How good was Jack Johnson?

hey ppl.
i wanna know how good this guy was. i just bought his biography 'unforgivable blackness' so its a great read.

i understand this guy had an awful time when he was surviving/living and trying to become champ... jus cos of his colour. and the way he handled all the hostility with so much courage and 'BALLZ of steel' is something that is even amazing/frightening to this day.

i know he was a great defensive fighter, but when i look at his earlier fights (boxrec), he lost more than a couple and by ko. and lost his later fights by stoppages too.

i mean if he fought in this era, or in the last 20 years, he would have been written off after his first 2 losess. i wanna know how good this guy was, would he have been able to hand with todays guys and other great heavys like louis, and then if sohow the fuck did them journeymen beat him????

thank u very much!

When trying to judge Johnson,two things to keep in mind
1)How long he fought
2) how often he fought
Early on he was untrained realy,a took some losses because he fought constantly,learning his trade in the ring
Then the second phase of his career,he went an unfathomable 19 years with one loss
Then he was still competitive,despite being long past his prime

yep that is impressive, especially with the pressure he had to deal with. nowadays guys would crumble to dat sort of pressure let alone be the HW champ of the world!

My favorite heavyweight. He lived the way he thought he should and made no apologies. I have the book which is really good. You should also purchase the 2 disc dvd by the same name which was shown on PBS. An amazing guy.