Jess Willard vrs Jack Johnson/100th Anniversary

[Caractacus]

Here is a link to a really informative article from 1990 with photographs on the history of the Oriental Park Racetrack at Havana Cuba
(which opened in 1915 and closed in 1967)
The huge portico that was at the entrance to the race track is now a warehouse for an automotive company.
Scroll down about halfway down the web page to read the text in the King's English.


http://www.thecubanhistory.com/2013/12/ ... park-fotos

[Caractacus]

Here is a link to a really informative article from 1990 with photographs on the history of the Oriental Park Racetrack at Havana Cuba
(which opened in 1915 and closed in 1967)
The huge portico that was at the entrance to the race track is now a warehouse for an automotive company.
Scroll down about halfway down the web page to read the text in the King's English.


http://www.thecubanhistory.com/2013/12/ ... park-fotos

I wonder,since the sanctions have been lifted with Cuba recently, if Al Bernstein visited and gave a presentation and lectured there at the hotel Riveria there in Havana about the 100th anniversary of the Willard vrs Johnson title fight
and then gave a walking tour over to the actual site of the ring battle
like he had done in Reno Nevada the 4th of July 2010?

[Caractacus]

Seems like the Centennial of Jess Willard's winning of the Heavyweight Championship of the World this year may have gone over like a lead balloon.
I wonder if the lawyer dude who wrote those biographies of the Heavyweight Champons since John L. Sullivan
is working on the one on Jess Willard now?

[Caractacus]

At the Kansas Museum of History located in Topeka Kansas
you can see some of Jess Willard's Boxing Gear (his gloves,trunks and shoes)
which were donated to the Kansas Historical Society some years ago by his son.

http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/cool-thi ... gear/10129

(click on the image of the gloves to enlarge photograph of gloves)
also click on link to see Jess Willard's trunks
and also click on lower page to hear an audio of podcast
concerning the exhibit).
However note some obvious revisionism in what
the interviewee had to say about what Jack Johnson had
later said regarding that fight.

[HomicideHenry]

Seems like the Centennial of Jess Willard's winning of the Heavyweight Championship of the World this year may have gone over like a lead balloon.
I wonder if the lawyer dude who wrote those biographies of the Heavyweight Champons since John L. Sullivan
is working on the one on Jess Willard now?

Adam Pollack. I know I've had talks with him in the past, and interviewed him concerning his books, and he told me as long as people were interested in reading and buying the books he'd continue on. He indicated to me that he probably would go to Dempsey or Tunney and then stop, which I think would be a shame as his books are ver insightful to not only the boxers but the opinions and times that they were in.

[Caractacus]

Biographies about Jack Sharkey and Max Baer would be great too.
Particularly since they both get further back in time with each passing year.

[Caractacus]

Also on display at the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka Kansas.
Is the custom made saddle that Jess Willard used when he made appearences
in Buffalo Bill Wild West Show


http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/cool-thi ... ddle/10274

[Caractacus]

Does anyone have any links to where they can hear the voice of Jess Willard ?
I know his voice was used in the Murray Wornor Fantasy Boxing Radio tournament in 1967
only about a couple of years before he had passed away.

[Caractacus]

check out one of the last known photographs of Jess Willard before he passed away in December 1968.
He had the look of a weathered frontiersman.
(and look at the size of those mitts !)

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/old ... id50316552

[HomicideHenry]

Willard is a particuarly hard man to rank in the annals of boxing history. He often is depicted as nothing more than some sort of freak, and that the sole reason he became champion was because of his size. Nothing can be further from the truth. Was he a particuarly skilled man? No. But he was well conditioned, had a cast iron jaw, and a sort of determination that has seldom been seen in boxing history. How many men do you know can fight in temperatures of 110 degrees, getting the tar knocked out of them for virtually twenty rounds by one of the all-time greats, only to come back to win on a knockout? I think a large reason why he isn't remembered all that fairly is because he was not a people person. He loathed boxing. He loathed publicity even more. He hated the press with a passion. All he wanted was to collect a check. So, in the eyes of many he was a prick and a bully. Immediately after losing to Dempsey, it's been written that all the hanger on's and press core left Willard alone and he had to be helped into his own hotel room by a stranger---- the sooner he got out of Toledo and back to Kansas, the better.

