BoxRec

I spent some time trying to create an alternate timeline assuming boxing had a real sanctioning body with rankings. Having boxers fight the top contender's. For me the biggest disappoint in the early years is having so many boxers not getting a titleshot with various career defining victory's in a given year this is a subject i want to explore. I can use some simulation to get a fairly realistic outcome at various points of a person career but it's not what I'm relying upon.

So in this alternate timeline I am tex rickard without a bias. My main goal is to leave each fighter his best legacy from the option's available and building up some confidence in the champ because that was essential.

8-14-03 Jeffries defeated Corbett.

the following year Jeffries

summer of 1904 Jeffries fights Johnson.
Jeffries age 29 Johnson 26
I feel this was perfect time to face Johnson as tex rickard he was still a cruiserweight and had not yet developed the strength he would be known for that lack of strength can be traced to Johnson's bout with Sandy Ferguson in dec 1903 and his inability to knock him out. After seeing Sandy Ferguson dropping Jack Johnson to the canvas he immediately signs him for a title shot knowing he is still vulnerable.

Result Jeffries Win.

Aug 1905 Jeffries fights Marvin Hart
Jeffries age 30 Hart age 28
as tex rickard Hart's march 1905 victory over Jack Johnson secures him a title shot. Johnson lose completely derails his rematch with Jeffries.

Result Jeffries Win.

Feb 1906 Jeffries fights Joe Jeanette.
Jeffries age 30 Jeanette age 26
as tex rickard Jeanette's christmas day victory over Sam langford 12-25-1905 earns him a title shot. Jeanette was just more advanced than either Langford or Mcvey as this early point in history.

Result Jeffries Win.

11-26 1906 Jeffries fights Johnson in the rematch.
Jeffries age 31 Johnson age 28
as tex rickard this fight is taking place on the day Johnson fought Jeanette (but instead fights Jeffries). At this point Johnson has asserted himself as true threat beating Langford in april of 1906 and Jeannette in oct 1906 earning him a title shot.

Result Johnson win

7-17-07 Champion Johnson fights Bob Fitzsimmons
Johnson age 29 Fitz 44
This fight takes place the same date as the original fight but for the heavyweight crown. The public is outraged that Johnson would fight someone so old but the bout takes place.

Result Johnson win

11-2-1907 Champion Johnson fights Jim Flynn
Johnson age 29 Flynn Age 36
This fight takes place the same date as the original fight but for the heavyweight crown.

Result Johnson win

July 1908 Champion Johnson fights Tommy Burns
Johnson age 30 Burns age 27
Original fight takes in dec 1908. But Johnson doesn't need to chase Burns around and fight takes place sooner.

Result Johnson win


12-26-1908 Champion Johnson fights Al Kaufman
Johnson age 30 Kaufman age 22
as tex richard the fight happens sooner than it happen in real life which was sep 1909. This was the date Johnson fought Tommy Burns to earn the crown.

Result Johnson win

4-17-1909 Champion Johnson fights Sam Mcvey
Johnson age 31 Mcvey age 25
as tex richard Mcvey feb 1909 whipping of Jeanette earns him a titleshot.

Result Johnson win (in a close fight)>

Oct 1909 Champion Johnson fights Sandy Ferguson
Johnson age 31 Ferguson age 30
as tex richard Ferguson very much deserves his rematch with Johnson. Ferguson secured his title shot with april 1909 Draw with Langford costing Langford a titleshot. After Ferguson beats Jeanette in June of 1909 he is number 1 contender.

Result Johnson win

July- 1910 Champion Johnson fights Stanley Ketchel
Johnson age 32 Ketchel age 24
Takes place after the original date as tex richard he puts the fight together mostly as a publicity stunt with the farce that Ketchel won the april 1910 draw with Langford propelling him to the title shot. The public at this point after the fight is demanding a title shot with Sam Langford that Johnson appears to be avoiding.

Result Johnson win

11-10-1910 Champion Johnson fights Sam Langford
Johnson age 32 Sam Langford age 24 (same age as ketchel)
As tex richard the fight is finally forced into happening for a mega million dollar gate.
The fight takes place on the date Langford faced Jeff Clark but instead faces Johnson. Johnson is a 3-1 favorite.

Result Langford win

As we enter the year 1911 Tex richard now controls Sam Langford as the new champion.
As a bit of karmic justice Sam Langford never grant's Jack Johnson a rematch as the now 33 year old champion Jack Johnson never again fights for the heavyweight crown. Very Much like what Bob Fitsimmons did denying Corbett his much wanted rematch. Sam Langford states afterwards that he was upset that Johnson gave Ketchel the title shot over him in the summer, leading to him not granting Johnson an immediate rematch.

