The Killings of Stanley Ketchel
“He leaned down to Jeffries’ raw ear so he would not be overheard and told him he’d fought bravely and had not a damn thing to apologize for to anybody. Jeffries nodded but said nothing.
Ketchel then went to see Johnson. The police guards at the dressing room door recognized him and let him pass.
Johnson was knotting his tie in a mirror. His cornermen, one white and two Negroes, were there too.
“Well now, lookee here,” Johnson said, smiling at Ketchel in the mirror. “My, my, what a splendiferous... surprise to see you, Mr. Stanley. Say, now, that’s a fine-looking set of teeth.”
“Came to say congratulations.”
“Well thank you, sir. Some of them reporters was here a minute ago but I don’t recollect anybody telling me no congratulations. Just want to know do I respect Mr. Jeffries. Do I believe I coulda beat him when he was champ. Ask me would I give him a rematch. I say that be fine with me but I ain’t so sure about Mr. Jeff. He big but he not dumb. I say, ‘Do he look like he want a rematch?’”MoreLess
Ketchel then went to see Johnson. The police guards at the dressing room door recognized him and let him pass.
Johnson was knotting his tie in a mirror. His cornermen, one white and two Negroes, were there too.
“Well now, lookee here,” Johnson said, smiling at Ketchel in the mirror. “My, my, what a splendiferous... surprise to see you, Mr. Stanley. Say, now, that’s a fine-looking set of teeth.”
“Came to say congratulations.”
“Well thank you, sir. Some of them reporters was here a minute ago but I don’t recollect anybody telling me no congratulations. Just want to know do I respect Mr. Jeffries. Do I believe I coulda beat him when he was champ. Ask me would I give him a rematch. I say that be fine with me but I ain’t so sure about Mr. Jeff. He big but he not dumb. I say, ‘Do he look like he want a rematch?’”MoreLess
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Guest 7 months ago
Burns was no slouch, he was a very goos champion for his time. Precious to the Johnso fight he's made 10-11 defences against the top contenders and won all ecept one, by KO.Although only 5'7" and 170 lbs he had a very long reach, and took full advantage of it, as well as a KO punch.
Guest 7 months ago
The story about Ketchell's 2 front teeth embedded in the glove is pure fakery. The gloves were very loosely horsehair packed 5 oz gloves, and nothing could been embedded in those sagging items.Also Jimmy Britt, Willus's brother after Willus died 2 years later denied that it had ever occurred. He said that Willus had a tooth attached to his watch chain across his waistcoat for many years and that was the only tooth involved.
Another point is that Ketchell, totally against their previous agreement that is was to be an exhibition, knocked Johnson down, in fact if you look at the video you can see that Johnson is already going dwon BEFORE Ketchell's punch lands. Just look at Johnson's foot bending down. So it looks as if, to spice up the exhibition, Johnson was pretending to be Kd'd at that time. rthe whole bout , Johnson was superior in every aspect. He was the most expert catcher of punches with his right hand glove ever seen before or since. When an opponent was just set to punch Johnson would reach out and "touch" his bicep , preventing him from any punch or taking away all it's intended power.
And contrary to this account-admittedly fiction- Johnson arose almost immediately and rushing across the ring KO'd Ketchell with a single right uppercut, his favourite and most feared punch.
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