Jess Willard vrs Jack Johnson/100th Anniversary

[Caractacus]

I personally came to the conclusion about a year ago
(just right after the second Fury vrs Wilder fight)
that Kalen may be (or was)a (fairly)well known
editor of a certain Boxing magazine and also did commentery on fights at ringside.
and I believe the intiTals to his actual name are
"R.G". (?)

[Caractacus]

I remember Gene Tunney writing his opinion about the validaty of Jack Johnson claiming to have "thrown it"
in his second autobiography ARMS FOR LIVING
I will go back and read what he thought about it.

[SenorPipino]

I personally came to the conclusion about a year ago
(just right after the second Fury vrs Wilder fight)
that Kalen may be (or was)a (fairly)well known
editor of a certain Boxing magazine and also did commentery on fights at ringside.
and I believe the intiTals to his actual name are
"R.G". (?)

R.G.? Then that's the same as Bob (Robert) Garrett. You mean that he's actually a professional writer and commentator? They'll give anyone a job these days

[Caractacus]

no someone else with the initials "R.G"
who's gotta be in their mid-60's now Im guessing.

[Caractacus]

from the book

ARMS FOR LIVING by Gene Tunney
(published 1941)
pp 175-176


" Tex(Rickard) was of the opinion that Johnson later on did quit to Jess Willard in Havana.
I know many people believe the Willard thing was a fake.
I believe that Jack himself passes his defeat off lightly as one of those things.
preferring the odium of fraud to the acceptance of genuine defeat.
I don't think it was a fake.
why go through twenty-six rounds in the broiling sun that beat down on the Havana ring ?

If it had been a dive, four or five rounds would have done quit well.
I think that the once magnificent ring man, grown old and physically debilitated after five years of exile in European capitals,
found that he couldn't handle the superbly conditioned young giant.
johnson knew he was on his way to sure defeat, and took the occasion of a punch to fall down and be counted out.
but what about the famous photograph ?
Time and time again you'll have a vivid bit of evidence cited to show it was a fake,
that Johnson deliberately lost to Willard.
It's the picture that shows Johnson lying on the canvas
and being counted out-and he's holding up one hand to shield his eyes from the glare of the semi-tropic sun.
so they say.
There is such a picture, and it does show johnson lying there with one arm upraised, his hand in such a position as might shield his eyes.
That photograph is merely ridiculous, the motion pictures reveal the truth.
Johnson fell in such a way that his arm swung over.
at one point it was in the position shown in the still picture, but the movie shows that his arm kept going over.
just the accident of a photograph being snapped at an instant to give a false impression ?

[SenorPipino]

no someone else with the initials "R.G"
who's gotta be in their mid-60's now Im guessing.

On Quora, Bob Garrett says that he's in his 70s.

[Caractacus]

That is not the person I was thinking of actually.

[Caractacus]

-1915-

-1946-

-1980-

[Caractacus]

BTW Before I forget-Memo-File this under as "The Jack Johnson "Effect" at 13.29 of this clip
(possibly best example yet so far of the effect)
James Broad vrs Bonecrusher Smith

[Caractacus]

Before the fight Jack Johnson 'predicted" that the fight would not go over 15 rounds
( due to Willard's inexperience)

[Caractacus]

[Caractacus]

"Terrible" Tim Witherspoon analysis the Johnson vrs Willard fight
( or at least the 5 minutes of film footage of it)

[Caractacus]

AT 7:55 of this clip... another example of "The Jack Jonson Effect".
(of course Tillis also later claimed to have 'dumped" this fight too.

[Caractacus]

I am still working my way through this one - but Kalan check out the section "Knockout in Doubt' - it is not what you expect. - I posted this one as a straight PDF file - we'll see if that works.

http://www.perno.com/Boxing/WJ2.pdf

Brilliant APerno!!! You’ve done it lad!!!

This article is PROOF POSITIVE the fight was a phony and a tank job.. Willard is described as clumsy, unskilled, and punched at will by Johnson... The article states that Willard was outpunched 10 to 1. That for 20 rounds Johnson punched Willard at will. Have you ever heard of somebody being out-punched 10-1 for 20 rounds and winning the fight???

Johnson also pulled his punches.. The article states that neither fighter was badly marked or showed evidence of being in a Heavyweight championship fight.. They compared it unfavorably to the ferocity of the Johnson-Jeffries fight, where the spectators were splashed with blood because of the ferocity of the action between 2 ATG Heavyweights.. Johnson was pulling his punches to make sure he didn’t knock the inept Willard out – as Dempsey and Firpo did in later fights – neither Heavyweight swinger being 1/10th as skilled as the masterful Johnson.

Regardless of the one-sidedness of the contest in Johnson’s favor, there seemed to be communications going on between Johnson and Mrs. Johnson after the 20th round. After the 20th round Johnson stopped punching and Willard stopped punching. They were doing almost nothing but posing while the spectators shouted for them to do something and somebody yelled FAKE!!! The last 3 rounds there was almost complete idleness from the 2 fighters. This had to be because Johnson was anxiously awaiting the signal that Mrs. Johnson had the documents and they were in order. Johnson evidently finally got this communication – because SOMEBODY overheard Johnson send word to his wife after the 25th that the fight was over and to head out of there.. The article states that very thing.. Johnson wrote that he wanted his wife to leave before he took the dive so that part of the newspaper article also backs Johnson up 100%.

The final thing the article states is the KO looked very suspicious and doubtful... There was a lot of discussion and doubt that a KO blow landed.. Nobody heard a punch land.. People expected Johnson to jump up and resume the action.. The suddenness of the ending seemed implausible and DAZED the spectators.. That’s how doubtful and suspicious the KO seemed to people.. Also the article states that Johnson got up immediately after the count, within a second or 2... If a guy is flattened with one of the most concussive blows in history that doesn’t happen. The article also states that Johnson drew up his forearms to shade his eyes from the sun during the count. WOW!!! Can you beat that??? This particular article covers a Hell of a lot of points that paint a picture of fakery.

When I first watched this fight many years ago -- I was also very suspicious of the KO like the writers watching this fight.. A master boxer doesn’t get hit with that type of lead, loaded punch.. It’s not plausible that a man who Johnson made look like a ridiculous clumsy amateur for 26 rounds would suddenly summons the skills to connect with a loaded right that he and everyone else could see.

I had read (somewhere) that Jim J. Jeffries use to use some form of early 'rope-a-dope" tactics too.
except Jeffries would just stand in front of his opponent, whilst they bruised
their puny fists on his massive frame and aftter they had become tired and exhausted, he would just keep moving in.

[Caractacus]

I came across this newspaper article
(seen on the very far right of newspaper page),
that mentions that the films was shown in Montreal Canada (at a private screening)shortly after the fight,
the original running time of the
Johnson vrs Willard moving pictures was
"The reels occupy nearly and hour and a half" ( including pre-fight training footage)

May.7.1915

https://google.com/books?id=4ocjAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA9&dq

[klompton]

I came across this newspaper article
(seen on the very far right of newspaper page),
that mentions that the films was shown in Montreal Canada (at a private screening)shortly after the fight,
the original running time of the
Johnson vrs Willard moving pictures was
"The reels occupy nearly and hour and a half" ( including pre-fight training footage)

May.7.1915

https://google.com/books?id=4ocjAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA9&dq

My copy runs an hour and fifteen minutes and is missing a handful of rounds so this is probably pretty accurate.