Your Thoughts On Jess Willard Ko Jack Johnson?

Def. legit imo.

Johnson invented and sold the “confession” years later because he needed money.

Apparently Fleischer didn’t believe it but paid for the confession anyway to help Johnson out.

In fact I don’t think Fleischer ever intended to publish it so he simply filed/locked it away - it was published years later - perhaps after Fleischer’s death?

On film, you can see Johnson flagging in the later rds and getting caught more often by Jess.

The final right looked real enough, driving Johnson’s head right back.

On the way down, Johnson also tried to grab on to Willard to prevent himself from falling.

As to shielding his eyes from the sun, it was reported that shortly after the famous pic, Johnson’s arm did drop flat, at his side.

I’ve always felt that even though semi conscious, one might still instinctively shield their eyes from a sufficiently bright sun - so even if Jack did initially put his arm to shade his eyes - it wasn’t a deal breaker in so far as it still being a legit KO.

The film of the fight was banned and apparently went missing for decades until discovered in the mid to late 60s - when it was then featured in the doco Legendary Champions.

Without film evidence, the claim of a dive was likely floated more convincingly during the years when the film went AWOL.

 

Genuine ko Jess knocked out2 of Johnson's gold teeth during the fight.
Jack just ran out of case,years of dissipation age [37],being overweight the conditions ,and the fact that the fight was scheduled for45 rds were all slanted against Jack.Willard was in the shape of his life,he took a hiding for the best part of the first 20 rds,but Johnson had shot his wad by then.
The fight may be Johnson's best actually ,the referee said had the fight been 25 rds Johnson would have clearly won a decision,but when he failed to put the big Cowboy away the writing was on the wall.
Johnson went down like a champ should,beaten fairly which he himself admitted when he went to collect his money the next day.

 

Sam McVey Johnsons' chief second said Jack did not know where he was when they got him onto his feet.

 

The conditions dictated everything, genuine KO.

 

I have never taken the claim that the fight was thrown very seriously.

 

Thanks for this great post. I always thought Jack was stopped legitimately.

 

Total KO. Great shot

 

He outlasted a fat geezer who was controlling him throughout the bout, credit for the win and all to some extent but that’s still the reality.

 

Willard drained the strength out of Jack in the hot sun before knocking him out in the 26th. What's the mystery? Jess was big, strong and could punch. The great Jack Johnson was old and tired from fighting the whole world. In a 15-round contest he wins easily.

 

Cheers Fergalicious, Ferg-o-rama or do you just prefer good ol’ Ferg?

 

Very legitimate, conditioning is king in boxing, especially under those long rounds in the blazing heat