Sounds quite reasonable. It could end with Dempsey dethroning Langford and defending against Wills. I'd pick Dempsey to win Wills and then history would continue with the Tunney part. If Wills somehow won Dempsey and stayed for a while, still Tunney was likely to become a champ.

It's possible to think, how the history would go, if Tunney competed longer. He would definitely deal with the likes of Sharkey, Schmeling, Baer and maybe even young Louis, since Schmeling was able to do it. Yet Louis would still be destined to become the next big thing for years.

Probably Luther McCarty would have gotten the shot at Sam Langford, and might have become champion and potentially squeaked out a victory over Jack Dempsey. A rematch ensues and Dempsey gains the title. He's forced into facing Harry Wills, and defeats Wills. He loses the title ultimately to Gene Tunney. Tunney sticks around a little longer than planned and is forced to fight George Godfrey, and nearly loses the title but Godfrey disqualifies himself. A rematch is in order but Tunney retires and Godfrey faces Jack Sharkey instead. He defeats Sharkey, but loses the title to Max Schmeling, who loses it to Primo Carnera. The Italian giant loses to Max Baer who loses it to Jim Braddock who loses it to Joe Louis.

I'd like to further explore some further thoughts on Jack Johnson & Sam Langford. Both of these guys took some time to develop power. You can read in Clay Moyle book how it took Sam Langford some time to develop into learning to use leverage with his punches despite his natural ability.

The Dec 1903 bout with sandy ferguson & Jack johnson had a big impact on Jeffries. Johnson was knocked down got up mad and had no ability to knockout Ferguson. Jeffries totally made a mistake assuming he wasn't ready because he simply wasn't he should of capitalized on that fact. On the contrary in 1904 Jeffries unlike Corbett/fitz/ and cruiserweight Johnson and Langford was a full grown bull power. The stories' were notorious of Jeffries knocking out sparring partners out cold in 1904 he was at his apex of his power.

Johnson proved even after a mythical summer of 1904 bout that he had an inability to knockout marvin Hart in march of 1905. Had Jack Johnson faced Jeffries when he wanted too in summer of 1904. I have no doubt Jeffries would have eventually knocked him out in a 25 round bout. He wasn't ready yet. You can see Jack Johnson in early photo's how incredibly lean he was.

I do think if those events happened Jeffries would have eventually granted Johnson a rematch not fearing him. Somewhere in late 1906 proving the end for Jeffries but giving him an outrageous payday. Just as Sam Langford was no where near ready to face Johnson in 1906. It's just unfortunately how history served it up to us.

Jeffries i do think should be given credit for being an early version of Jake Paul in that he secured a huge payday on name recognition alone without any recent accomplishments and laughed all the way to the bank. He should of not been fighting in 1910 but he actually did a very modern thing securing a huge payday without even a tune-up fight that would have certainly exposed his complete inability to compete. He was like the very first version of a youtube star people knew about him but most probably had never seen him actually fight because it was so long ago. I think it was a very modern thing that he did.


I don't think anything much can be gleamed with Johnson beating an old version of Jeffries and certainly Johnson beating a very young Langford can't have much merit either. Had Jeffries beaten Jack Johnson in 1904 and then did his retirement we would be making the same mistake as with Langford vs Johnson assuming that a victory early in their career is dictating that that individual is the better man. All it means is that history served us up information at the wrong timeline.

Who would win vs a prime version of Jeffries vs Johnson i do not think the answer is as easy as it appears. I think both would win and it all reality it's quite likely to have unfolded like that. It isn't a black or white simple answer.

In this mythical timeline Langford cost himself a title shot in 1909 getting a draw with Sandy Ferguson getting by passed for a title shot. No one in this forum is probably thinking Sandy Ferguson is a better fighter than Langford but yet a draw happened. A full 3 years after the Johnson bout in 1906 because Sam wasn't still at full strength yet. That certainly doesn't mean that Ferguson was any better of a man than Langford but it's how history served it to us which is giving us a flawed data. So even when Johnson was fighting Tommy Burns Langford may still not have been ready had they even fought at that point. Because he wasn't fully developed. Which is exactly what would of happened to Jack Johnson had he fought Jeffries in 1904. Jeffries was fully developed in all his glory in 1904. Giving a rather complicated answer to whom was better between Johnson and Jeffries. To me Johnson has a much higher ceiling but how history could of served it up to us could have given us a very flawed data. Such as how the real event's panned out.