Jack Johnson king of the Heavyweight s -1930 to 1937?

Oh yes imo no question.Jack was 30 when he won the title so he would be 37. One assumes he wouldn't be hounded and persecuted as he was in his own era so he would be in a better place than the exile who went 26rds with Willard at that age.

 

Loughran reminds me of a far better O'Brien. That doesn't necessarily bode well.

I think Baer wins over 20 rounds, also.

 

I think JJ would beat them all, except for maybe Louis.

Prime for prime I got JJ over Louis.
But at 37? idk...

 

That begs the question, what was Johnson's prime? And to further, what performance against which opponent demonstrated prime Johnson?

 

You think a 6rds no decision fight equates to a 15 rounder?

 

Would Johnson have an 86 pound weight advantage? I'm still confused as to when "Prime" Johnson occurred. Was it the 192 pound version that beat Burns. The much younger and lighter versions that beat Langford or McVea or Jeanette? Or was it the 200+ pound version whose only proof of performance is against a retired alfalfa farmer?

Give me the Loughran who beat Levisky or Baer and I think you have a guy who is stylistic poison to Johnson. Now, whether he would have the other assets beyond to style to accomplish this is to for debate for me.

 

He wasn't much lighter against McVey or Jeannette for the most part. Pollack's book includes reports by ringside reporters attesting to Johnson being fat and out of shape against O Brien and puffing like a steam train after a couple of rounds.He could afford to take the **** in this contest because it was a 6 rounds no decision against a light hitter.If you seriously believe he would enter the ring against Loughran for a 15 rounder in that kind of shape then you must be reading too many of Mendoza's posts! You'll take your chosen version of Loughran ?
You don't want to choose the version that was, ko'd by Sharkey in3 rds, outpointed by King Levinsky,outboxed twice by Earnie Schaaf,lost to Hamas twice,lost to Stanley Poreda,Walter Neusel ,and was decisioned twice by tough and willing ,but crude Johnny Risko????

Loughran wasn't a puncher by any definition so he has to out box Jack to win.Who did that to Johnson when he was champ?

 

Who did Johnson fight that had the jab and footwork of Loughran? Johnson's best wins, and indeed the best "heavyweights" of his era who were not him, were guys who came straight in and straight out, swinging for the fences.

 

Johnson fought the best jabber of his era Denver Ed Martin, 82" reach and knocked him sparko for several minutes. Jeannette had a very good jab, did Jeannette come straight in and out swinging for the fences? Moran had a good jab, Willard too ,but Johnson outpointed him for 26 rds

 

And just to give full context, the O'Brien that Johnson faced was a shell of his former self, a 110+ fight vet who would drop 5 of his final 8 fights. Not that I want to dig up too much of that affair again...

 

O Brien was in excellent condition you need to read the fight reports.
It should be noted that 82 of those fights were of 6rds duration or less and most were no decision bouts. Plus O Brien hadn't taken any significant punishment in his career.
Johnson had engaged in 88 fights 12 of which were 20 rounders ,with about 10 ,15 rounders.So Johnson had more rounds of mileage than O Brien by a significant amount.Before that Johnson had been forced to engage in all black contests with multi opponents,battle royals. It's blatantly obvious Johnson had had the rockier past in pugilism up to that point!


In other words your argument not only does not standup , but slides miserably to the floor! lol

 

1930-Max Schmeling
1932-Jack Sharkey
1933-Primo Carnera
1934-Tommy Loughran
1935-Max Baer

These men are much better than the " white hopes " Johnson selected ( key word selected as GunBoat Smith and Luther McCarty never got a title shot ). Ketchel, Flynn, a washed up and old Jeffries who had no fought in 6 years, Jim Battling Johnson and Moran. None of these men would be favored to beat ANY of the above. Do we all agree?

I left Willard out of the mix as he beat Johnson, and probably was the best overall fighter Johnson meet that was in his prime.

The best skilled boxer Johnson fought in a title match was Jack O'brein, a bit past his best when Johnson was in his absolute prime. Some primary sources suggest Jack O'brien was slightly the better. This means Loughran could do the same.

Johnson could win, lose or draw vs. any of these men from the 1930's. I highly doubt he'd be 5-0. More likely 2-3 or 3-2.