Jack Dempsey's Ranking

A definite:good:good

 

Look at the picture in the video..

[YT]txv86f3DuZ8[/YT]

 

He is half right.

 

Thats just his T - Shirt

 

Exactly what I was saying on the other thread about if Tyson drew the color line. :good

 

Dempsey had no issue fighting black fighters. The United States however DID.

 

Twisting of facts. Foreman was indeed thought as unbeatable prior to fighting Ali. Yet you can find experts who picked Ali to beat him. With many hundreds of possibilities nothing is unanimous.

 

Dinovelt, I have been telling this truth since I started on ESB. But there are phony bleeding hearts who deny the truth, cause they get their rocks off shredding the great Dempsey. My question to you is what is the name of the narrator in this video ?

 

Dempsey may have been a great fighter, but, he was not a great champion. He put the title on ice for three years while making movies and screwing starlets. Had Dempsey been active for those three years, as he should have been, our opinion of him would be much more unanimous. Suffice he say, he had a wicked left hook, undeniable killer instinct, fast hands, and was light on his feet. Shame he did not get a chance to fight Wills, that too would have helped us formulalte a more even opinion of the man. But, for whatever reason, he did not. Years later, Kearns said if Dempsey really wanted to fight Wills, he could have fought him in Cuba (Kearns also said Dempsey would have beaten him easily)

 

Kearns said a lot of things. Fighters job is to fight. Managers and promoters make fights.

It was common for hwt champions to take their title on the road in those days.....plays, vaudeville, exhibitions and in Dempseys day the new form of media...silient movies.

Arcel who was close to Dempsey stated the following "Dempsey wanted to fight. He believed that to rest was to rust. Rickard and Kearns interfered and this was the reason Jack did not fight more often".

 

This is not necessarily a fair observation.

Dempsey formally announced his retirement after the Firpo fight, which means that a new champion could have been created, had there been the political will to do so.

It would just have been a matter of matching the two best contenders, or two men who were credible as being the best contenders.

He effectively stepped aside.

In the end he was too big to be allowed to retire, and no moves were made to create a new champion.

My take is that the men who ran boxing realised that a fight for the vacant title, would have had to include Wills to be credible, and that Wills would most probably have won.

They therefore put the title on ice, until either Dempsey could be dragged back into the ring, or Wills could be eliminated by other means.

If Dempsey had continued to refuse offers for a comeback fight, I think it is very likely that we would have seen a fight for the vacant title, after Jack Sharkey beat Harry Wills

 

The paper those contracts were written on were of the same stock upon which your precious Indian Treaties were scribed.

 

A man as fast and hard hitting as Dempsey, with a frame to bulk effectively and with the defensive prowess we've seen glimmers of, it's easy to rank him anywhere from 3-30.

If you think Firpo was an accurate reflection of his prime you'd put him lower, if you think Willard was, then you'd put him higher.

He's top 15 for me, maybe top 10 if I checked.

 

There are certain facts that cannot be overlooked here.

One of the contracts fell through because the New York State Athletic Commission refused to sanction the fight, then later banned Dempsey from fighting in the state because he hadn’t fought Wills.

The other fell through because Dempsey’s cheque bounced.

Dempsey formally announced his retirement after he fougth Firpo, which means that the powers that be could have replaced him as champion at the stroke of a pen, if they had the will to do so.

Only Dempsey knew what he was thinking at the time, but certain conclusions can’t be avoided.

1. The New York State Athletic Commission actively colluded in keeping Wills from fighting for the title.
2. There was no willingness on the part of any major boxing organisation, to allow Wills to fight for the vacant title after Dempsey announced his retirement.
3. Dempsey would not have announced his retirement unless he either wanted out of the game, or had reached some private agreement with the boxing organisations, that they would not seek to replace him.
The third point would have been almost impossible to coordinate.

I submit that some argument can be made about the extent of Dempsey’s guilt, but not so much about the guilt of the major boxing organisations.

 

NYSAC colluded in what and refused to sanction which bout? Dempsey-Wills?