The devestating loss at the hands of Dempsey, only destroys the true image of the kind of fighter Willard was. The reality is, he never took Dempsey seriously. He didn't really train for him, and he hadn't fought in three years. He made a huge mistake, overlooking this kid from the Western frontier. I think Jess was too proud, too egotistical, too hurt by the experience to ever admit that it was his own fault for losing the way that he did, which is why till his dying day he claimed Dempsey cheated (i.e. first it was a bolt in the gloves, then plaster of paris on the wraps). It's better to gauge Willard on the Johnson fight and the Firpo fight, as to his talents as a boxer, than the Dempsey brawl. Because at least in those contests, he was focused and did train and did try his best. With Dempsey, he figured him and Kearns to be nothing more than loud mouthed cons.

I suppose one can understand Jess's logic.... the eighteen second kayo of Fulton happened so fast, that it could only have been a fluke. This was the same Dempsey who struggled with Meehan and Morris not long before. Surely, this kid wasn't the real deal. 187 pounds, for crying out loud. The kid looked more like a middleweight than a heavyweight. So, in retrospect, one can hardly blame Willard for really not taking Dempsey seriously. Based on all the available evidence at the time, this was the same Dempsey who failed miserably in New York and only a few short years before was stuck down in the mines because he couldn't get his career off the ground. A huge error, yes, but at the time who could go against Willard's logic?

[Caractacus]

The intersting thing about Willard's boxing career,
the sole focus of his career was to defeat Jack Johnson and win the Heavyweight Championship from his holding of it.
His trainers had him eat,sleep and become a Jack Johnson expert.
Sort of reminds me of the method of thinking when Cus D'Amato wanted to train Wilt Chamberlain
to fight Muhammad Ali.

[Caractacus]

-A Blast from the Past-

Hear the voice of Jess Willard in 1967 (at age 85 y).
beginning at about 2:00 of this clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xKXXGRJR0E

and at about 7:00 of this clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuzzswy0yLg

[Caractacus]

At about 3:30 of this clip, Jess Willard gave his opinion of Jim J. Jeffries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6O5KXl9Ru0

and about 4:50 of this clip,Willard talks about John L. Sullivan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8uDAuxVPtc

and at about 9:00 talks about the fighters of the John L. Sullivan era.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYS20pmJSC8

[HomicideHenry]

At about 3:30 of this clip, Jess Willard gave his opinion of Jim J. Jeffries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6O5KXl9Ru0

and about 4:50 of this clip,Willard talks about John L. Sullivan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8uDAuxVPtc

and at about 9:00 talks about the fighters of the John L. Sullivan era.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYS20pmJSC8

I disagree with Willard, largely, when it comes to Sullivan.... my main reasoning for this is that Sullivan, in reality, only had a handful of bouts under the London Prize Ring rules (bareknuckle) and had hundreds under the Marquis of Queensbury (gloves). Sullivan, not Corbett, was the reason why boxing became the sport it is today and has been for over 130 years. As a matter of fact, some of Sullivan's most noted gloved matches were against top notch London Prize Ring fighters (i.e. Alf Greenfield) and he lamented constantly how these types did not (in his estimation) "fight like men", because they would throw themselves down to the ground to avoid getting hit and try to wrestle. Sullivan preferred the MQ rules because it benefited his style, which was to come straight at a man and land combinations and (of course) knock them out. Many people forget, that the MQ rules was created in the 1860's and Sullivan toured the world with these rules, offering upwards of $1,000 to any man to last four rounds with him. This popularized the sport, and ultimately lead to the separation of grappling and boxing, and the two sports developed their own identities in America---- because prior to him, the two were mutually exclusive.

[Caractacus]

Anyone remember the studio posed photograph of John L. Sullivan and Jess Willard together in 1915 after Willard became Heavyweight Champion ?
It was up for sale at the ANTIQUITES OF THE PRIZE RING web site of the late Harry Schaffer some years ago.
i remember I provided a hyperlink to it in one thread.
Did anyone ever scan the photograph ?

