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Heavyweight boxing · 1900s

Jess Willard

25–7 · 32 recorded bouts · 1911–1923

Jess Willard finished 80% of 25 wins inside the distance — the 76th percentile for heavyweight boxing, where the median is 68%. No reach is on record, so this page compares record rather than measurements.

What is on record

Measurements
Reachnot recorded
Height78″ (198.1 cm)
StanceOrthodox
DivisionHeavyweight Boxing
Peak era1900s
CountryUnited States

Wikipedia carries no reach figure for Jess Willard, so the reach-advantage comparison this site is built on cannot be computed. Everything below comes from the record instead.

1920 loss vs Joe Cox (1911)win vs Mike McKimminsky (1911)win vs Frank Lyons (1911)win vs William Schiller (1911)win vs Al Mandino (1911)win vs Lewis Fink (1911)win vs Ed Burke (1911)win vs Soldier Kearns (1912)win vs Sailor White (1912)draw vs Luther McCarty (1912)win vs Arthur Pelkey (1912)win vs Bull Young (1912)win vs Frank Bauer (1912)win vs George Rodel (1913)win vs George Davis (1913)win vs Carl Morris (1913)win vs Jack Reed (1913)win vs Bull Young (1913)win vs Al Williams (1913)draw vs Charley Miller (1913)loss vs Gunboat Smith (1913)win vs Jack Leon (1913)win vs Frank Bauer (1913)win vs George Rodel (1914)win vs Dan Dailey (1914)loss vs Tom McMahon (1914)win vs Jack Johnson (1915)win vs Frank Moran (1916)loss vs Jack Dempsey (1919)loss vs Luis Angel Firpo (1923)win vs Floyd Johnson (1923)
winlossdraw / NC1911–1923

Record

Boxing record

25–7

34 bouts on record

Finish rate

80%

of wins ended inside the distance — heavyweight boxing median 68%, 76th percentile

By knockout: 20 (80%)By decision: 5 (20%)
  • By knockout 80%
  • By decision 20%

The career, bout by bout

32 recorded bouts from 1911 to 1923. Every incumbent shows this as a table you have to read; here it is as a shape you can see.

Career span

13y

1911–1923

Longest unbeaten run

17

without a loss — draws do not break it

Busiest year

1913

10 bouts

Recorded bouts

32

31 with a date

Fights

YearResultOpponentMethodRd
1923 L Luis Angel Firpo KO/TKO8
1923 W Floyd Johnson KO/TKO11
1919 L Jack Dempsey KO/TKO3
1916 W Frank Moran 10
1915 W Jack Johnson KO/TKO26
1914 W George Rodel KO/TKO6
1914 W Dan Dailey KO/TKO9
1914 L Tom McMahon 12
1913 W George Rodel KO/TKO9
1913 W George Davis KO/TKO2
1913 W Carl Morris 10
1913 W Jack Reed KO/TKO2
1913 W Bull Young KO/TKO11
1913 W Al Williams KO/TKO8
1913 D Charley Miller Decision4
1913 L Gunboat Smith Decision20
1913 W Jack Leon KO/TKO4
1913 W Frank Bauer KO/TKO5
1912 W Soldier Kearns KO/TKO8
1912 W Sailor White KO/TKO1
1912 D Luther McCarty Draw10
1912 W Arthur Pelkey 10
1912 W Bull Young KO/TKO5
1912 W Frank Bauer KO/TKO3
1911 L Joe Cox 5
1911 W Mike McKimminsky Decision10
1911 W Frank Lyons Decision10
1911 W William Schiller KO/TKO4
1911 W Al Mandino Decision4
1911 W Lewis Fink KO/TKO3
1911 W Ed Burke 3
? Opponent

5 of these opponents have their own page here.

How this is worked out

  1. Measurements and records are read from the fighter's English Wikipedia infobox; the fight list is parsed from the article's own results table.
  2. Reach advantage is (reach − height) ÷ height as a percentage, so fighters of different sizes compare directly.
  3. Percentiles rank this fighter among the 587 heavyweight boxing fighters in the dataset — chosen because it is the most specific group of at least 30 that this fighter belongs to.
Reach advantage = (reach − height) ÷ height × 100

Full methodology →

Source: Jess Willard on English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), as of 2026-07-08. Percentiles and derived figures computed here.

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Amit Sharma

Auckland real-estate agent and marketer. Builds free, sourced data tools.