This is the bottom line. Battling Jim would know that he was probably going to lose to the first elite contender that he came up against, so he would be looking for the best deal to cash out. The strongest promoter would probably end up controlling the title!
With Jim being seen as a vulnerable champion ,I think it highly likely a white challenger would be squaring off with him.don't you?
Oh, I know about Curran but he was the de-facto British champion after beating both Moir and Hague and he had several fights promoted as such. Te BBB of C were full of BS. He did fight Johnson(Jim) and won on, wait for it, a foul! He also had a contest scheduled with Jack Johnson, proposed as a warm-up for the Wells fight that never happened, hence the Curran fight got scuppered. Carp wasn't daft enough to fight Jack, I agree, but I'll bet my bottom dollar he would fight Jim, and have a chance of winning too. Some French reports call Jim fat BTW. As for the ref going for Jim as winner of the battle of the Johnson's, Emile Maitrot gave it as a draw. One of the two judges, either Frintz-Reichel or Gorges Oudin selected Jim.
CBZ also listed Jim Johnson's height as 6-3! Have you seen something definitive giving it as the shorter heights?
yep, the French papers carried a tale-of-the-tape versus Jack. Also, film and photos confirm that he wasn't over six foot.
In Jim Johnson's fight with McVea he looks at least an inch shorter than Sam but in the short clip I have seen he looked at least as good(or as bad).
Yes. The only way that doesn't happen, is if Macintosh offers him a huge purse to fight Langford in Australia!
Sorry you are correct on Curran he did lose to Jim.Curran was a nut case who," lost it ,"on many occasions. I don't give the 1913 Carpentier too much chance of beating Jim,he was perhaps fortunate to get the verdict over Smith.
No, Curran won...a sneak preview from my upcoming book, "Battling Jim Johnson, a powerful black heavyweight was operating in Europe. He held Sam McVea to a draw over twenty rounds in Paris before losing a return in the twenty-first round. Jim Maher was defeated in France before he embarked on a run of victories in England over Fred Drummond, Jewey Smith and Seaman Pascall all by knockout. Curran put a stop to that streak by winning via a four-round disqualification for holding and hitting." Carpentier seems to have been about even with Smith from what I've read and was also perhaps unlucky in a 15 round fight with Jeannette on March 1914, four months after the Johnsons fight. Jeannette was a lot better than Jim Johnson.
I don't know why I got that wrong after looking it up!Curran did get the dsq win. Carpentier was considered unlucky to lose to Jeanette.Jeannette lost to Jim in 1912.
Considering the circumstances surrounding Jack's injury I wouldn't be surprised if a rematch was made. The one thing I can't envisage is him going back to America immediately
This is probably true. I guess the momentum would be behind Gunboat as the best of the white heavies based on recent wins over Morris, Flynn, Ross and Langford. I doubt Battling Jim made much in his career so you couldn't blame him for cashing out. I'd like to think he'd hold out for $30,000 though!
If the French thought Battling Jim was in the same league as Langford, they don't know what they are talking about. Why not a re-match between the two Johnson's? According to stuff I read Jack Johnson was fading out, and Battling Jim was the better late. This article below shows Johnson refused to meet his challengers. [url]https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rdtPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5lMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3934,6066264&dq=jack+johnson+international+boxing+union&hl=en[/url] This article show battling Jim as the better late in the fight: A cabled article printed in the Evening World (New York City) stated: Jack Johnson barely missed losing his heavyweight championship in a ten round bout here last night. Jeffries' conqueror met Battling Jim Johnson, a big negro from Memphis Tenn. and barely lasted through the final round. He was tottering and groggy at the finish. A few rounds more and he might have been knocked out. . . . In the last minute of the fight the Memphis negro rushed Johnson to the ropes and in a mixup both went to the floor, with Jack's arm around Jim's waist. Both were on their feet quickly but Jack looked exhausted just as the final bell rang. It is possible that Jack hurt his arm in the fall to the floor. . . . In the seventh round the Memphis man succeeded in breaking down Jack's guard and three times after landing on the body grazed Jack's jaw with terrific uppercuts
