Jack Dempsey in the Klitschko era

Dempsey fought SIX times in his 3 year championship reign...Won them all and finally after a lifetime of poverty and endless search to feed himself and his aged parents Dempsey went to Hollywood, bedded all the top silent screen actresses, and enjoyed the fruits of his labors not giving a hoot what an ESB poster named Seamus felt about his
La Dolce Vita life , NINETY years later. Good for Dempsey, bad for Seamus. adieu...

 

Dempsey and his fans always fight a two front war.

He lost to inferior competition, and he didn't' face the best as champion in Wills and Greb. Well, he did face Tunney ( Best he fought ) and lost 19 of 20 rounds.

Their argument is Dempsey had great speed, and power with enough length to compete today. His chin good enough, but not great, and he often did best vs larger / slower opponents. I could see him at 205-210 pounds today and the 12 round format would actually help him.

I agree with both sides of the argument, but in reality, there is a third!

The USA is starved for heavyweights with ability during Wlad's time. Dempsey would be a huge draw. Sort of an Arturo Gatti-like draw, the fans wins as long as he fights! He'd lose more often than Wlad, but it might hardly matter.

 

An undersized tough as nails white American HW... he'd definitely be a fan favorite.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Jack was soundly beaten by a few of Waldo's victims.

Pulev, Peter, Sasha, Brewster, Sanders, even guys like Byrd and a few others could pull out a victory over Jack imo.

Don't hate me, I admit I could be wrong.

 

None of those modern hwts ever faced what they would face in the ring with Dempsey. Dempsey was a true ATG with abilities and characteristics not found in hwt boxing since Louis. At his best Dempsey dispatches all of these fighters within five rounds.

 

I feel you man, with guys like Peter, I go the other way.. I hate to be a fence sitter, but I'm nearly always willing to accept the other side. None of these guys have fought anyone with Dempsey's speed (that I can think off the top my head) or his explosiveness ... However, Peter was also one of the best heavyweights in the world at one point, does have a big size advantage, might be slightly underrated by some and could well beat Dempsey more comfortably than a lot of us think

 

When talking about someone like Lennox Lewis there can be no doubt he was a much more polished and versatile big man than Jess Willard. However, there is another reason why the stock of the 'skilled super heavyweight' has gone through the roof - the great come forward heavyweight is virtually dead.

This emphasis on size and range, the lack of condition and poor commitment levels are what helped Wladimir rule. It wasn't because he was the complete article. We saw how lost he was when Fury reversed his trump card. Now Povetkin is a good come forward heavyweight but that's not good enough as we saw. He couldn't loop shots or punish a man intent on clinching. Nor is he the complete article.

It's impossible to say how Dempsey's career would pan out in said era but if you take the guy from 1918 and let him loose for six years he is going to do damage. He's almost a dead cert to become the man and unless Father Time has something to say about it I can't see men like Calvin Brock, Samuel Peter or Ruslan Chageav finishing vertical even if they do have their moments.

As for Wladimir himself, Dempsey is just about the worst opponent you could get for a tentative, vulnerable big man with no uppercut.

 

:good

 

" The great come forward heavyweight is virtually dead."

Yes--but why is more important than the observation itself, Ted.

There is a Darwinian reason as to why.

The great come forward heavies are almost always smaller men, and most of them including Dempsey and Marciano never faced a bigger puncher with good to great skills in their time. So going forward and risking it to them was easier. Frazier was a great come forward type, he was bounced off the canvas at the hands of Foreman, and floored or stunned too often, despite facing only one legitimate puncher.

Today pretty much half of the top ten are big men who can hit hard. Come forward with reckless abandon at your own risk.

If you are the smaller come forward man north of 200+ pounds today, you are bringing a knife to a sword fight and will get hit too often while coming forward. This not to say the style is dead! It's not. There's plenty of it at light heavy, middle, and welter...

 

An era where Jess Willard, Fred Fulton and Luis Firpo were among the best big heavyweights around and a guy who weighed 165lb could thrash most of Dempsey's challengers is not what I'd call a depth of talent. More like devoid of talent. And Dempsey didn't even prove himself against his best two contenders!

 

yeh land one on wlads chin at your own risk, no telling how many seconds he will fall in.

 

Wlad holds the record for not being floored as the heavyweight champion in terms of length of years.

He has proven he can take hard shots without falling. Keep in mind, Herolgee, two of his losses were stamina related, the other due to old age of being nearly 40.

Wlad only has one KO loss when stamina, which he has cleared worked on was not an issue.

I'm not saying his chin is iron. Far from that, but it's also far from glass if you know what you are talking about. As usual, you do not.

Please reframe from soiling a good thread. We know how you will reply anyway. Wlad sucks, blah, blah, blah.