To quote Wills himself: “We were scheduled for another twenty rounder. In the eighteenth Sam was in a peck of trouble and once again I tried to set him up for a quick knockout. He finished the round okay and when the bell sounded for the start of the nineteenth I was after him again. I figured if I could get him in a corner I could finish the fight. That was all I could remember. He must have caught me as I rushed in." " Wills stated, "I don't know how long I was unconscious but it must have been quite a while. He was marvelous as a fighting man, This content is protected "
I'm not really knocking Wills ,its just that his wins over the Black Trio keep getting trumpeted ,I am trying to get an objective handle on his chances against them in their prime ,and ,from that his chances against Dempsey.
I think him and McVey match up pretty evenly prime for prime, Wills beats Jeannette more times than not, and vice versa for a prime heavyweight Langford.
Sam Langford--Wills first beat Langford according to Boxrec on 5-1-1914 when Langford was 31 years and a little over 1 month old. I assume he could have beaten him a couple of months earlier. Wills record in the fights listed against Langford 13-2-1 with 1 no contest. Wills won more than he lost right from the beginning. Langford had to knock out Wills to get the best of him, which is interesting. McVey--Wills first beat McVey on 5-19-1915 when McVey was 31. Jeannette--Wills first beat Jeannette on 5-19-1914 when Jeannette was 35. Langford might well have been the best heavyweight in the world when Wills first beat him. McVey was probably very close. If you want to bring up Dempsey, which one of Dempsey's wins in your judgement is more impressive than these? The erratic Sharkey? I would judge that the only one in the same clase. Langford, McVey, and Jeannette are often rated in the top 30 of ATG heavyweights. As for Langford, which heavyweights are you confident would have done better than losing only 2 of 17 fighting him when Wills fought him. I wouldn't put a great deal of money on anyone. Could Lewis avoid getting hit? What about stamina with Foreman and perhaps Liston? Is Tyson such a sure shot? Or Dempsey? I am not certain I would want to bet on even Louis doing better.
Its also interesting that Langford at under 5 7" managed to do that .Wills had up to 9inches in height over Langford depending on which stats you go with,so it isnt suprising he found it difficult to,outpoint Harry. Jeannette was past his best by a considerable margin at 35 and 40 years old,Mcvey too was a little on the slide.Langford came back to ko Wills then began to lose regularly to him.Martin was 40 years old ,Smith was finished, Floyd Johnson laid down and was barred for life from fighting in New Jersey after their fight ,and anyway he had been soundly beaten by 175lb Martin Bourke, Dempsey's sparring partner .Kid Norfolk was 7inches shorter than Wills and a LH.
Langford actually weighed between 187 to 200 lbs for the Wills fights. He was short, but he was a heavyweight. Certainly some of these guys. like Smith and Martin, were over the hill, but Smith was losing practically every fight by the time he fought Dempsey. What difference does it make if Dempsey used Norfolk as a sparring partner--Ali was once Johansson's sparring partner. Jeffries was once Corbett's sparring partner. Foreman was once Liston's. This doesn't make them easy marks. Norfolk defeated Greb and Miske, among others. He weighed more against Wills than Gibbons did against Dempsey and seems to have been about the same height. And Wills beat Norfolk much more easily than Dempsey defeated Gibbons. In fairness, Gibbons later defeated Norfolk.
