Jack Dempsey and Harry Wills, the timeline

It can reasonably be said that challenges to meet both Tunney and Godfrey could have been accepted by Harry and Mullins.. but it's also undeniable that he had done enough to justify a title shot prior to that. He could have also fought: Gibbons,Greb,Miske,Rojas,Renault ,Maloney,Brennan
Always assuming they were willing to fight him of course.
Bottom line he deserved his shot , but no way was he the number one contender for 6 years and his resume proves it!imo.

 

If you lose almost every round to a LHW who was knocked out by Dempsey easily your chances at HW with Dempsey arent likely to be good. Furthermore, your question was "might he not have deserved a shot based on previous performances?" That was his only important previous performance since Dempsey had won the title. So the answer was no.

And, no, Miske isnt underrated. If anything hes overrated due to his sentimental story.

 

This is just a laundry list of your interpretation. The overwhelming feeling on the ground from at least 1920 until Dempsey lost his title was that Wills was his most dangerous challenger. Period. No amount of reprinting his record and you reinterpreting it is going to change that sad fact. If Wills was such a non-entity why was he the biggest topic of Dempsey's reign THEN and NOW? If Wills was such a non-entity, even in 1919, why did Dempsey find it important to draw the color line specifically to avoid him? Is there some other threatening black contender Im not aware of? Maybe Kid Norfolk but Wills ended knocking him out in two easy rounds and Norfolk had been ducked by Dempsey as well so...

 

He did.

In 1920 he knocked out Fred Fulton who was still considered a top contender and who many were interested in seeing Dempsey fight again, especially after Fulton alleged to have taken a dive in the fight.
In 1922 he knocked out Norfolk who had been chasing Dempsey since 1918.
In 1924 he dominated Bartley Madden who Dempsey and Kearns had been actively trying to get approved as a challenger by various commissions since 1920, and would continue to do so after this fight.
In 1924 he dominated Luis Firpo who Rickard hoped would win and set up a rematch with Dempsey.
In 1925 he knocked out Charlie Weinert who Dempsey and Kearns had also floated as an opponent for the champion.

Every single one of those bouts was against somebody they actively trying to match Dempsey against and every single one of those bouts was billed as an eliminator. How many eliminators does a guy have to fight over the years before he gets a title shot? Lets see:

Miske- 0
Brennan- 0
Carpentier- 0
Gibbons- 1 (he lost it)
Firpo- 1 (against Jess Willard who was 42 years old and had one fight in the last 4 years. He got to this lofty perch of fighting an elimination by beating the same Floyd Johnson that McVey thinks was a pointless win for Wills. I guess it was ok for Willard)
Tunney- 1 (against Gibbons)

 

Except that we know that Tunney wasnt serious about Wills and had no intention of fighting him.

Greb had the utmost respect for Wills and said that he would have beaten Dempsey but stated that Dempsey would never get into the ring with him. Im not sure Greb would have taken that fight. Gibbons sure as **** wouldnt have. He was offered the chance to fight either Rojas or Firpo and chose the bigger, better name: Firpo. He could have fought Maloney but instead he chose to fight the guy who had beaten Maloney less than a year earlier. You think Brennan wanted anything to do with Wills after his sparring partner, who was better than Brennan, got blitzed in two rounds by Wills? Hardly. Who exactly are all of these threatening HWs Brennan beats that shows he was this fearless guy looking for tough fights. His record is absolute **** from the time Dempsey won the title until he got his title shot and after because he was protecting his standing. You think hes going to risk that fighting Will? You tell me, who is the more threatening prospect to beat to get another title shot Wills, who had just clipped your better stablemate or Firpo who had just gotten his ass famously handed to him by an old fat Jack Johnson? See thats the problem for Wills, it was damned if you do and damned if you dont. He was in a position by 1923/24 where he was the top contender unquestionably. Thats undeniable regardless of whether McVey tries to rewrite that fact. He had fought his eliminations, he had the backing of both the NBA and NYSAC, he had his forfeit on file, why should he have to keep fighting endless eliminations until he gets old or beaten (which is exactly what happened and exactly what several newspapers predicted Dempsey was up to)? So he finally got to a point where the Tunney's, Gibbons', and even Godfrey were trying to make a reputation off of calling him out for fights they had no intention of taking part in. When exactly was Godfrey in a position to demand a fight with Wills? When he lost to little Jack Townsend? Or Jack Thompson? Or Jack Renault? Or Jack Sharkey? or Tom Cowler? Or Battling Owens? Or Sam Langford? And isnt a quite the coincidence that Godfrey, whose only claim to fame during Wills contendorship was that he was Dempsey's sparring, was managed by Dempsey's good friend Jimmy Dougherty, who Dempsey also tried to get to referee all of his fights... Now that meaningless challenge in the 1920s takes on a bit of a different air doesnt it? The simple fact that all of these guys were challenging Wills BEFORE trying to claim the right to challenge Dempsey illustrates the very fact that McVey is trying to undermine which is that Wills was the clear #1 contender. Once he is at that point it is the champions responsibility to fight him, not his responsibility to continue fighting endless eliminations in the hope that he will lose or grow vulnerable. People keep *****ing about Wills' later performances (which he still won easily) and neglect to lay blame for his obvious age related issues on the fact that that coward who held the crown is the reason why Wills was still in the picture after all of these years and visibly aging before our eyes. Had Dempsey actually not been a complete chicken **** we would have seen Wills age as a champion or seen him defeated. Instead we are left with this type of debate which can be laid squarely at Dempsey's feet to his eternal shame.

 

This isnt exactly true. I would suggest you do more research into this. The commission supported Wills. They also knew, probably better than anyone else in 1925, that Dempsey had no intention of retiring.