This is the Firpo who met dempsey head on in that turbulent two rounds. How does johnson deal with the wild bull. Could the giant hurt Jack, drop him? Johnson will have to be at his most defensive best I believe in this. Be interesting to see how he would cope with Luis.
Yes he did ,Jack was asked how hard Firpo hit ,and he replied, "I couldn't tell you , I didn't let him hit me."
Firpo had nothing that Johnson had not seen before .Jack played with big sluggers like Sandy Ferguson and made mugs out of wild swingers.He would let Firpo exhaust himself whilst ripping in uppercuts when he came close and stop the Argentinian in the late rounds.
Well that's a interesting piece of information from you guys. So a actual fight between the two could have been a total mismatch with Johnson handling Firpo with relative ease?
Sandy Ferguson had but 15 KO's in 71 fight. A 19% %. Hardly dangerous, and not very good either. He was combative with Johnson in one of their fights prior to the DQ which could have been set off by Johnson landing low. Fripo was a step up, a much better hitter and one who stopped name opponents. Big and strong, Johnson would have to be careful. I think Johnson would win a decision, but an upset KO is not out of the question.
When I saw you had replied ,I made two bets with myself .One that it would be negative towards Johnson, and two that you would spell FIRPO wrong! Ferguson was never competitive in any of his fights with Johnson. AdamPollack covers all the fights very extensively.Johnson did not foul Ferguson ,he had no need to ,he made him look silly. ferguson has wins over: Joe Jeannette Bob Armstrong JimBarry Al Kubiak Two draws with Gus Ruhlin ,one in his next fight after Johnson. A draw with Sam Langford. And he was robbed of the decision against Marvin Hart.
The 1923 Firpo would of been the most dangerous opponent of Johnson's post 1908 career based on size, strength, power, under rated speed and aggression. I strongly favor Johnson but it could have had interesting moments.
Johnson was used to fighting hard punching fighters who attacked as did Firpo. Prime Johnson handles him as he did all the others. Johnson by decision in a one sided bout. Firpo as game as they come but lacks the skills.
And don't forget if we are talking the best Johnson was are talking a fighter rated as one of boxings all time greats by his contemporaries as well as experts from his time. Firpo although a dangerous contender does not and has never been rated as a great fighter. Two completely different classes of fighter here.
I remember the article in a 50's Boxing and Wrestling covering the Johnson spar, 8 years after his loss to Willard. Jack made him look a complete novice. There was a humorous drawing of Firpo wildly swinging as Johnson easily swayed out of range, to illustrate how easily he handled Dempsey's next contender.
How many guys with winning records and who weren't in their last or next to last fight did Firpo KO? Johnson toys with Luis, KD's him several times and coasts to a wide decision.
Firpos only chance would be to catch Johnson when he was very undertrained, which he was fairly often, any other time Johnson toys with Firpo, a total mismatch.