What if Ring Magazine rankings had existed during Jack Johnsons career?

Yeah, looking at it again it's pretty priceless actually.

I think this will be a job for the printer this evening.

 

he grant, which performance is it that makes you think Johnson is a clear favourite over Langford between his winning the title and Jeffries?

 

No, I wouldn't go so far as that.

When I came to this board I had learned about Jack Johnson and my take was that Johnson's Everest was Jeffries, and that after that he was there to be taken, and up until that point he was a proffessional. But that isn't the case. Johnson turned up sloppy for fights with Kaufman and O'Brien for example.

He was so very good that these fights were still cakewalks for him.

But Langford is a different beast - let me put it this way. If you take Langford from around this time and put him in with the Johnson that turned up for Kaufman, Langford would be a favourite for me. Kaufman was able to trouble Johnson later on, especially with bodywork - one of Langford's many specialties.

But this is not the whole story again. Johnson knew what Langford was, this is why he was not desperate to match him. Johnson, I believe, would have turned up in nick and with a fight plan for Langford, just as he did for Jeffries, although he wouldn't have played with Langford like he did with Jim.

However, we just aren't sure what Johnson's best was around this time because he didn't show it. Just as i'm not about to hand out a percieved victory over Johnson with his being so exceptional, i'm not willing to hand out a win over Langford to Johnson, who was the hungrier, more commited of the two.

Johnson is a man without peer in terms of badassory in the whole of boxing's rich history, but the pressure of the position he put himself in and the life he was living did have it's affect.

I believe that post Burns, Langford would have been a very, very dangerous proposition for Johnson.

 

No question.

But if my numbers are correct, it represents less than .5 fights with a top 5 contender for every year between Johnson's coming to the #1 contenders spot and losing the title. It is also the case that only twice matched the world's other exceptional fighter, according to Matt's work (Which I think is excellent) going 1-1.

This compares very poorly with every other champion in contention for a top 10 slot.

 

I don't remember his making it into Matt's list, but you could certainly make the argument. But even then it would only be around one top 5 opponent for every two years he was ranked #1 or the champ.