Was Jess Willard any good ?

He was a lot better than most people here think, both as a fighter and as a technician.

 

For his full boxing skills watch his fight with Frank Moran.

 

He gets a bit of a reputation as just a big oaf..Which isnt to fair, he was better then that. From what Ive seen he was pretty crude though, I wouldnt rate him that highly in the scheme of things.

But admittedly I have a inbuilt bias against heavies...Ive just never really liked them compared to the lighter weights.

 

Very misunderstood and highly underrated ...

No amateur background, little formal training ... did not turn pro till 30 years of age ...

Had great size, great strength and stamina, a terrific chin, exceptional heart and big time KO power. A solid jab as well ..

To achieve all he did in itself was pretty amazing . If he was brought up through the ranks properly and trained right he could have been an all time great. One of boxing's great , untold stories .... as Wilt wrote, "Nobody likes Goliath."

THe post-Johnson existing footage of him old and heavy is very misleading.

 

Stylistically, Jess Willard wasn't great, but good. He was a big man that knew how to use his size. An amazing thing about Jess was his stamina. He KO'd Jack Johnson in the 26th round! And if anyone is going to say that it was fixed, then please watch the video. I love Jack Johnson, but he could tell a tall tale.

A lot of people judge Willard on the Dempsey fight, but when he fought Dempsey he wasn't at his best. He hadn't fought in over three years and was 37 years old. Of course, I think Jack Demsey could have beaten him anyway, but my point is Jess wasn't the same guy who fought Johnson. Just like Johnson wasn't the same guy vs. Willard that he was vs. Burns, Ketchel, Jeffries, etc.

 

I think he was a good fighter and at one point in time thought to be almost invincible in 45 round bouts. He could lose to anyone on any given night in a 10 round bout but few could have gotten the better of him if it was a fight to the finish.

It's said that he was beaten up and outclassed by Jack Johnson before Johnson ran out of stamina but I don't see it that way. From what I saw, Willard did not really even try to win in the first 10 rounds before putting the pressure on Johnson after 20 rounds of fighting. He did well to exploit his advantages in size, strength and youth against a classier boxer.

Dempsey destroyed him but he showed unbelievable toughness to continue after the brutal first round.

However he should go down as one of the worst heavyweight champions of all time for not attempting to defend his title.

 

He unfortunately gets grouped together with Carnera to often. He was better than people think.

 

I think Carnera was better than Willard...

 

Circumstance has been held against him.

 

It's mostly because Carnera was willing to take on anybody, he was a fighting champion. Willard was described by the newspapers of his time as a "pacifist" champion, he was more interested in being a circus strongman.

 

Usually I'm with A but not regarding Carnera ... I think he was a second rater with a world class heart.