O'Brien vs Johnson. Who won? Was there talk of a re-match?

There's a clue in the headline of the report you provide.
It reads "JOHNSON AND O'BRIEN FIGHT TO A DRAW"

 

I dont know.
But I'd be more concerned if the title had changed hands on a SIX-ROUNDER. That would have been ridiculous.

 

Re Hart-O'Brien 1;O’Brien was a cautious operator and felt that Hart was too strong for him. He insisted that Hart agree not to KO him, Hart agreed but Jack wanted his opponent to put up a forfeit. Hart refused, simply because he hadn’t got the money anyway. Jack then demanded that Hart’s purse be frozen in the event of the unthinkable happening and O’Brien been kayoed, Hart again refused whereupon the crafty Philadelphian announced to the crowd that Hart, the heavier by fifteen pounds, was too big for him to tackle. Marvin, seeing a badly needed payday, going down the drain, relented and Jack promptly went back to the crowd and bravely (!) agreed to go against the heavier man! O’Brien had the better of it early on but in the fifth Hart forgot himself and forced the issue. In the last, he drove O’Brien to the mat for a nine count and the lighter man ran and hugged until the bell saved O’Brien; - and Hart!
Hart-O'Brien 2
A return with “Philadelphia” Jack O’Brien in that man’s city saw the fighting plumber having the best of it with his superior strength and harder hitting. O’Brien always had trouble with Hart and never wanted any part of a decision fight over a long number of rounds with him. Marvin wasn’t as big and slow as the usual heavies that Jack bewildered with his skill and speed but yet he had the strength, stamina and punching power of the bigger men. Jack was down in the fifth and the bell was a welcome relief at the end of the sixth as he was all in.

 

I wonder if posters reading this thread can discern an underlying motive behind it?

"It's the same old song" .The Four Tops.

 

I'll check my tape of it and do a round by round.

 

Most of what I've read inclines me to think that O'brien landed more often but didn't trouble johnson, while Johnson's punches occaisionally had O'Brien in trouble. 'Draw' sounds like a plausible decision <edit: though an O'Brien win might also be plausible.>

I think O'Brien got respect for his performance, but I don't think anyone fancied Philly Jack's chances in a longer fight against a seriously trained Johnson. Despite his good performance against a lackadaisical champion, I don't think O'Brien came out looking like a particularly viable challenger. <edit: I do think the fight was a credit to O'Brien.>

<edit: Will be curious if anyone finds report of interest in rematch.>

 

Good man!

 

I hate to say it, and i know it is impossible to tell without footage, but dont these reports sound incredibly biased?

To put what they clearly say into perspective, Johnson was out of shape, not hurt by anything thrown by O Brien, Opened up a cut, knocked him down at least once though by the sounds of it more, and the bout is reported a draw with O Brien having the better of it!

That just doesnt seem right, as i cant recall seeing a fight where the other was such things happened to a fighter and the bout was indeed a draw. Some of the round by rounds described Johnson as landing the punches but O Brien as having the better of the round. It is either pathetic reporting (why not report the punches o brien landed instead) or it is just plain biased againt Johnson.

At best, i tend to think that OBrien, being the fan favourite was getting undue credit for anything and everything he landed regardless of its effect. At worst, it is just a completely biased article against Jack Johnson.

 

Randy Roberts in his book " Papa Jack".stated that Johnson was in poor shape he had been partying , and whoring ,till the early hours the night before, having consumed a considerable amount of brandy ,the whites of his eyes were described as yelllow because of alcohol consumption.
OBrien was scientifically clever ,but lacked power, Johnson ,knowing this took the opportunity to enter the ring in disgraceful condition.
Johnson knew his title was safe ,it was just a 6 rd, no dec pay day , against a non hitter .

This was arrogantly dumping on his public, something that never particulalry bothered Jack .
Reports say he was blowing like a whale after the first round.
O Brien sensibly settled for in and out tactics ,and the crowd were treated to a real stinker,Both men were lustily booed and rightly so .
Johnson did not give a ****, he had his purse guaranteed.

