I'd bet £500 that Jeannette would not be stopped by Marciano, and a prime Jeannette was at least as heavy as Rocky.
Marciano was never close to stopped, and proved his chin was good enough to take punches well beyond what Johnson could muster. Johnson was dropped by middle super middle weight types. Ko'd by one, out boxed by another, and floored by another. Johnson did not do well vs guy his size, in their primes who can punch some. Hart out worked him, and Willard stopped him. Do not buy the BS that Willard didn't win a round until the end, the surviving footage of the mid rounds shows the rounds were close, sometimes with Willard being the better. Rocky via KO here, likely inside 10 rounds.
Is 7 years experience and 25 known fights early in his career? It is highly likely Johnson had more than the listed 25 fights. I have told you this before. Pollack doesn't have the weights for this fight, I bet Johnson was over the super middle weight limit. [url]http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/jjohn.htm[/url]
Ringside reports of the first Lowry fight state Marciano was in danger of being stopped and that Lowry eased off for an unaccountable reason.I haven't seen the fight and neither have you, so stop talking from ignorance.
No one has suggested that Willard did not win a round until the finish ,what we do know is that Referee Jack Welch said if he had to give a decision after 20 rounds he would have given it to Johnson without hesitation ,and he said this in print the next day!
Why would you assume that Johnson was over the super middleweight limit in1901? On what basis would you make that assumption? BTW Congratulations on spelling SUPER right for once ,you usually type SUPPER!lol
7 years in the game, 25 recorded fights is not green for Johnson. Choynski Ko'd him cold. Nice try. You're memory isn't super I think its partly because you rely on books and pick what you like out of them to support Johnson. Wasn't Johnson in the 180's for the Hank Griffin fights in 1901? Are you going to tell how much the purse was for Johnson vs Battling Jim Johnson in 1913? You claim to know. I asked a few times. Prove it.
I wouldn't wager that amount but to each his own. Jeannette had a stout chin, no doubt. So did Ezz Charles when he met Marciano a second time, having only been stopped twice in 100 fights, once by perhaps the most beautiful KO punch ever thrown in heavyweight competition.
Charles wasn't prime in either fight when he fought Marciano.You know it, I know it, Lloyd Marshall had him up and down like yo yo. To say that means his chin was **** makes as much sense as stupid Mendoza harping on about a young Johnson being ko'd by Choynski, a known and feared puncher.You are getting lazy S.
I can't hold Johnson's early losses against him. There were no amateurs in his day so he was thrown into the mix right away. Marciano had the opportunity for amateur experience and a carefully groomed pro career. Johnson had no one like Al Weill around to match him carefully, and no one like Charley Goldman to hold his hand while he learned how to fight. I'm guessing it was just trial and error more than anything else for Johnson. He had a great intellect and an ability to figure things out for himself. Johnson was a great athlete. You can see it in the film. Exceptionally fast and strong inside. He also could punch and put together really good combinations when he was aroused. He liked to coast and fight flat-footed when he could, but I catch glimpses of some fast footwork on film, again when he was aroused. He was already over 30 when we first see him on film, and really only the Burns, Jeffries, and Ketchel fights catch him at anywhere near his peak, so I would throw the later films out, although the Willard footage, even at Johnson's advanced age and poor condition, does give us an idea of how he would handle a bigger guy. And I wouldn't hold the flash Ketchel knockdown against him (if it WAS a real knockdown), any more than I would hold the Walcott and Moore knockdowns against Marciano. To my eye, Johnson was quicker and stronger than either JJ Walcott or Archie Moore (though I admit Archie had a real sneaky right hand), and they both knocked Rocky down. So, I give a real fighting chance to Johnson against Rocky. It would be interesting to see if he could match Marciano's stamina, though. Johnson had a great uppercut, so I wonder if he could catch Rocky coming in. Rocky's side-to-side bobbing and weaving while he was throwing bombs might have made it difficult for Johnson to land the uppercut. Hard for me to imagine how that would play out. We all know Marciano's strengths. He punched as hard as any man his size who ever lived. I actually think his weaving and constant pressure, with one punch relentlessly following another, was as important to his defense as to his offense. His conditioning was phenomenal. No heavyweight who entered the ring was ever in better condition. So who would win? I dunno, but it would be a hell of fight. One of the highest on the list of fantasy fights I would like to see. I find it difficult to come to hard and fast conclusions about most of these fantasy match-ups. I just like to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each, and let my imagination roam free. I admire what all these guys did during their careers. Why tarnish what they accomplished with a bunch of meaningless prognostications?
