Muhammad ali -vs-jack jhonson!

Langford was knocked down twice and got at least one long count his nose was also broken and Johnson eased up in the last couple of rounds ,if that isnt a dominant beating what is?
Langford later declared Johnson gave him" the only real beating I ever took," and he repeated it several times in print.

 

There is certainly no doubt that he is past his prime by this stage, even if a win was still a fine past prime performance.

Well Philladelphia Jack O Brien was a hell of a lot better than he is given credit for. In fact, he was an all time great. And the recent book about Johnson which gave a round by round for Jeffries Johnson, that supported your observations seemed to suggest that Johnson won the O brien fight easy. I dont understand why you are so confident that Johnson did not beat Jack O brien comfortably.

I dont htink it is wise to bet agaisnt ali in any fight. but if Ali does find a way to win this, he will need to pull out his best improvisation effort, imo. He cant dance and jab his way like many say, because when he jabs, JOhnson will catch his jab and wrestle him. this, strangely enough, is how the fight will more than likely be won. I am not sure who wins, because Ali was not outwrestled by anyone, including foreman and liston who had brutish strength, but Johnson is more experienced. And i am not so sure how ali will go at landing in close with Johnson wrestling. Dont be surprised if the uppercut (or the old one two:hey) land with very good regularity. Even the greatest chin ever will start to feel it. And with a better body attack than ali (surely this is not disputed) johnson should slow him down and come on strong, theoretically). And i do think there is similarities between Johnson's spoiling style and that of say NOrton who even Bugner, who both gave ali far more trouble than they should have.

Saying all this, Ali has a way of pulling things out, it is just that i am not sure what it would take to win this. I expect Ali to reduce his workrate to counter the wrestling, but to really sit down on his punches like we havent seen before. I say they split a 3 fight series but Ali gets at least one brutal unexpected ko which gives him the series win.

 

This is how I saw the fight for years and it made me wonder why Johnson was so reluctant to rematch Langford. On closer examination I still think that Sam took a beating, but I think that the bout was more competitive than I thought.

For one thing, the idea that Johnson went down in the fifth round is often dismissed as an atempt by Langfords manager to drum up interest in a rematch, but at least three sources coroborate it. It seems that Johnson slipped and took a blow bellow the heart at the same time.

Johnson dropped Langford in the sixth round but Langford rallied and the Boston Morning Journal reported that Johnson was "exahsted and weak from punching" at the end of this round.

Acording the the acount in the Boston Globe:

In the ninth round Langford hit Johnson with a body shot forcing him to hold on. In the tenth Langford hit Johnson with a left hook to the jaw forcing him to hold on for dear life untill the bell rang.

I now think that although Johnson clearly won the fight and Langford took a terific beating, it was far from an easy fight for Johnson. In this context his reluctance to rematch Langford later in his career makes more sense.

 

He is not unbeatable.

 

Also the fact that post Jeffries Johnson's best days were behind him while Langford was in his prime and far hungrier ...