How would Jess Willard have done in the 80's?

None of these points above are evident on film or by looking at his resume

 

I believe that it would have been a possibility that maybe he would have benefitted by maybe having a modern trainer teaching him more sophisticated techniques and maybe his attitude in a different era would motivate him to be more purposeful in his approach. He seemed to me from all I've read that he could really hit and who knows, maybe he could have developed into a Vitali type fighter..all this in a hypothetical vein of course...and i agree with Janitor that he's painfully underestimated here.

 

his main attribute was being a massive guy in a reletivly smallheavy division.

he would be a contender but i think he might of been out of his depth when it came to well trained athletes who knew how to deal or at least where not as worried by his hieght.



stamina though would be his big advantage. i think he would get outboxed by most of the guys here.

 

Willard had power, but his skill set wasn't very good, even for his time, and I feel all the guys on that list of 80's title holders beat him and beat him soundly. Just my opinion.

 

Willard is like what suzie said, a unskilled tough farmhand. He would NOT win a respected belt. Even Bonecrusher would spark him early. Even ***** Green would slap his head off And decision his Caveman ass.

 

I dont see him beating any of these guys. He isnt a big puncher , isnt a great boxer so i dont see what he is going to do against any of them.

 

He would go ok, skills and toughness no problem but the pace would take some adjustment, Willard would give all of them a rough day at the office.

 

:rofl:rofl

 

At best he scores a lucky punch win over someone in the top10 or a belt holder. Pretty much all the top10 contenders are going to outbox him, some would knock him out and there's a good few who would be hitting him allot harder than Dempsey did

 

I was actually thinking the same.

Spinks has a shot but if he's gonna lost to one of these guys I'd say he's more likely to lose to Thomas.

 

Bruno aint beating Willard. :nono

 

I think Willard fares better today rather than the 80's. There was decent talent in the 80's, and if you take them at their best all were better over 12 rounds in my opinion. A 20 round fight is a whole different story.

 

The Willard who was well-tuned in 1915 Cuba would be about the same as Bones Smith of the 1980s..... A big man who's game, but not skilled enough to do a whole lot.... Willard would win some and lose some either by decision or TKO just like Bones Smith did in the 1980s.... Nothing more or less here....

MR.BILL:deal

 

Well actually, that post about him not being a big puncher is just false. Willard killed a man, Bull Young, in 1913. That indicates that he could punch...that he was averse to displaying that kind of power afterwards was and indication of his in the ring temperment, not his inability to punch hard. We have to winnow out the blatantly false stuff which dosen't merit a mere difference of opinion. There are modern day preconcieved notions and prejudices concerning Willard, based on not only his dismal showing as the sacrificial punching bag vs Dempsey, but also his awkward, ungainly style, which was tailored to the times in which he fought, with those 20, 30 or more round fights that were typical, more or less. I think that if he were around today, he may have spruced up his style and his image too with some more sophisticated training and fighting techniques. he had a penchant for leaning back from punches, and that would seem to make him resemble, at least superficially, Vitali Klitschko in a way. And keep in mind that he was coming off a long period of inactivity when he fought Dempsey, and he was somewhat overconfident, lets say, based on the great size disparity that existed between him and Dempsey. Who's to say that he may have been more of a force in modern times, even aginst Dempsey, had he a better work ethic as champion, was more dedicated to training, and had a bit more savvy as a fighter..all comensurate to his natural abitlities of course. What if he were around in modern times and had the luxury of having a trainer like Emmanuel Steward or Gil Clancy in his corner? All this is to say that I believe that Willard is sold a bit short here with many of you.