The Five Greatest Dempsey Performances

OK, let's talk about what Jack Dempsey actually did accomplish. He was not all smoke and mirrors. There was real substance there that needs to be acknowledged. It wasn't necessarily X's and O's type stuff but his performance under fire, when it counted most and meant something to his status as a heavyweight. Here's my list.

1) Willard. It's not Jack's fault Willard was overconfident, undertrained, inactive and old. Hell, Willard continued to call out Jack in the press after the beating he took in Toledo and even entered the ring 4 years later. Willard was the man in the way of the title and Jack grabbed the brass ring in emphatic fashion... like no one else was capable of doing until Liston.

2) Fulton. A cartoonishly vicious destruction of the best white challenger to the throne. Tall, rangy, powerful and on a roll, Fulton was the best test on Dempsey's run to the title. That he underachieved afterward is not pertinent. At the time, he was as legit a challenger as was available.

3) Levinksy. Perhaps not the ideal heavyweight at under six foot and in the light heavy range, still, Levinsky was a veteran with at least 200 fights, who regularly battled top level heavies, win or lose. This is about Jack's performance in which he knocked cold a man who at least claimed to have never taken a 10 count. Levinsky was a great observer on the era, having sparred with and/or seen firsthand the likes of Johnson and Jeffries, fought Greb, Dillon and Tunney... If he says Jack hit hard, it was so.

4) Brennan (1918). When you KO a guy who is in the elite heavyweight mix, and who is known specifically for NOT getting KO'd, and you do this in half a dozen rounds in emphatic, withering fashion, you make a name for yourself. This type of victory is what stoked the flames of the Dempsey legend... and is what has been sorely missed in the more refined, modern incarnation of the division.

5) Firpo. I am not going to pretend Firpo was a great fighter. He was part the product of the hype machine, part legit. He was certainly dangerous. But again, this is about Dempsey's performance, but more particularly his performance at the moment his crown was most in jeopardy. He responded savagely and emphatically. The stuff of legends.

 

Perhaps.






Actually, what Dempsey lacked in depth and top level opposition he made up for with the decisive fashion of his performances. I thought that aspect of his career should be acknowledged.

 

The Gibbons' result was met with horrible reviews in next day accounts, basically calling Dempsey and his title reign a fraud. I was shocked when reading these a few weeks ago at the degree to which he was lambasted.

The Sharkey result almost made my list.

 

Again, I think people should look up the next day accounts. The Gibbons and Carpentier (and to some extent Sharkey) performances were lambasted by contemporaries.

 

I will quote you the thoughts of the day later when time permits.

Gibbons received as much credit for the fight as Dempsey lost, and Daugherty was just lambasted for overlooking grossly obvious fouls on Dempsey's part.