless to defend himself or counter the fire."
"The crowd cheered the verdict."

Edward J Neil of the AP scored the fight 5-3-2 for Godfrey, but commented that the press row was split with many siding with Risko who won the last three rounds as Godfrey tired. From the 7th round on:
"Risko, improving as the fight went along, poured his shots steadily into Godfrey. His artillery found its mark oftener and in the ninth and tenth sessions Godfrey was glad to defend himself and depend on his earlier margin to bring him home the victory."

George Kirksey of the SF Daily News scored the fight for Risko, but "Risko's margin of victory was slight."
"The tide of battle shifted after the fifth, Risko opening up a fierce body attack which Godfrey was unable to stand off."
"Risko carried four of the last five rounds. Godfrey weakened after the fifth round and attempted to clinch and hold at every opportunity."

I guess the issues are was Godfrey handcuffed? or was he just not in the best of shape and so tired after four or five rounds?

Myself, I can't say for certain, but Godfrey never scored a really big win. He seems to have struggled against Uzcudun and Risko and both decisions were close. His biggest wins were over second tier fighters. I think there are questions out there about Godfrey that can never be answered. I would like to see film.

 

"What particulary fascinates me about Godfrey is that there is a lot of smoke but we can never quite locate the fire of greatness."

Very well put. His real quality seems to be just out of our reach.

 

Read my articles Old Fogey on Page 1. Godfrey did record a big win, tiger jack fox and larry gaines were big wins. Also he never had a chance to record a mega win because tunney refused to fight him.

 

1. I think it fair to say that Tunney avoided him. Wills probably did also, but Wills had earned a shot at Dempsey and a Godfrey fight would have just been an effort to derail Wills. I don't think Dempsey would then have fought Godfrey and in fact he admitted as much in that interview.

2. Gains was young and still well away from his peak. Yes, Godfrey stopped him, but so had Nilles, Breitenstater, and Persson. Fox was always a better lightheavy than heavy and he also was still years away from his peak. He was stopped a few fights later by Art Lasky. That does not mean that these, or the ko of Maloney and decision over Uzcudun, were not impressive wins, but they do not prove all-time greatness.

3. I have no idea about this handcuff stuff. He is stopped once and then loses a decision to Renault. In a third fight, he outpoints Renault. Supposedly the first two fights were fixed? But why was there a third?
Sharkey? Uzcucun? Risko? Carnera? He fought close fights with all of them. Handcuffed? Who knows. But as Janitor says, we never actually saw the fire of greatness to be certain it was really there.

 

I have the carnera fight. Godfrey easily wins the first 4 rounds, it looks like he can dispose of primo anytime he wishes. then he hits carnera low knocking him down, and the fights over

 

Let's assume he was better than Carnera in 1930. Carnera lost a few months later to Jim Maloney. In and of itself, beating Carnera in 1930 is just not all that impressive. Carnera improved greatly by 1933.

My take is that Godfrey was at a championship level and with the breaks might have been champion, but I don't think there is any substantial evidence that he was a truly superior fighter who could have dominated his era like Jack Johnson did his or Joe Louis his. Off what I have read, most of the press in the twenties did not think he was as good as Wills.

 

I don't really agree. Okay, let's assume Wills ducked him. But he did get to fight Sharkey. He just did not win either because he was cuffed or because he wasn't quite good enough. He had a chance with Uzcudun, but it was a close and unimpressive decision. He had a chance with Risko but lost a close and disputed decision. He lost on a foul to Carnera. He just did not come through when given the chance. He comes off as one of those just short of being the top man types.

If Godfrey fought and beat Wills, I don't think he gets a shot at Dempsey or Tunney, so I don't see why the era gets any hotter.

 

Until he fought Sharkey in 1926 when he was 37, Wills won the big fights. Godfrey did not.