Prime Mike Tyson vs. Jess Willard...Does Tyson take Willard out in 1?

Willard was nigh on destroyed in a round. Tyson blew away some solid contenders inside a round.

Hardly bias towards more 'modern' guys if that's what you're inferring.

 

What I am inferring, is that the people predicting a first round knockout for Tyson, are doing something that they would never dare to do in a fight where their prediction could be tested.

 

Well, no fantasy fights can be tested can they?

And I saw first round KO predictions in Amir Khan fights before with posters 'brave' enough to stake their good name on it.

In this matchup it seems a pretty natural conclusion rather than a leap of faith.

 

A first rond knockout is never a natural conclusion at world level, because it is an unusual event that requires a lot of variables to come together.

Tyson knocked some world class fighters out in one round, took a few with others, and got taken the distance by others, and nobody had a clue which would be the case going into a fight.

There is nothing about Willard that suggests that he should be knocked out in one round where sombody like Trevor Berbick wasn't. He is very big and very durable, and frankly the kind of fighter Tyson never put away inside one round.

 

Lets look at the fighters Tyson stopped in the first round, who had any sort of world class credentials.

Mavis Frazier
Michael Spinks
Carl Williams
Alex Stewart
Bruce Seldon
Lou Saverase
Clifford Etienie

What is the common factor?

They all lacked durabity except Michael Spinks, who was a former light heavyweight.

I am not seing Willard fitting into this pattern very well!

 

I would not bet on it. Willard had a lot and he showed it against Dempsey. I think Dempsey and Tyson had close styles but Dempsey and both were mean and I think both men had a chance to stop Willard and Berbick in about the same style but to predict a 1st rd. KO would be something I would not bet on.

 

Tyson was a monster puncher. No Doubt...But to hit the 6ft5" chin of Willard would have Tyson at a bigger disadvantage than the longer armed Dempsey...Tyson would lose some of his power punching UP to reach Jess's chin,as Dempsey did, losing some of his power
in the process...And Willard knowing this would try to clinch and lean his 260 pound frame on the much smaller Tyson, thus easily getting out of the first round...IMO...

 

Willard was too large, and too tough. Tyson never took a guy with that combination of attributes in the 1st.

The guys he beat in the opener were always smaller, and a good deal more fragile. Lou Savarese could be called the exception to the small, but he definitely didn't have a grade A beard.

Willard proved in the Dempsey fight that he can TAKE it. Tyson wouldn't finish him in a round.

If I had to put money on a result, I'd say Tyson TKO 4. I do think he gets it done before facial damage does the job for him, unlike Jack Dempsey.

 

Willard may just pole axe Tyson

 

Let's not go too far.

The Bonecrusher Smith, Jose Ribalta and Mitch Green fights leave me somewhat reserved in picking a 1st round blowout for Tyson in this match-up. Smith was crude but survived with strength and caution. Ribalta grit his teeth and took it for 10 rounds. Green tied Tyson up and was able to last under the assault.

This does not mean Willard would last though. It's difficult to say how tough the Willard of the Dempsey fight was in comparison to how tough he had used to be. He had not fought for a long time and was getting up there in age. Possibly he was just ripe for the pickings against Dempsey. I don't see the Willard of the Jack Johnson fight being blown out too easily, due to the extreme caution and toughness that he displayed.

 

No. Willard was very durable.

 

If Tyson came to take his head off then i certainly see it, I had read somewhere that the Dempsey-Willard fight not ending in one round was because of a timekeepers error, with Tyson being more powerful than Dempsey and having the advantage of standing over his opponent, i can see a first round knockout.

 

Tyson would be there to take his head his off...Sooooo ya round 1

 

There are really only 2 things that could give an indication that this coutcome might not happen....1 Tyson's track record on the world class level...2 Willard's track record on the world class level...Don't get me wrong I think Tyson is capable of stopping him in the first round.....BUT

Tyson TKO rds 3-5, for me is the more likely scenerio

 

I thought that those injuries was greatly exaggerated?

http://coxscorner.tripod.com/dempsey_gloves.html

In an interview on July 7, the Kansas City Times announced that Jess and his wife were leaving Toledo and driving their car back to Lawrence, Kansas that day. His condition seemed to be fine. "The swelling over his left eye had entirely disappeared and the only mark he bore was a slight discoloration over the eye and a cut lip." ("Willard starts for Home," Kansas City Times, July 8, 1919, p.10).