Whch other lineal heavyweight champions could Tommy Burns have beaten?

That was discussed not too long ago in another thread and proven wrong.

 

Cool. That's probably where I read it. Sorry, a bit out of it.

Still, here's the best description of the fight I have read...

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archiv...6103FE633A25753C2A9649D946296D6CF&oref=slogin

Seems Johnson was given quite the benefit of doubt in this one. Moreso than Hart.

 

Yes and no.

He had a good chance against Willard and Neon Leon as others have aluded to.

 

Burns would lose to every champion after Jack Dempsey.

 

Would he have an outside chance with Ingo? Maybe even Floyd?

 

No. He was only 5'7. Ingo and Floyd would manhandle him.


Floyd is classes above Burns.

 

Yes, but most sources do agree that Johnson fought with a broken arm. If he did lose, it would have been because of a fluke injury.

I frankly don't see much of a comparision between this fight and Johnson-Hart. Johnson-Hart seems more like Walcott-Louis I.

 

I'm just commenting that many tend to bend over backwards to explain off Johnson's many less than stellar performances, which both fights represent. Meanwhile a guylike Hart doesn't even get respect when he WINS.

In regards to Jim Johnson, broken bones are certainly not uncommon in old time boxing and even seen sometimes in modern boxing. They are certainly cause for a KO. Furthermore, it seems as though the NYT commentator thought the injury occurred in the final and not third round. My point is that contemporary commentary on the fight suggests Johnson at the very least got a gift.

 

Nope.

The question is which champions could Burns beat.

Remember what a 5'6" Qawi did to Leon Spinks? Remember that Mickey Walker held Sharkey to a draw? Remember how inconsistant Braddock was?

Burns kayoed men who weight 190 or more, and did it routinely throuhout his reign. He hits hard enough, and boxes well enough to have at least a legitimate chance of winning in all of these match-ups.

 

Johnson was lucky to escape with a draw. He was hurt and on his way out. I posted the full review. The fight was scheduled to go 20. Battling should have been the new champ. The score cards at the time had Battling in the lead with one judge. The other judges had it even.

After the match, there was question on who the champ was in the USA and in France. Its true. The French were ready to crown the winner of Langford vs McVey or Jeanette vs Langford ( forget who ) the new champion.

As far as Hart vs Johnson goes regardless of who won, Johnson did not look good in a very high stakes fight.

 

did Jack Johnson score 2 knockdowns over hart? John Garfield was LIVE at the walcott-louis fight and even a big joe louis fan like him admitted it was a blatant robbery.

 

"The fight was scheduled to go 20."

Give one primary source which says that. Certainly the New York Times report does not and it seems to me this is such a critical point, their report would be downright incompetent for not raising this vital issue.

 

My point is that comparing Johnson-Hart to a fight in which if Jack Johnson was in trouble it was due to a fluky injury seems most odd to me. The Johnson-Johnson fight compares more to Harry Greb's loss to Kid Graves.

There is certainly more evidence and more convincing evidence that the Walcott-Louis fight was a bad decision than that Johnson-Hart was. That does not automatically mean that the Johnson-Hart decision was a good one.

 

Burns? Not a good heavyweight.. Boxing was different back then... At 5' 7" tall, Burns was tubby / thick at 180 or so pounds..... Tommy Burns, if trained properly, would've been a lean 168 pounder... YES! A man without a division...... With a strict diet, he might have held down 160---for a while......

As a heavyweight champion, he was bad to marginal.... As a fighter in general, he was very good... Burns knew how to fight.... He just fought at a bad weight against much bigger men....

In reality, I see Burns losing to everyone.... Styles make fights.... Okay, Burns matches well with "Corbett & Fitzsimmons" before him... But, I'm not sure he could beat them dudes in a time machine....:blood

MR.BILL