For Dave - Peter Jackson and the elusive heavyweight championship

Dave 667 and I were just chatting about a subject which he and I find fascinating, namely the life and career of the great old timer, Peter Jackson.

I mentioned to Dave that I have on my hard drive an informative, 26 page article about the Black Prince, and I finally managed to find a link so that I can share it with him and with those others who might be interested. It's in pdf format, ( downloadable, ) and appears alongside several other articles in the same document.

Enjoy.

http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1985/JSH1202/jsh1202a.pdf

Good stuff Windy cheers

The Galveston Giant wrote:Good stuff Windy cheers

You're very welcome, Galveston.

Thanks a lot Windy, love to learn more about Jackson, and I'll enjoy the read when I get a moment.

Cheers

Rodders

You're welcome, Rodders.

It's a very good read.

Windy, you're a gent....sadly can't access the link from work but looking at the title, funnily enough, I do believe I already have this one on my hard drive at home.

Hopefully some of the other posters on here will now see why I tend to make such a fuss about Jackson although I'm not sure I'd like them to get to the stage where they're arbitrarily including him in their top ten lists (I feel I should be the only one allowed to do that on a regular basis)

I had an article from old foe Joe Choynski, Ill post beneath, dont think Dave will be best pleased with some of the references Joe made about Peter, referring him as having a soft body and little infighting, maybes slight bit of bitterness on Joe's behalf.

Anyhow this is the article if anyone hasnt seen it

The following comes from the May 4, 1934 edition of ‘The Referee and Announcer’ magazine:
“Peter Jackson Lacked Defense In In-Fighting
There probably were few boxing experts of the old days who did not regard the late Peter Jackson as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Some even rated him as the real king of all heavies. Declarations of his presumably superlative ability have been emphasized and repeated as often as to be accepted without argument. It is one of those things which improve with age, like wine and legends.
Such being the case, writes a veteran scribe, when one who should know states that almost any of the present heavies would have beaten Jackson, why it’s just like busting a sacred idol in the face with a monkey wrench, installing a phonograph in the Invalides next to Napolean’s tomb, or painting flamboyant signs on the walls of Westminster Abbey.
There probably was nobody in the world better qualified than Joe Choynski to judge of Jackson’s strong and weak points. They toured the country together, engaging in innumerable exhibitions. Joe becomes an iconoclast, and shows our ebony idol to have been fashioned of clay in at least one respect. He declared to me that Jackson could not possibly have survived the heavy infighting which features the style of today. In other words, he couldn’t take them to the midriff.
“Peter was a beautiful, straight-punching boxer, the very poetry of motion,” said Choynski. “But he was not an infighter and had little defense against infighting. He had a slender waist and could not take them there. It was a real weakness. He could not have survived the rigors of the ring today.
“Why Bill Farnan, weighing about 157 pounds, beat Jackson twice in Melbourne. He knocked him out in three rounds the first time, and had him in such a bad way that the police stopped the second fight in the sixth round. Farnan turned the trick by simply driving in punches to Jackson’s body.”
Thus grand old Peter goes the way of the Santa Claus of our infancy and the ghosts of the village cemetery.”

Cheers

Rodders


Take a deep breath before you read it Dave mate.

DAVE667 wrote:Windy, you're a gent....sadly can't access the link from work but looking at the title, funnily enough, I do believe I already have this one on my hard drive at home.

Hopefully some of the other posters on here will now see why I tend to make such a fuss about Jackson although I'm not sure I'd like them to get to the stage where they're arbitrarily including him in their top ten lists (I feel I should be the only one allowed to do that on a regular basis)

You're more than welcome, Dave.

I'll be disappointed if it is, indeed, a duplicate, but needless to say if I find anything else about the great man on my travels I'll share it with you.

You are CERTAINLY, as our resident Jackson expert and long standing champion of the Black Prince, eminently qualified to ' work his corner ' in the all time rankings. Don't forget, though, that it comes at a price. It is your DUTY, to spread the word, so dust of that hymn book, don the robes of the evangelist and book your spot on Sunday morning TV.

Chances are, of course, that you'll bump in to D4. He'll show you the ropes, I'm sure.

I've read that from Choynski before, Rodders. I'm not offended though...all our heroes eventually turn out to be fallible (sorry Rowley but Langford ain't all that!!!!)

Like Jack Johnson, Jackson stated he didn't like being punched to the midriff (many whites believed it was an intrinsic failing of black fighters) and when called on it Jackson merely said, "I don't know many white fighters who do either" Of course, how many HW today are noted for their body punching?

As stated though Rodders, there does seem to be a bit of jealousy on Choynski's part but I'd have to say, even fighting in the modern age, I think there's a fair number of fighters who struggle to get anywhere near Jackson's midriff such was the beauty of his defensive boxing.

Think i'm with Dave re Choynski's comments. Think it was a largely held idea back then that black fighters were weak downstairs. Have also read comments from other fighters that Jackson lacked power. Obviously impossible for us to comment on the accuracy of these claims but for me you have to question them, because it does pose the question if you have a fighter who couldn't punch, couldn't fight on the inside and couldn't take punches to the body why the hell was everyone so loath to fight him and how on earth did the guy manage to go 61 rounds with Corbett with so many apparent flaws in his game.

Would have still lost to Langford though Dave.

Maybe at tiddlywinks!

Think it was a largely held idea back then that black fighters were weak downstairs

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Thats right and basically that they were so thick upstairs, they couldn't be hurt as much to the head, crazy, thay must have had some chin back in the day.