Jess Willard vs Vitali Klitchsko

Janitor, with respect, I linked twice to the actual fight between Moran and Willard. It's clear to anybody with eyes that they are levels below a guy like Vitali.

Moran is 35-12-2 against a field that doesn't exactly bowl anybody over.

Briggs is 60-6-1 against a much more impressive field. I think it isn't exactly rocket science that Briggs > Frank Moran.

Frankly I'd take Briggs over Willard all day long too.

In fact I'l go a step further and say that Briggs might stop Willard faster than Vitali.

 

I actually think that Moran looks better than Peter against Vitally to be honest.

This largely reflects the frequency with which the top fighters met each other back then.

I would agree if we were talking about a prime Briggs, but we are not.

Briggs had long since ceased to be a top contender when Vitally fought him.

Certainly not that version of Briggs.

Look, I am not asking you to pick Willard here.

I am just asking you to consider the possibility that it might not not be the one sided beat down that most are predicting.

 

I already don't think very highly of Willard. I think that if I went into a modern gym and tried to fight like that I'd be lucky if they just laughed me out of there and didn't beat my ass to boot.

On the other hand we have seen Vitali in action and he barely dropped a round in many of his fights. Guys like Peter and Briggs looked so poor because he was THAT far ahead of them.

I can't imagine it being anything but a beat down.

Dempsey showed what a modern-looking boxer could do to Willard and his porous defence.

Again, I think Willard would last a while against Vits because he had huge heart and a sturdy chin, but, god, he'd be a mess by the end.

 

This content is protected

The legitimacy of that injury is to be doubted since he was trying to fight the diminutive Oleg Maskaev at the same time , but the WBC put Sam Peter through instead so it appeared Vitali decided to wait a few months to fight the winner. Which he did.

Rackman was another guy with a very long reach Vitali avoided. 4 times he pulled out of that fight.

Hard to hit you say? The footage shows otherwise.

The slowest and fattest version of Leiwe that ever stepped into the ring pulp'd him in only 6 rounds because he was easy to hit.
Byrd had no issues touching him up left , right and centre.

Kingpin Johnson landed jabs a plenty on him for 12 rounds, the same Johnson who couldn't lay a glove on Antony Joshua.

Oh , and Sanders was lighting him up before his 2 round gas tank shut down. He was old and only turned up for a pay day.
Big ol Jess Willard could fight all day long and thats a problem for Vitali. . Willard in 10. tko win on cuts and accumulative damage.

 

Yes he was - he quit against Joe Cox.

 

Classic Dino post FULL of idiocy and dementia.

I already demonstrated that Klitschko fought MANY guys with a longer reach than him.

Willard's reach is a complete non-factor.

Willard's lack of skill is what will see him cop a hiding.

 

Dino only comes back for these types of threads.

Where's the popcorn?

 

dinovelvet, you're too late. You should have pushed these arguments (even) harder when Vitali was still active.

Now that Vitali's retired for good, he's joined the Classic pantheon. He's untouchable until the revisionists come around in 50 years and declare that the average barfighter from 2068 would beat him. Until then, you'll just have to wait quietly.

 

You could say exactly the same about Vitally though!

Most fighters would get killed using his style!

Peter yes, Briggs no.

Peter was outclassed, but Briggs was just shot.

No.

Dempsey showed what one of the best finishers in heavyweight history, could do to a rusty Willard!

Why couldn't he do at least as well as a no longer world class Briggs?

 

Slow compared to cruiserweights like Dempsey

 

Vitali made his style work. Look at how he boxes. He works off a fast left jab and brings in the right cross over the top. Willard sort of did a double bolo punch thingie which he evidently thought was confusing his opponents and then leaps in to try and land something. He's not fighting tall, he's fighting stupid. Vitali's reflexes are phenomenal. Willard is there to be hit.

Moreover, look at their footwork and weight, which tells the story. Willard superficially seems to be using the same stance as Vits, but he's really not. He's got his weight on the front foot because he's looking to leap in. As a result he's got poor balance and can't control the distance. Vitali on the other hand looks awkward because he keeps half his weight on his back foot and he's ready to half step back like a scalded cat if the opponent attacks. He fully utilizes body sway to both neutralize the opponent's attack and to multiply his own reach.

As a result he always has an effective couple of inches extra space on an opponent.

Vitali knows what he is doing. He is working to a system. Willard does not.

Sure, I'll admit Briggs was getting on in years.

And he may well have been past his best.

But a completely shot fighter doesn't have 12 fight win streaks - punctuated only by the Vitali loss.

Because a no longer world class Briggs is still better than Jess Willard, imho. I see very little from Willard's footage to convince me otherwise. Maybe I'm missing something blindingly obvious, but I doubt it.

 

You see, when Vitali does it, it looks bad, but is effective, but when Willard does it, it must be because he is terrible.

 

I wonder how many fighters Willards size, with the tiny gloves he had to use, got block the shots of someone as fast as Jack Johnson (who was past it, but still had very good speed).

 

shamefor your post that briggs has a three fight win streak agianst complete bums, punctuated by the vitali loss and the sultan loss.

i mean... i dont get what you gain from outright lying. its gets spotted straight away. All you did is highlight another vitali ultrasoft defence against a guy who "earned" a manufactured shot in germany by previously beating three bums.

 

https://streamable.com/7k9o7

Look at the way modern scientific Vitali bounces off the ropes to get more impact into his headbut of 38 year old Corrie Sander's drunken fist.