Essential The Official MMA Thread

pez

pez

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cmvegeta said:
I wish I could see more Jack Johnson fights. :mjcry: man had genius that people won't appreciate because of the graininess of the film
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The War on Jack Johnson: Boxing's First Black Heavyweight Champion Versus the World | FIGHTLAND

So the search was on for the Great White Hope. Anyone who could make the weight had gloves strapped on and tried their luck at restoring the honor of the white race. Most of them never made it anywhere close to a fight with Johnson, and those who did were easily handled. Even Stanley Ketchel, a middleweight who had no business in the ring with Johnson, stepped up for a shot at Johnson's title. He ended up losing a few of his teeth in Johnson's glove. It seemed it would be down to Jim Jeffries to return to the ring.

ketchel.jpg


Photo by Malcolm W. Emmons/Sporting News via Getty Images

Jeffries, The Boilermaker, was a mammoth of a man. Enormously strong and a tremendous hitter, he was never noted for his defense, but he could grind through anyone placed in front of him, doing it to both Bob Fitzsimmons and to James Corbett, twice. The calls on Jeffries to leave the simple, farming life he had set up for himself were louder than ever as Johnson routed Ketchel with ease. Even John L. Sullivan, who had complained publicly that Jeffries had fought nothing but wash ups and patsies, was suddenly in Jeffries corner.

Jeffries had the camp of his life as he chiseled himself back into fighting shape under the tuition of former rival, James Corbett and the encouragement of The Great John L., even enlisting the help of the wrestling champions, Farmer Burns and Frank Gotch in order to prepare him for the clinch with Johnson. But it was all for naught.

Jimmy Wilde put it best when he said that Johnson wasn't half the man on offence that he could be when his opponent was leading. The more aggressive the opponent, the more furious Johnson's return. Jeffries brought the most aggression and strength of anyone to date, and Johnson destroyed him. Again it was the use of tie ups to tire Jeff out, and the flurries of punches in the later stages of rounds which did the damage.

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On full display was Johnson's legendary uppercut, thrown as he held the opponent away with a cross-face, turning his hips all the way through so that the uppercut was almost being thrown to his side.

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Following the bout the great Jeffries was forced to admit Johnson's skill and conceded that even in his prime, he couldn't have touched Johnson.

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Johnson summed it up best in his recollections written shortly after the bout:

“The last hope of the white race had failed, since that day no other has been found to try to replace him.”
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J

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In fairness to JDS he was coming off a year long layoff, having said that he has definitely lost a step. Barnett had a lot of success using the jab, and JDS is much better at using his jab than Josh. If Junior uses his boxing and can keep Ben at the end of that, he still has enough power to knock out anyone.
 
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