Certainly nothing meant to cause offence to anyone, mean that hand on heart. Just how it would have /was viewed back in those times of Johnson. I actually only see at least two, if that beating him.,as I called Mr Johnson in my op, the Great fighter. Certainly no intention of offending anyone.
Dempsey and Coetzee are the most likely to land something at range imho. Dempsey better p4p but Coetzee has some serious size to him. Botha would have been difficult for JJ in another sense, namely that he himself was a wrestling mauling type of fighter and was also bigger than JJ. I think any of these three would have had a good chance.
I've always believed that Dempsey could have had a good chance, but only if he hurts Johnson very early. But Johnson would be aware of Dempsey s early storm and account for it the best he could. The later a fight goes the more Johnson has winning imo. But Johnson has to take a fight against Dempsey as serious as hell.
Johnson said Dempsey was a, "great four round fighter, "after that he was pretty ordinary.I get his point ,but I'm not convinced!
I'm with you on that. Early round s Jack would have been like holding on through a tornado, I should imagine. Definitely not an ordinary fighter imo.
Jean Pierre Coopmans "Lion of Flounders" LEADING MUHAMMAD ALI 40-36 (10 POINT MUST) was stopped on national television by a desprate Ali Ropes were loose and a victim of a fast count!
Those who know the gloves. Conn, Dempsey, Shakey ect. Jack Dempsey would bring down the hammer for my money.
Forgetting the color of their skin, of the group you mentioned, Dempsey is the one guy with enough class and championship aggressiveness and bravado to beat Johnson.
Seriously, though, there are two potential answers. If you buy into the school of thought that boxing in Johnson's day was a genuinely different sport with a decent talent pool, then you'd pick the early guys. Dempsey is the best bet. If, however, you believe that athletes in Johnson's era just plain sucked, then you'd want to pick modern guys. The less impressed you are by the athletic talent pool and boxing environment that produced Johnson, the better you'll like the chances of guys who fought in the highly competitive 60s/70s/80s divisions like Coetzee and Quarry. (Or Botha, if you also happen to place a lot of emphasis on how much PEDs changed the game.)