It was a snore bore from which neither man emerged wih any credit.
Johnson as the Champion must take the greater share of the blame for the debacle, imo, he effectively pissed on the paying customers, with his disregard for training.

The public and, more importantly OBrien were under no illusions about the probable result ,should it have been a real title defence, with the Champion ,focused and in shape.
OBrien had been handled by Burns ,and Johnson had toyed with the Canadian, before upping the pace and giving him a belting.
There was no call for a rematch between the two Jack's and O Brien did not seek one.
In O Brien's previous fight he had been kod in the last second of a 10 rounder with Stan Ketchel.
In O Brien's next fight after the dreary 6 rounder with Johnson,O Brien was tkod in 3 rds by Ketchel again.
His viability as a contender had effectively passed with his 20 rd loss to Burns two years prior to meeting Johnson.
The New York Sun,[grandly quoted at the start of this thread], did not even have a reporter at the fight ,they ,along with the Washington Herald , used the Wilkes Barre Times report of the fight.The New York Times scored it a draw. As did the San Francisco Call .
The Philadelphia Enquirer ,[O Brien's home town], scored for Johnson ,and reported that 6 other writers did too.
This seems to be ,to use a famous title from Shakespeare.

"Much Ado About Nothing".

 

Another view;
PHILADELPHIA, May 20 -Jack
Johnson will not do as champion
That is the consensus of opinion of
sporting experts who saw last night's
battle when the giant negro, who holds
the title of champion heavyweight of
the world, failed utterly to make a
creditable show against Jack O'Brien,
the local light heavyweight. Johnson
cannot punch. He has the height, the
reach and the weight but he was slow as molasses
last night and he had not
the strength behind his blows to stow
the white man away despite the fact
that he several times landed on a
vital spot.
Johnson acted as though he was still
afraid of punishment and he held back
and awaited his opponent flat footedly
with the result that O'Brien danced
in and out like a hornet landing at
will and in most of the rounds out-
pointing the negro.
But even O'Brien's friends will not
claim any world's championship for
him on the strength of what he did
last night. He could not hit, but that
had been expected, and the only dam-
age he showed on the negro was to
bang the latter's left eye a trifle.
In the first three rounds O'Brien
landed enough blows to get a clear
lead on points, although in the first
Johnson got one hard left to the stom-
ach, and twice in the same place
the second. In the third, however,
Johnson was badly confused by
O&#8217;Brien's stabbing away with the persistency of
a hornet and was puffing
like a porpoise at the bell.
In the fourth Johnson tried to force
matters, but quickly winded himself
and here his lack of condition showed
very plainly and he finally stalled
while O'Brien danced around and add-
ed a few more points to his list.
In the fifth, Johnson cornered
O'Brien and closed his eye, sending
him to the floor hard. This was the
only period where the nergo actually
fought, and he had O'Brien in dis-
tress, but was unable to finish him
The sixth was a prize waltz with
O'Brien doing most of the leading and
clinching whenever he got into trouble.
Today both men claim they won.
"I beat Johnson
on points," says
O'Brien, "and if the scrap had gone to
a finish, I would have put him out,"
To this Johnson came back with
"My showing was a disappointment to
me, but it wan the fact that instead
of fighting O&#8217;Brien held on all the
time and saved himself. I cannot
make my best showing against a hug-
ger but at that I won last night."
Stanley Ketchel, who saw the fight
declared that O'Brien deserved an even
break if a decision were to rendered and
insisted that the bout showed
that he will have no trouble disposing
of the negro when they meet.
Jack McGulgan, the referee, declares
that he considers O'Brien had a shade
the better of it on points.

 

Interesting writeup ,and, you make of it what you will.
I think Johnson exploited the No Decision rules with a cynical disregard of any semblance of being in shape, as a result of which, O Brien made a better than expected showing.
I am not going to say racism was at work in the reports, how they are interpreted is up to each individual poster to determine.