Pollack says it was slightly over cast as the day broke but the sun came out and shone brightly at 12.40.I'm assuming that he has done his research.
No I quoted the footage you put up that says it was 103 degrees!lol . Would they want to fight him now he was no longer champion? Did you ever hear of any of them challenging Willard?
I am sure Willard meant it felt like 110 degrees. Fleischer who attrnded the bout attests that it was blistering hot during the fight. Whether it was 85, 95 or 105 it was hard conditions to fight a 45 round scheduled bout.
Fleischer did not attend that bout unless Im mistaken. Very few American writers attended the bout. I believe this is another instance of Fleischer pretending to be everywhere when he really wasnt. Same thing he said about Johnson-Jeffries which in moments of candor he admitted to not having attended. However, if he did it wouldnt be unusual for him to think it was blazing hot considering he would have been coming from the much cooler climate of a New York April to Cuba. Regardless, Im just pointing out that it wasnt anywhere near as hot as what Willard alleged and what others have parroted for years. As I said above 80+ degrees is hot, no doubt, but we should also remember that these men were used to fighting under those conditions. Johnson fought in the July desert heat twice off the top of my head. However upon looking at Willards record I noticed something, compared to other fighters of the era he had relatively few summer engagements. It makes one wonder if this is coincidence or if he steered clear of these. Given his size the heat and humidity would likely wear him out faster than if he were fighting a cooler climate. I find this a little odd without looking at the circumstances of his life during those times (maybe he was still farming and worked during the summer months) because fighter in that era lived for what was called the "outdoor season" when they could get larger purses fighting in ballparks and outdoor arenas around the country as opposed to the smaller indoor venues patronized during the colder months. So its entirely possible that while it wasnt really any hotter than what the average fighter might have been used to in Havana it SEEMED hot to Willard who didnt have a lot of outdoor fights in the summer months in hot locations and whose size might have been detrimental to fighting in those climes. Just thinking out loud.
Fleischer wrote at length about the details preceding the bout in the training camps and also the bout itself. There is no indication that he did not attend the bout that I can see.
Thing is Fleischer writes in detail about being with Johnson on his train ride back from his fight with Jeffries and the crowds that came to meet Johnson among many more details.
Its true that at times he stated he was there but like I said, on other occasions he admitted he wasnt. Its fairly easy to track his movements through his newspaper articles in the Press and Sun. For instance when Willard fought Johnson in Havana Fleischer had actually just returned to New York from Cuba BEFORE the fight took place and was covering baseball in the lead up to the opening of the basbeball season which would take place in about a week. Had the newspaper sent anyone to the fight it would have sent Dan Daniel who was their primary boxing writer, not Fleischer who at the time was covering general sports and focusing primarily on baseball.
I don't think it's too much of a reach to believe the temperature was 100+ degrees F. It was a flaming racetrack; the perfect suntrap; packed with 25K+ people.
