BoxRec

I think it was reported by people at ringside that in the 25th round Willard hit Johnson with a punch to the heart
and Johnson sagged and that punch was the telling blow prior to the big right in the next round
( could it have been the punch seen in this film footage at 32:32 ?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74dnCeXI8MM

watch this clip beginning at about 7:04 ( and again in slow-motion at about 8:12) for the "Jack Johnson Affect".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5cVh9Fm21M

gilgamesh wrote:I doubt he ever apologized to Jess Willard because he was probably telling the truth.

I believe so too.. Johnson threw that fight for certain... There were many factors in why Johnson waited for the 26th round to pull the scam... Most fights are well over by the 26th round -- however Johnson wanted 45 rounds because he needed his lawyers and wife to go over documents of many agreements of how he would be treated in the US; and documents related to his prison sentence in absentia—when he returned to the United States after many years of being a fugitive from justice. He wanted a very limited prison sentence and to be allowed have professional boxing matches while in prison. Very unusual requests. He wanted duties like sports director for inmates. It was home sickness, age, and the misery of being a fugitive from justice that made Johnson give up his title to Willard.

His lawyers were not allowed to see any of the papers until after the fight actually started. In his autobiography Johnson states that his wife returned to her seat following the 25th round and signaled to him that all the papers and agreements were in order. In the 26th Johnson retreated into a corner, took a right from Willard, and fell down.. As the count was being tolled, he shaded his eyes from the sun with his forearm.

Willard wasn’t a real fighter.. He hated Boxing and was only in it for the money. He didn’t defend the title for 4 years but went on tour forever.. He fought 1 exhibition match in 4 years. He was a big, tall, strong guy, who could throw a right and that’s why he took up Boxing. He was very fat and out of shape for Dempsey – a serious mismatch where he absorbed many smashing blows that fractured his face in several places. He was hardly a professional and never could have beaten Johnson in a legitimate fight.

Luckily there is a film. This fight was not fixed. Johnson tried very hard to win, he just could not hurt the giant, nor could he clinch and control him as he was in there vs a bigger man

In the 25th round, Willard badly hurt Johnson with body shots. It's there to see. Johnson was fading.

In the 26th round, Willard lands a hard right, Johnson tries to clinch, but falls and takes the count.

even with the old grainey multiply duplicated old film,it looked like Jack Johnson's head almost exploded when Willard landed that Big Right
in the 26th round.

It's super easy for anyone to see the fight as fixed from the get go...

Earlier in the fight he tagged Willard freely as he pleased... but he wasn't throwing sharply like Dempsey, because he was trying hard not to win... And he avoided punches all day with good head movement, and then he just stood there and took that one without even trying to defend it...

And when he laid on the canvas he shaded his eyes from the sun while having his knees raised up in an illogical manner for a KO"d person.. PLUS, when you're knocked out FOR REAL -- you're either stretched out for 10 -- or you're struggling to get to your feet and beat the 10-count... You don't just lay there lollygagging and shading your eyes from the sun like you're out on Holiday.. You've got work to do.

Before (I think on the day) of the fight,Jack Johnson went to the hotel and tried to bet 10 thousand dollars on himself to win,
but the hotel only allowed him to bet 2500 (on himself).

Johnson never bet on himself and never tried to...He had his friends or wives place bets for him when he felt certain he would win. In this particular fight he knew with an absolute certainly that he would lose... That's why the KO seemed so doubtful.. Read paragraph 8.. It was a real phony.
http://www.perno.com/Boxing/WJ2.pdf

Here was Jess Willard's response to Jack Johnson having "laying down" for the fight.
Then read this link to a newspaper article dated July.24.1915.
Reading this,Willard may have been considering giving Johnson a re-match until he made that claim anyway.
"I had him eating blood almost from the First"

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 6659&hl=en

Willard had said after the fight part of the game plan going in was to expect a beating for the first 10 to 15 rounds then open up on Johnson.

kalan I can't believe you really believe that bunch of BULLSHIT.

Caractacus wrote:Dont believe it?
Then read this link to a newspaper article dated July.24.1915

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 6659&hl=en

Wow... What a piece of crap Willard was, catering to racists by saying he would never give a black man a shot at the title.. Johnson won the first 20 rounds without putting up any effort at all.. If it were a 15 or 20 round fight Johnson wins easy... Then nothing happened for 5 rounds but stalling around by both fighters as Johnson waited for his wife to return to her seat with the documents which he expected to happen around round 20.. She returned during the 25th and signaled to Johnson that all the documents were in her possession and in order.. After the 25th round the newspapers reported that Johnson sent word to his wife to leave the arena because he was going to end things in the next round.. Newspapers actually reported this.

Neither boxer wore hand wraps to ensure their were no hard punches thrown.. Newspapers said it was the tamest fought Heavyweight fight ever and neither man looked like they'd been in a Heavyweight Prize Fight or were badly marked.. It was a tame sparring session.. Newspapers reported that most assuredly no KO punch was landed on Johnson.. Nobody saw or heard the punch land.. No photo of the KO punch landing exists.. The best photos of the fight show Johnson landing squarely on Willard's jaw.. Everyone expected Johnson to jump up immediately and resume fighting because no punch landed. Johnson shaded his eyes from the sun and relaxed his legs as the count continued... You don't shade your eyes and relax your legs at the same time if you're unconscious.. After the count was over newspapers reported that Johnson got up in a second or 2.

Dempsey wrapped his hands.. Dempsey hit Willard at will with fully loaded bombs.. Willard got the just deserts his lying, incompetent ass deserved the next time after Johnson that he stepped into a ring for a Heavyweight Prize Fight -- that actually had judges and referee present to render a decision. That was over 4 years later.. Willard sat on the title for 4 years.. If that's what you like in a champion Caractacus it makes no sense.

