Jess Willards athletic background

Good info
I think we call agree that today his name would be Try Fields.

 

Just want to note something on the other side of the fence:

I agree with Willard's supporters that the 100 yard dash figures might be legitimate, because we know that Willard was athletic enough to win the championship without much experience, and as an older athlete.

However, if we're using Willard's heavyweight success to justify our belief in his 100 yard dash times, we can't then turn around and claim that Willard was a great boxer because his 100.yard dash times show his athleticism. That would be arguing in a circle.

 

I dunno, what's Tyson Fury's 6 mile time?

 

Yes.

That is a silly belief, I agree.

However, if you use his 100 yard times to dispel this silly belief, then you can't turn around and use his success against Johnson to support his 100 yard times.

That's all I'm saying.

 

11 seconds in the 100 yard dash is good, but nothing special.

Maybe the surface an and shoes he ran with were not exactly built for speed.

11 seconds in the 100 yard dash converted to the 100 meter dash is 11.9 seconds.

For a comparison, most high school boys on a track team run the 100 meter dash in 12-13 seconds.

When I look at Willard on film, he's anything but an athlete.

 

I dont doubt that in the hyperbole sorrounding his victory over Johnson that there were a lot of stories told about how amazing Willard was at everything he did. Whether theres any daylight between those stories and the truth is the question. I personally dont buy these stories seeing the guy participate in sports. He was ungainly, awkward, and uncoordinated. He didnt suddenly become uncoordinated at the exact moment he started training to fight Johnson.

 

So, does George Foreman beat Hasely Crawford in the 100 or does Valery Borzov beat Joe Frazier over 10 rounds?

There are no wrong answers.

 

tricky question, I don't think Foreman or Frazier were sprinters so the real question is, could Crawford or Borzov win the $25 from Willard by besting him at the Pottawatomie County Fair on a grass surface? After reading this forum, when I hear "Bo, OR Herschel?", I'm starting to think "Jess!"

 

The Klitschkos played chess.

Imagine if somebody started a thread that mentioned the Klitschkos' chess-playing hobby, as an interesting tidbit of historical trivia. Would we get four pages of skepticism about the Klitschkos' endgame technique, with posters volunteering their own high school ELO scores?

There's probably a thread from years ago.

 

Frazier was poor athlete. He really embarrassed himself in network of the stars competition. No less authority that Eddie Futch said Frazier had the worst body of any champion he has worked with, and Futch when he said that meant it as a complement to Frazier’s work ethic and heart.

 

Still loses to Bo (barely?) but it sounds like young Jess Willard was significantly faster than Jim Brown.