Would the giant killers be any good if they fought in a different era?

#1-they would be fighting within their division at their weight.
#2-Dempsey wasn't 160-180, 190+
How about putting Tyson back into the twenties (born late 19th century)
We're looking at a different Mike wouldn't you say?
How about a Dempsey born in the 60's? Maybe a 205-210 wrecking ball in the 90's?
Eras Sugah, eras!!

 

Some would and some wouldn't. I think some might have success as cruiserweights, others would still be able to knock off the light to medium level heavyweights which only stand between 6'-6'3", guys like Joe Louis could handle anybody, and other's might juice up to a massive size like Toney and Byrd did.

 

Dempsey and Louis would do fine in any era and we know this because they have proven it against the best big men of their respective era's they were giant killers and in fact did better against the big men then they did against some of the smaller guys

 

How little of boxing knowledge some posters have of the greatness for example of a 200 lb Joe Louis... They know zilch of the tremendous power, speed , and perfect leverage
Joe Louis had in his glorious peak. No matter how big today's dreadnaughts are, how juiced up they may be, anyone who ever lived, even Andre the Giant, that Joe Louis
hurts, he KO'S....In my eyes, since the Brown Bombers prime, the fighter who had the best chance against Louis, was the young Mike Tyson because of his great power and handspeed...No one since Louis's time met a heavyweight who could hit with such
combinations and power as Louis...Be it Foreman, Lewis, Ali, Holmes, Frazier...Watch Louis's
triple left hooks on the concrete chin of Max Baer...What a mastodon heavyweight gains in heft, they lose in speed and dexterity....Weight, weight, weight, BAH !...And remember the old axiom "speed kills". good day...

 

Dempsey in his prime was strong enough, fast enough, hit hard enough, was fast enough to hit, hurt and ko any man of any size today...And for your limited info Fred Fulton was not a farmer, but a housepainter with size, record and good punching ability, and Dempsey plastered the housepainter, in less than ONE minute...
Was he the greatest heavyweight before his 3 year layoff ? Who knows, but no one was ever TOUGHER or ROUGHER...

 

They would certainly be good, but obvioulsy their careers would be different;

dempsey, would become the cw champ then moves up, would likely weigh 200lbs at hw in this era. Would beat the **** out of Marco Huck and beat some top 10 hws, probably wlad would be a step too far, but he'd have as much chance as a lot of wlads opponents.

fitz, with rehydration it's likely he never fights above 168. Hard to say how he gets on because his style would be different if he fought today. Power wouldn't be a problem tho.

greb, no film so i don't really know, probably goes no further than modern lhw, in theory the top guys there don't have a style advantage over him.

Prime tyson would be too much for most heavyweights, Not being able to beat him means nothing at all.

 

Juicing up on Burger King, are you sure? The mystery with Toney is how tf did he ever manage to boil down to 168 or 175?

 

Dempsey and Fitz had great power. Maybe Fitz hit a little harder. Dempsey though wasn't short and had fast hands and feet with a 77" reach. As such he's a threat to any heavyweight, and could have beaten Wlad.

I think Fitz was too light to have a realistic chance vs a skilled super heavyweight ( Wlad ), but he would have the puncher chance and force Wlad fight as Fitz wasn't in there to go the distance and lose.

Greb would have the least chance of the three. He did not hit hard enough and would be confined to 175.

All three could be lineal champions in more then one weight class.

How would they do vs Tyson?

Dempsey 50/50
Fitz 20/80 or 4 to 1 against
Greb 5/95 or 20 to 1 against

 

It bears repeating. Though Dempsey weighed about 190-5 most of his prime career ,he had a big frame, large biceps, chest and shoulders. His deceptive lighter weight was in his waist and legs, and Nat Fleischer always described Dempsey as "amazingly strong" for what it's worth...
To put Greb in the mix against a Tyson is unfair and cruel it seems to me.
Harry Greb was a middleweight until his fight with Mickey Walker,about one year before he died. Sure he weighed over 160 pounds many times when he fought much bigger men and could indulge in pleasing his stomache.
The mere fact that Greb is always brought into these HWT fantasy fights
though a middleweight speaks to his greatness.
Old Fitz is in a special category. Though always a big middleweight he had
the frame of a heavyweight from the chest up, with slender legs. He was so revered as a fighter in his prime, by the likes of Joe Gans and the great John L, who incidentally described Fitz as a "fighting machine on stilts".
If you want to read the true worth of the great Fitz, Edgar Lee Masters, the great American Poet and an ardent boxing fan who saw Fitz and every Heavyweight champion, until he died in 1950, called Fitz the greatest heavyweight of them all. His great article is in a great boxing book I have
titled "The Fireside Book on Boxing" by WC Heinz and Ward. Page 228.

 

Fitz, Greb and Dempsey would all be mullered by Tyson inside a few rounds, on the same night.

 

dempsey has an advantage through being tysons hero, not saying he's gonna win tho

 

Meehan was a slap and run type of guy who took a pretty good punch. These were four round fights. If they were 10 round matches, Meehan wouldn't be able to keep up his spoiler tactics.

Tyson fought Tills failed to finish him in 10 rounds. If he fought three four round matches with Tills, he might lose one. Some felt Tills edged Tyson. I had it 6-4 for Tyson.

In a 10 round match, Mitch Green lasted the distance. We aren't talking about top ten fighters here.

If you watch some clips of Dempsey, you'll see he was plenty fast with his hands and feet.