Willard vs Johnson was a great knockout

It was a great punch indeed.

 

It was a big time right hand. Johnson was gassed and ready to fold so it's not like Willard had to snake thru some genius defense at that point. But there is no denying that would be a punch that must be avoided in any era by any fighter. Never understood how anyone could buy this as a dive.

 

Not to mention it being in the 26th round. Surely if someone was gonna take a dive, it wouldn't be after an hour of fighting in 100° heat.

 

A prime johnson plays with willard.. A finished version lasted 26 rounds with a prime willard..

 

The dive conspiracy was created by a "confession" Johnson made to Nat Fleischer, which he repudiated later on.
Also, it's rarely 100F in Havana in April. Average temp is around 85F. All this was made up so as to disparage Willards' victory.

"After the fight....As for Johnson, he initially handled the defeat with grace.

“It was a clean knockout and the best man won,” Johnson told the New York Times. “It was not a matter of luck. I have no kick coming.”

Johnson struck a similar tone later that night when the pair was given souvenir gold watches from the “Citizens of Havana.” Johnson also received a loving cup from Willard’s trainers and Curley.

“The best man won,” the ex-champion declared. “I would not belittle another man’s accomplishment and I wish Willard all the luck he would wish himself.”

Nine months later, however, Johnson dramatically changed his tune. On January 2, 1916, Johnson, for a $250 fee paid by Nat Fleischer, future publisher of The Ring Magazine, released a combination handwritten/typewritten confession that he threw the Willard fight in exchange for undisturbed re-entry into the United States and $50,000 in cash.

Johnson later repudiated the confession, saying he was in need of money and had said that no one would have wanted to purchase a statement that declared he had lost honestly. Fleischer said he bought the confession in order to suppress it since Johnson had already confirmed his story wasn’t true. Willard was never implicated in the alleged fix."

 

It helps that nobody really saw the fight for several decades. Just the still image of what many people interpreted as Johnson relaxing on the canvas and shielding his eyes from the sun while he waited for the ref to finish his count.

 

Fatigue kills. Willard hit him with a very similar sequence a few rounds earlier, and Johnson seemed to just shrug it off (far as I could tell from the film).

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Prime Johnson gets starched just the same

 

This makes roughly as much sense as the sex scene between Bill Shatner and Angie Dickinson in Big Bad Mama. Minus the sex.

 

Henry Hascup ,a boxing historian who sadly no longer posts here ,stated the temperature was just over 100 degrees.
I was in Havana the first week in April about 4 years ago,it was in the 90's and I was staying near the Malecon sea front.Just walking around in a T shirt and shorts soon had me soaked with sweat, changing clothes and showering 3/4 times a day the humidity is something else! Willard said," it was hotter then hell in there".
Willard won fair and square, it was a great right hand with full leverage and weight, landing flush on an exhausted man .Sam McVey, Johnson's second said when he got Johnson on his feet he didnt know quite where he was.Willard had loosened Johnson's gold teeth with a big left earlier and he swallowed them rather than have Willard and the crowd see them fall out.You have the details of the quotes and confession spot on, Johnson was broke and needed cash..

 

I'm gonna say that's as hard as Willard ever hit anyone, the way he extended and drove into into it, whew!

 

Thats B()ll @#^t. Stop it ,you're embarrassing your self. You can check weather archives in April for Havana, Cuba. It doesn't get near 100 degrees. Never has. Fake news Mcvey strikes again. Try about 82 degrees.

 

The pleasure of seeing Angie's wonderful body was was destroyed by the image of William SHATner licking that amazing flesh.

BTW...she was 43yrs old when that movie was made. I may watch it again today.

 

his question was posted on RETRO BOXING
4 photos of fights were shown and you had to name the common denominator between them.
The fights were
Sullivan v Kilrain
Dempsey v Willard
Willard v Johnson
Robinson v Maxim
Can you guess what they had in common?

http://www.doghouseboxing.com/Ken/Hissner-010614-New.htm

Henry Hascup is a well respected historian and ring announcer. I'll believe him and my own experiences in Cuba over your vitriolic attempt to downplay the temperature because for some obscure reason you think this shows Johnson in a positive light!

https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Henry_Hascup