How big was jack dempsey really

:yepIf we had to bring Foreman back to Dempsey s day he would be Harry Grebs size

 

Dempsey had skinny legs and looked pretty lanky. His neck wasn't very thick. He looked like a typical athletic looking man. 6', maybe even 6'1" and 185-190 Lber. He had a pretty long reach for his height (77"). I've never seen his arms listed at 16" before, I've always seen 15" for Dempsey, his arms do not look as big as Tyson's or Holyfield's.

By the way, I never understood why it's listed as a bicep measurement when they measure around the bicep and tricep. I think Holyfield would look pretty huge standing next to him to be honest. Even Holyfield in 1987 would have looked like the bigger man.

42" chest and 44" expanded? I had those measurements when I weighed 140 Lbs. at 6'1" (5% bodyfat). I was 14 years old. Didn't get my arms up to 15" until I was 16 years old, still only weighed 155 Lbs. though.

Numbers can be very deceiving.

Dempsey was more on a Michael Spinks level physically than an Evander Holyfield.

 

Nikolay Valuev is Jimmy Wilde reincarnated.

 

FF you are correct overall, except yu can just Google tale of the tapes & see Dempsey list at 16" or so Biceps. And you can find 46" expanded for him. Anyway many measurements can be inacurate, rounded off & usually up,&/ or with a "pump". And some measuring tapes, non-"tailor's", can be wrong,

 

Evander Holyfield was able to make the light heavyweight limit up to the age of 23, while Michael Spinks was coming in just above the super middleweight limit at the age of 29!

I think is speculative to say that Holyfield was naturally much bigger than Dempsey, and totally unsustainable to suggest that Michael Spinks was in the same size class.

 

Yeah, I am finding 16" for the arm measurement but that number doesn't stick out for me... always had him down for 15" in my mind, I must have seen that somewhere. Anyway, He wasn't a small man but he wouldn't even be a HW today (not a very solid one anyway), not even if he worked out with Evan Fields. I could see him at a pretty solid 200 Lbs but that's about it, anymore and he loses speed and stamina.

 

Evander Holyfield was a LHW in the 1984 Olympics at age 21, weight limit 178 Lbs. and he had to cut weight to make the limit. He never made weight at 175 Lbs as a pro... ever. Sure, they may have considered his first few fights LHW fights, but he was really a CW. He quickly become a legit CW and was a solid 190 Lbs., As CW Champ he had to cut weight to make the 190 Lb limit. This was all in just a dozen of pro fights. He was 202 for his first HW fight, basically a result of not having to make the 190 Lb limit. Sure, he was eating, lifting, and taking supplements, don't think he was juicing yet.

 

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Yes a lot of it is "we cannot know".

Dempsey & the old timers just did not have the knowledge of nutrition & weight training. And then when they aquired some of the latter, it was not until the 80's that weight training was common for even a power sport like boxing! Before that it was casual, a few guys did some lifting at some times...

I have no idea if Dempsey, who weighed in the 190's for some fights, would have lost speed & endurance if he bulked up. Sure he COULD have been a muscular 210-220. Why not? But it is hard to know, if lean, what would be the effect on his skills? Where is the tipping point where the disadvantages outweigh any gains in power or punch resistance that might come?

Evan Fields seems to have needed PEDS to reach his size (at least with an active aerobic sports component), which was all on the upper body. Not everyone does.

 

200 pounds is not small. I think it's just that today, we are so used to seeing these big, weight-trained, steroided out freaks that we look back at the naturally trained guys of yesteryear and think they were small. But for the most part, they were not small at all. A 6'0", 195 or 200-pound guy is well above average. And for several years, the heavyweight division started at 176 pounds; then it went to 195+ (or thereabouts).

 

A lot of old-timers knew a lot about nutrition and training (weight-lifting/bodybuilding), but they weren't involved in boxing per se. Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis might have benefited by hiring a guy like Vince Gironda (the Iron Guru) as a strength and fitness coach. One of Gironda's more famous clients, William 'Big Bill' Smith, had, in my opinion, the perfect boxer's physique: lean, strong, and muscular. He actually boxed as an amateur in the Navy. NO steroids or PEDS -- all hard work.