The Jackson that fought a 61 round draw against James J. Corbett vs the Johnson who killed James Jeffries in a 45 round fight.Who takes?
i rate jack johnson as probably top 5 hw's ever so its tough for me to choose peter over him w/o footage from that time and very little reading about him......so i go jj by default of my own loose knowledge
His fight with Corbett is obviously the most well known one of his career, but if talking about a best versus best scenario pitting him against Johnson, it might be better to take the Peter Jackson of a couple/few years earlier who wasn't slipping yet and also wasn't handicapped by an ankle injury or other possible ailments he had entering that fight with Corbett.
It is worth mentioning that many people who saw them both rated Jackson the better of the two. Both Corbett and Fitzsimmons rated Jackson as the best heavyweight that ever lived.
That plus the fact that he had seen better days by then. Sullivan's manager privately advised him that he would not beat Jackson.
There were reasons to believe even past his prime Sullivan would beat Jackson. Jackson didn't like pressure and was somewhat fragile against rough aggressive fighters.
An intriguing matchup this. I have a sneeking feeling Jackson stops him late on in a battle of will and stamina. It's not neccessarily gonna be a slugfest, this one, but it sure would be capivating stuff.