Lets discuss Jack Johnson...

.............Good point; he was no featherfisted puncher, either.

 

Burns was a skinny white guy and Johnson was a built 200 pound tall black fighter. He should of been faster as well.

 

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Chins are best rated when they are hit. With Johnson, if seems like the punchers who landed on him either hurt him or knocked him out. Johnson’s chin to me is average. Middleweight Stanely Ketchel badly hurt Johnson and knocked him down with the first solid punch he landed in the fight. Now good ol’ Stanley could hit, but he was no Tyson.

 

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Johnsons weight on the back foot, hand blocking style wouldn't have won many fights against the greats in the modern era. Though he could move smoothly on his feet like a big cat, he also was a bit clumsy when launching into an attack as he had to shift all his weight off of his back foot. Unlike one writer here I think he would have a very good go with Ali as his defence would have stopped many of Alis jabs, etc.

 

I belive Burns show good foot work in the Moirs fight. Now get film of him sparing and he is jumping all over the place lol.

 

If Johnson could make some adjustments defensively then he would have some success against a modern style HW offense. ChrisPontious makes some good observations regarding this. Johnson probably never faced a fighter like Ali or Holmes or a young Holyfield, Good sized HW's who could box, move and throw plenty of combinations, not one easily timed punch then clinch which was common in Johnson's day. Sure Johnson could block a single jab easily but what about a double or triple jab followed by a right hand-left hook combo? For this type of attack Johnson would have to adapt his defensive strategy. With his natural ability and reflexes I'm sure he could but I'm also sure that he would have to in order to compete with that type of fighter.

 

Well said. The jab is a punch that has evolved over the years. If you read the accounts of Johnson vs O’Brien, it says Johnson had trouble dealing with O’Brien’ speed and skill. O’Brien was a feather fisted, but very skilled middle weight to light heavyweight. The fight between the two was ruled a draw, but O’Brien certainly made a prime Jack Johnson look bad. I have seen O’Brien on film. He’s not Ali, Holmes, Corbett or Tunney. If O’brien hand fients and quick strait punches could find their mark on Johnson, the better heavyweights after O’Brien who were bigger, hit harder, and had more range could do the same.

Although Johnson was past his prime vs Willard, the film quality is decent enough. The low punch output Willard, who was never a speed demon had no problem landing straight shots from a distance on Johnson’s vaunted glove defense. Did Age have something to do with this? Sure, but the myth that Johnson would catch Ali’s jab like Willie Mayes catches a baseball is fantasy. Johnson caught nada vs O’Brien.

 

Well said. The jab is a punch that has evolved over the years. If you read the accounts of Johnson vs O’Brien, it says Johnson had trouble dealing with O’Brien’ speed and skill. O’Brien was a feather fisted, but very skilled middle weight to light heavyweight. The fight between the two was ruled a draw, but O’Brien certainly made a prime Jack Johnson look bad. I have seen O’Brien on film. He’s not Ali, Holmes, Corbett or Tunney. If O’brien hand fients and quick strait punches could find their mark on Johnson, the better heavyweights after O’Brien who were bigger, hit harder, and had more range could do the same. One can only ponder.

Although Johnson was past his prime vs Willard, the film quality is decent enough. The low punch output Willard, who was never a speed demon had no problem landing straight shots from a distance on Johnson’s vaunted glove defense. Did Age have something to do with this? Yes, and no.

One poster said Johnson would catch Ali’s jab like Willie Mayes catches a baseball. This is a poetic fantasy. In the filmed fights I have on Johnson, he gets a swollen eye from Burns, nearly Ko’d from middle weight Ketchel, cut from an old and slow Jim Jeffries, hit often from a mere contender in Moran who nearly won the fight, and Ko’d by perhaps the slowest champion in Willard. Where is this vaunted defense? I say it’s mostly in the clinches. When Johnson clinched, he was too strong for the smaller fighters he defended his title against, save Willard who had about 5” and 25 pounds on him.