Jess Willard

Jess Myron Willard (December 29, 1881 – December 15, 1968) was an American world heavyweight boxing champion billed as the Pottawatomie Giant. He won the world heavyweight title in 1915 by knocking out Jack Johnson.

Willard was known for size rather than skill, and though he held the championship for more than four years, he rarely defended it. In 1919, when he was 37 years old, he lost the title in an extremely one-sided loss by declining to come out for the fourth round against Jack Dempsey, who became a more celebrated champion. Soon after the bout, Willard began accusing Dempsey of using something with the effect of a knuckle duster. Dempsey did not grant Willard a return match, and at 42 years old he was KO'd, following which he retired from boxing, although for the rest of his life he continued to claim Dempsey had cheated. Ferdie Pacheco expressed the opinion in a book that the surviving photographs of Willard's face during the Dempsey fight indicate fractures to Willard's facial bones suggesting a metal implement, and show he was bleeding heavily. The matter has never been resolved, with contemporaneous ringside sports journalist reporting in The New York Times that Willard spat out at least one tooth and was "a fountain of blood" increasingly discounted in favor of a view that he had only a cut lip and a little bruising.

Early life Jess Myron Willard was born on 29 December 1881 in Saint Clere, Kansas. In his teenage years and twenties he worked as a cowboy.

Concealed metal object theory When interviewed by Harry Carpenter of the BBC Sport in the 1960s at his house in California, Willard said to the reporter, "I'll show you, how I was beaten." He then drew a metal bolt from a cardbox, saying that Dempsey held the bolt in his hand, not within the glove but at the palm of it, attached to the thumb sideways, and used the bolt rather for cutting-and-slicing-like moves to inflict blood-spilling cuts and pain, relinquishing it just as the bout was stopped, and according to Willard, the bolt was found on the floor of the ring at the end of the fight and he kept it. Mike Tyson, who studied the case in-depth and very thoroughly, later joined Carpenter to discuss the subject. Tyson, a great admirer of Dempsey's, admitted that "he just did whatever Jack Kearns told him to do" and "in those days anything could have happened", for that there was no agency or other legal authority at the time that was officially empowered to oversee and protect fighters from violations of such kind. However, footage before the fight shows Dempsey putting on his gloves with no additional objects and in full view of Willard, his team and the crowd.

Comeback After losing his title fight with Dempsey, Willard went into semiretirement from the ring, fighting only exhibition bouts for the next four years. 63,000 spectators attended the match, which the 41-year-old Willard was widely expected to lose. In 1933, he appeared in a bit part in a boxing movie, The Prizefighter and the Lady, with Max Baer and Myrna Loy.

Having died at age 86, Willard was the longest-lived heavyweight champion in history until he was surpassed by his old rival Jack Dempsey (who died in 1983, aged 87), then by Jack Sharkey (who died in 1994, aged 91), and finally by Max Schmeling (who died in 2005 at the age of 99).

Willard's body was buried at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery, in Los Angeles.

Tributes In 2003 he was inducted posthumously into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. In 2020, a television program Antiques Roadshow – Crocker Art Museum (Season 24, Episode 8, Part 2), showed a photograph from his 5 April 1915 championship winning match, and the commemorative pocket watch Willard carried which was valued at between $15,000 and $50,000.

Professional boxing record

Official record

All newspaper decisions are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.

Unofficial record

Record with the inclusion of newspaper decisions to the win/loss/draw column.

Family Jess Willard was a 6th great-grandson (9th generation descendant) of the Massachusetts colonist Simon Willard (1605–1676). (1605–1676)