Jack Dempsey's Ranking

Part of that is his own fault as he went Hollywood on boxing fans.

If Dempsey had only fought Wills and Greb, there would be fewer questions. I think he wins both matches.

 

How? Activity as champion? Facing top contenders? Ability to sit on your *ss and avoid the best challengers?

 

If the prime Dempsey came to life and flattened all the larger slower behemoths ,there would still be naysayers on by and large this forum of doubting Thomas's...They KNOW better than boxing writers, ex fighters, trainers etc, who SAW him at his best, and saw many of his successors ringside such as Gene Tunney, Jack Sharkey, Max Schmeling, Mickey Walker, Ray Arcel etc, and raved about Dempsey H2H... The above experts they spout know LESS than they do, NINETY years later...What ego's they have...Some opine what bigger men did Dempsey ko ? Well Arthur Pelky, Carl Morris, fred Fulton, Jess Willard, Lus Angel Firpo etc. Were all of them great ? NAY, but they were big and Tough in tougher days, and Dempsey obliterated them with sheer speed and
ferocity akin to the later Mike Tyson...His lack of sheer weight was an advantage to Dempsey as they were so much slower than he and like my man Joe Louis whoever they hit and hurt at ther bests went to LaLa Land...sayonara.

 

I would give the prime Dempsey a good shot to beat anyone above for the simple reason that anyone a peak Dempsey can hit ,he can hurt and ko. Were Dempsey to have fought today, he would most likely with his large upper bone structure weigh about 205-10 pounds, because of modern diets and less fights. He was considered as fast as some middleweights with fast twitching muscularity, and was a vicious and powerful puncher with a savage love for combat, and a do or die mentality. I envision the prime Dempsey to resemble
a larger and earlier edition of a Roberto Duran snarl and all...Yes his contenders
he fought were forbthe most part not as good as Ali's era,no doubt, but from the time he hooked up with Jack Kearns to 1923 Dempsey beat everyone he faced until he went Hollywood and his sparring partners were Silent Screen sirens who fawned over Dempsey...Was this a good legacy move ? No sir, but after leading a young life of poverty, riding the rails from town to town and fighting for expenses in old Western saloons, who could blame Demsey ? I woud have done the same darn thing...So yes to your answer Dempsey at his best would be a match for any of the above, for the simple reason he can ko anyone he can hit and hurt for damn sure. He was that vicious a fast two-handed power puncher on a par with anybody and just as tough...As for weight
remember the greatest legit wrestler America EVER produced was Frank Gotch
who was a mere 210-15 pounds... I have Dempsey and Je Louis as my top 2 heavyweights, because SPEED KILLS, I firmly believe. ciao...

 

again, magical incantations of Dempsey.... now he is 25 pounds larger than when he beat Willard in his "greatest" victory...

the fact that folks have to fantasize upon the fantasy that already is the Dempsey Lore just to come up with a competitive heavyweight speaks volumes... Volumes.

VOLUMES.

V O L U M E S !

 

No hwt champion gets high level praise from high level boxing people unless there is great substance. No hwt champion is rated for decade after decade as the best unless their is great substance. Langford perhaps the greatest fighter ever stated Dempsey was the greatest he ever saw. Arcel perhaps Boxings greatest trainer who trained fighters from the 20's to the 80's rated Dempsey alongside Ali and Louis. Top three all time rated by Boxings greatest trainer. That's all time greatness. Fleischer perhaps Boxings greatest writer founder of Ring who watched every hwt champion live from ringside from Johnson to Frazier rated Dempsey top four all time hwt champion. Jack Sharkey stated he "never thought anyone could punch that hard" regarding Dempsey and added Dempsey hit harder than Joe Louis. Tunney an ATG champion felt Dempsey was the greatest hwt ever. Please tell everyone of another hwt champion who received THAT LEVEL of praise over as many decades as Dempsey that was not an ATG champion.

 

Wills, Godfrey, Greb, Siki, Langford, Jeanette, McVey...

Too much left on table for me. Somewhere in the top thirty but no arguement can be made for top ten (in my oppinion).

 

I'd rank him above Holyfield, Tyson, Wladimir and possibly Marciano

 

How about Tyson or Holyfield, as they are usually ranked below Liston..

 

Who gets to decide what are magical incarnations and what is reality? Especially with such subjective ways of judging. With only film and records to judge these guys?

Based off just resume though I can't rank Dempsey above any of the fighters listed. He just didn't fight the best while champion of his own time for me to do it. He did sit on his thrown and took a few easier fights. Had he fought Wills and Greb I'd rank him higher but as is nope. H2H though I could see him beating quite a few on that list. Based on his abilities on film.

 

When known and respected experts make statements concerning a fighter that are more or less unanimous it means plenty. We're the same type statements made concerning Sharkey? Braddock? Baer? Walcott? No! We're similar statements made regarding Johnson? Louis? Ali? YES! Dempsey ranks along with other ATG who received similar expert praise.

It was no fault of Dempsey that a bout with Wills did not come off. Fighters job is to fight. Managers and promoters make fights. No black man fought a white champion from 1908 to 1937 for a reason that had zero to do with Dempsey.

 

If you were focusing on a p4p list l could see him at or near the top, but otherwise no.