April 5, 1915

Ninety-two years ago today a defining era of the heavyweight title ended and boxing saw one of the greatest upsets the sport has ever known. Jess Willard over Jack Johnson has to be in the top ten all-time boxing upsets, and maybe even higher. Thinking quickly right now, I'm putting it sixth behind Douglas/Tyson, Clay/Liston, Ali/Foreman, Schmeling/Louis and Tunney/Dempsey. But don't hold me to that list. I may have missed something big in there.

Willard's upset would be even more momentous if one didn't have to take into account the circumstances surrounding it - in particular the fact that Jack Johnson was at least 37 years old and weary of being on the lam. The Willard/Johnson fight took place in Havana, Cuba, because Johnson was wanted in the States for "the importation of women for prostitution," a crime that amounted to his having openly consorted with white women all his life and never given a damn what anyone thought about it.

In the five years prior to the Willard fight, Johnson had fought a total of five fights - his epochal victory over Jim Jeffries in 1910, and then four pushovers. In 1913, he was forced to flee the U.S. due to the trumped up pimp charges, and he and his wife Lucille bounced from one South American location to another to evade the authorities.

Given that as the fight's background, it is no wonder that Johnson lost his title to a giant of a man with little or no boxing skill but a tremendous chin and will to endure. Early in the fight, Johnson launched an onslaught at Willard, and when he had not knocked him out by the 10th round or so, it was clear that the champion was in trouble. The heat in Havana was stultifying, and Willard was enormous and strong. In the 26th round the challenger landed a fearsome straight right hand directly on Johnson's chin, and the champ crumpled against Willard and then to the canvas. There, shading his eyes from the blistering sun, he was counted out.

Later there was much talk that Johnson had thrown the fight, talk that Johnson himself stoked, but in retrospect it seems a preposterous claim. As Willard himself put it, "If he was going to throw the fight, I wish he'd done it sooner. It was 105 degrees out there." The fact of the matter seems that Johnson was not in his best condition, and then punched himself out trying to end the fight early. A familiar scenario. When you view a slide show of the Willard punch that ended it (there's a good one here), it hardly seems like Johnson took a dive. He got hammered, KTFO, end of story.

Willard held the heavyweight crown for just over four years, but defended it successfully only twice. On July 4th, 1919, a man six inches shorter and 60 pounds lighter stopped him in the third round, and the legend of Jack Dempsey was born.

As for Johnson, well, he returned to the U.S. in 1920 and served a one-year sentence for his non-existent crimes. He continued to fight until he was 60 years old, but never again would he fight for the heavyweight championship.