[Caractacus]

check out this newspaper article from December 1966.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid= ... 7456&hl=en

[Caractacus]

a recent re-examination of the fight for the Centennial observation.

http://www.boxing.com/jack_johnsons_waterloo.html

[Caractacus]

Here is a link to a rare photograph of Jess Willard as he looked in July 1963 at age 81 years
on the 48th anniversary of his win over Jack Johnson in Havana Cuba.
(holding the five ounce boxing gloves that he knocked out Jack Johnson with).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BS-PHOTO-bpv-86 ... 1764807646

[Caractacus]

Poor ole Jess Willard.
Not too long after film footage of his championship fight with Jack Johnson
turned up after almost 50 years being lost and unseen,
the Jack Johnson revival came along in 1967.
continuing ther myth he was a just a uncordinated big oaf and that Johnson threw the fight.

[HomicideHenry]

Poor ole Jess Willard.
Not too long after film footage of his championship fight with Jack Johnson
turned up after almost 50 years being lost and unseen,
the Jack Johnson revival came along in 1967.
continuing ther myth he was a just a uncordinated big oaf and that Johnson threw the fight.

If memory serves me right, the only surviving film was discovered in a barn in Australia and was sold to Bill Cayton for the pricely sum of $100,000. Up until that time, nobody knew for sure whether to believe Johnson's claim of a dive or not. Personally, I didn't understand how anyone could believe in it when you consider the fight went twenty-six hard fought rounds, in 110 degree heat (in the shade). It was so hot they changed referees midway through the fight, and people were carried out of the arena due to heat stroke. Willard said it best, "If he took a dive, he should have done it sooner. It was hotter than hell down there."

[klompton]

Few things: 1. Its a myth that the only film of the fight was discovered in Australia. I have no doubt Willard and maybe Cayton believed this but there were actually 2 versions floating around at least, maybe more. 2. It was not 110 degrees that day. Not even close. In fact the weather was fairly nice. Cuba is in a temperate zone and as such the climate stays within a predictable and tolerable range all yr. Had it been 110 degrees it would have obliterated the highest temp ever recorded in cuba (102) and would have been blazingly hot for the average april temp in havana (86). In reality ringsiders said that after a light morning shower the day was slightly overcast and ideal for an outdoor boxing match. In short, Willard was full of shit. But so was johnson when he said he took a dive. 3. They did not change referees during the fight. The same ref was in it from round 1 thru the ko.

[Caractacus]

This month was the 101th anniversary (but who's counting ?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFZVlsLs9Eo

[pound per pound]

- Tale of the Tape-

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 7855&hl=en


(Willard had a seven and one half- inch reach advantage,
76 inches to 83.5 inches)

I have Jack at 74". That's 9.5 inches in reach he's giving up. Willard wasn't a spring chicken in this fight either.

[Caractacus]

check out this incredibly cool Panorama Photograph of the Oriental Race Park Track in Havana Cuba back in 1915.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jess_Will ... ,_Cuba.jpg

[Kalan]

This past April 5 marked the 100th anniversary of Jess Willard becoming the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World

Willard was the most inactive Heavyweight Champion in the History of Boxing. He got rich with personal appearances but hated the sport of Boxing with a passion. In the more than 4 years between his fights with Johnson and Dempsey, Jess fought only one exhibition match with Frank Moran. That fight is now listed as a 10-round World Title Fight but years ago it wasn't and no winner was declared. Willard's fight with Johnson was scheduled for 45 rounds, an unheard of distance. Johnson claimed the unusual length was to give promoters and managers enough time to give his wife papers promising a lenient prison stay and various prison privileges (including positions of Athletic Director, and Boxing Coach and staging boxing matches within the prison) at such time as Johnson entered the United States and was arrested. He was a fugitive from justice for violating the Mann Act. His wife needed time to read and okay the documents. Johnson claimed he got a signal from his wife after the 25th round, that she had in her possession all the promised documents and had read them all. In the 26th round Johnson delivered his end of the bargain. He claimed he took a right from Willard and faked a KO loss, shading his eyes from the sun with his forearm during the count as a message of defiance.

Willard's Title Fight with Dempsey was scheduled for 12 rounds. He was very poorly trained and took 4 years worth of punishment in 9 minutes.