You keep citing all these "newspapers" saying that it was a sparring session and that the press core saw Johnson give his wife the signal... WHICH NEWSPAPERS Kalan?

In all my years studying the old timers I recall of no such newspaper syndicate saying such stuff, until AFTER Johnson told that story himself.

I was in the newspapers the day after the fight... They said Johnson sent word to his wife to leave the arena after the 25th round because he was going to end the fight in the next round... I don't know how they knew that... They must have pretty good ears, but they heard it. The following is one of the newspapers APerno cited. It includes the URL that APerno used at the time to link to the newspaper. In this particular one, in the 8th paragraph under the heading "knockout doubted" it states that a KO blow almost certainly did not land.

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.

according to the newspapers.
Jack Johnson did give the signal to have his wife leave the arena,
because he knew that he was on the verge of being KO'd,and obviously didn't want his own wife to see him go down defeated.
particularly from the body shot Willard delivered in the 25th round,which
it looks like not only knocked the wind out of him but all of his fighting spirit.
but he was knocked out by the "cyclonic" right hand of Willard when they were still leading her out of the arena to the exit ,
so she saw and or have least had to hear (the crowd responding)
to the knock-out .

I dont think Jack Johnson "pulled" any punches.
surely his hands were extremly hurting if not totally swollen from
punching a really Huge Slab of Beef of a Man for 25 rounds.
I remember reading somewhere where they couldn't hardly even remove
the gloves off of Jack Johnson hands after his fight with Frank Moran in Paris
because his hands were so swollen.
( after 'only" 20 rounds).

Cap wrote:It happens to every champion if he hangs around long enough or tries to come back. Sooner or later someone younger comes along and "puts the boots to 'im". Johnson was no different.

Willard was the best Johnson fought in a title defense by far.

He got stopped, then lied about it. The films show Willard coming on strong in the later rounds nearly doubling Johnson over with a body shot the round before the KO, and a clear KO 10 count. That ring canvas must have been hot on Jack's back...he was out.

No way this was a dive.

Caractacus wrote:I dont think Jack Johnson "pulled" any punches.
surely his hands were extremly hurting if not totally swollen from
punching a really Huge Slab of Beef of a Man for 25 rounds.

Johnson wasn't hitting Willard with anything but soft sparring punches... There's no way in HELL his hands could be swollen... ObvIously he was pulling punches because neither had wraps on -- that was to insure NO hard punches were thrown.. Willard wasn't a slab -- he was a punching bag who Dempsey and Firpo beat to death because he couldn't defend himself.. The fact they didn't wear wraps proves the fix was in.. The newspapers noted that it was the least rigorous fight in Heavyweight History and neither man was badly marked like would be expected in a Heavyweight Prize Fight.. Also the crowd cat called and yelled FAKE because the boxers weren't doing a damned thing but standing around for 5 rounds. Why don't you give reality a try.

Don't try to make Willard out to be a competent boxer... Dempsey said hitting Willard was like throwing pine cones at the side of a barn... Look at Willard's face and head after 3 rounds with Dempsey. When you get hit, that's what you look like.. That's why you wear wraps.. If Johnson's hands were swollen Willard's face and head would be swollen.. Jess had one superficial cut and looked like a choirboy.. Alex Stewart's hands were a bit swollen after the Foreman fight.. Foreman also had a double-head.. Ali's hands were somewhat swollen after Frazier 1.. Look at Frazier's head!!!

pound per pound wrote:Willard was the best Johnson fought in a title defense by far ... No way this was a dive.

Jeffries was Johnson's best Title Challenger.. Willard was the worst Heavyweight Champion of the 20th Century.. Dempsey loaded up and couldn't miss the wide open target.. There's on reason Johnson couldn't do the same if his hands were wrapped and the fight weren't fixed.

see the link to the round-by-round blow account that appeared in the Chicago Tribune
there in the Jess Willard newsletter thread.
(won't link up for some reason when I typed the URL in this thread).

Caractacus wrote:according to the newspapers.
Jack Johnson did give the signal to have his wife leave the arena,
because he knew that he was on the verge of being KO'd,and obviously didn't want his own wife to see him go down defeated.
particularly from the body shot Willard delivered in the 25th round,which
it looks like not only knocked the wind out of him but all of his fighting spirit.
but he was knocked out by the "cyclonic" right hand of Willard when they were still leading her out of the arena to the exit ,
so she saw and or have least had to hear (the crowd responding)
to the knock-out .

The crowd DIDN'T respond to the KO according to the papers... According to the newspapers everybody expected Johnson to jump up and resume fighting because "Certainly no KO punch landed" on Johnson... The reporters at ringside were very skeptical of a KO punch... The subhead "KO punch doubtful" appeared.. Why??? ... A cyclonic right would knock somebody cold.. Why can no still photo or motion picture show a KO punch making contact??? Why did Johnson ease himself to the canvas with NO head bounce??? If you're knocked out your head bounces dude..

Johnson also had his knees in the air before relaxing them ... WHILE he rested his right glove on his left as he shaded his eyes from the sun with his right forearm.. Then Johnson relaxed his legs to the canvas as he continued to shade his eyes from the sun... Johnson left a long trail of clues, for the astute observer, saying.., "This is no KO my friend. This is a tank job baby."

Earnie Shavers own "cyclonic right" didn't knock Larry Holmes out cold and that was in the seventh round.

THAT particular right hand Shavers threw landed... There were a million pictures showing it landing... It was loud and could be heard throughout the arena

The Willard right didn't land.. There were no pictures of it landing.. Nobody heard it and ringsiders thought it was FAKE and thought Johnson laid down.