johnson must have been drunk for this interview. dempsey would have broken corbett in half and probably have defeated johnson imo. yes johnson was his own greatest fan or as j louis might say- any dog can wag its own tail
I know I'm not replying to your reply to my post, but I don't hold it against Dempsey for living the good life after making it to the top. Many have done so and continue to do so today ... but that doesn't preclude one from defending the title say once or twice a year against the top deserving contenders. Tons of party boys have still managed to work in a training camp or three per year and been fighting champs.
He was always very complimentary towards Fitz, Corbett, and McVey, didn't think much of Sullivan or Sharkey.
a very well explained post Burt, however, we must treat each individual fighter as unbiasedly as possible. I know it's hard and we all treat fighters unfairly or the other way around now and then. Sure Dempsey had a tough up bringing, but this is in an era where fighting once a month was the norm (in some cases more) Defending his title 6 times in 6 years and robbing worthy contenders a shot at the title is absolute criminal and the exact same should be said for one of my favourite heavyweights, Jack Johnson. Like Dempsey he had good reasoning to sit on the title and enjoy the high life, maybe more so considering the radical view of blacks at the time, but this doesn't diminish from the fact that they are doing the equivalent of what floyd Mayweather is doing now, however the top fighters in Floyd's era fight about 5x less than in both Jack's eras and their legacy must take a hit for that.
Johnson if I remember correctly didn't think much of Joe Louis either and deduced Tunney to a "fair" boxer. That fair boxer looked leagues better than him and all his opponents. He was biased as ****, hasn't changed my opinion of Dempsey at all. Lol at "his only fairly, powerful left".
W,your tilting with the wrong guy. I AGREE with you that ideally Dempsey SHOULD have fought more often. No doubt....But at his zenith Jack Dempsey was the greatest sports attraction of his time, along with Babe Ruth, and the public groundswell demanding him to get back in the ring wasn't strong enough to force him to stop bedding the Hollywood Hotsies and get back to fighting...They were content to see him at sport introductions before fights...You didn't depose the "king" those days. Only in the ring... So W I am not defending Dempsey's taking a three year layoff. Not at all. But I can certainly understand why he after years of deprivation and hardships riding the rails, bouncing from Western cities to other rough towns , miracuosly met Jack Kearns, became a great fighter with a title, made a ton of dough, supported his large family in Colorado, and chucked it all for banging glamorous babes in Hollywood. I would have done the same thing I believe...Besides Dempsey fired Jack Kearns for "stealing" his dough, and they were in litigation at that time. If Dempsey fought then Kearns would still get a large cut of Dempsey's purse, until the lawsuit was ruled upon. This was another factor in Dempsey's long layoff... So W ,there were many factors involved with Dempsey's 3 year layoff which of course was not good for boxing. But it is what it is, as they say. But I defend Jack Dempsey's place in the pantheon of great heavyweight fighters. Not for nothing was he chosen as the best ever in the polls of 1950. A tough, tough man to beat in the ring...
Johnson picked Dempsey to win the second fight with Tunney he picked Louis to win most of his fights eg Carnera, and in fact bet on him to do so. He did clean up when Schmeling beat Joe.
Never understand why flat footed Johnson who was most of the time the bigger man against his opponents is revered over Dempsey who had head and foot movement and was the smaller guy most of the time.
That is because of a styles thing though. I think he would rate Larry Holmes the best of teh modern bunch, but he would use Ali as the prime example of why standards have dropped and they couldnt compete with his era.
I'd rate Holmes up there myself. Ali did a lot of things wrong but got away with them until his reflexes went, same as Jones.
More lies from Johnson? This is too bad because Johnson was a sharp guy, and can add a lot in terms of observation. The trouble there are many instances where we don't know if he's telling the truth. Good catch.
Are you sure? I think Sharkey made the cut of Johnson's top fighters. There was a good read on it a few months ago. The Sharkey Johnson sparred with was a spent force, hardly the iron bull of the late 1890's who got the better of Corbett, and Choynski.
Johnson was a sparring partner for Sharkey when Sharkey was 27years old. Jack made him look a fool ,and was sacked because Sharkey could not hit him.Jack also said Sharkey was tough , but stupid. The Corbett fight was widely believed to have been a fake. It's referred to in this month's Ring magazine.