Rickard offered Wills a large purse to fight Tunney.I'm not saying he should have taken the chance against either him or Godfrey whom he also turned down, just mentioning it. You said Wills also fought the bigger fellows so yes he warranted a title shot before Greb . I gave you several names that Greb beat who were ranked in the year you provided. Langford was finished during Dempsey's reign so was McVey, and Fulton had been destroyed by Dempsey in seconds.Firpo sacked his trainer to save money and was fat and flabby for Wills.Norfolk was a 5'8" lhvy he was giving Wills 6" in height and 36lbs in weight.
Well you can interpret anyway you want . I think he looked for a way out,after being warned several times he knew damn well he would get slung out for that shot. It's convenient to put it all down to the," he was a lazy shiftless N*gger" scenario,those same writers praised Jeannette, Langford, and McVey ,Flowers in many fights.
"Norfolk was a 5' 8" lhvy-he was giving Wills 6" in height and 36lbs in weight" But Norfolk defeated Miske twice and fought Greb on pretty much even terms. You are back to implying a criticism of Wills for just being big, but he would have been equally larger than Greb or Gibbons. Size is simply a fact of life in heavyweight boxing. Greb, Gibbons, and even Tunney, didn't really fight the big fellows. Dempsey and Wills did. Of Dempsey's major big men, Wills also dominated Fulton and Firpo. Morris wasn't as good as those two. By the Dempsey era, Willard was old and fat and inactive. Bottom line for me is that Wills would have been the best big man Dempsey fought.
Could I ask a question? Do you consider it odd to disqualify a fighter for not trying who is winning every round? as in the 1920 Wills-McVey fight? "Jeannette, Langford, and McVey, Flowers in many fights" Were they at the time of being praised a threat to a white icon? At least at heavyweight?
Ed, cos you are reasonable in your responses, here is an article on Wills, don't know if you seen it. http://www.boxing.com/the_trouble_with_harry.html Read the comments, this is a good article. Hopefully you'll enjoy it and not come on tomorrow with more zip. lol
Back to the topic of the thread, no I don't think Dempsey ranks ahead of any of those fighters, which means if you add Ali and Louis onto that list, then Dempsey is just outside the top 10.
I'd have to have first hand accounts of their fight before I gave an opinion on it. From what I have read McVey was there just for the purse and Wills was just going through the motions Wills was dsq'd 3 times, he was prone to hit on the break and use the back-hand punch Wills was dsq'd against Sharkey who was battering the sh*t out of him. Your implication is that white reporters defamed Wills to protect Dempsey? Sorry I don't buy that, Dempsey was very unpopular in the early stages, Grantland Rice and several others took every opportunity to disparage him,if Wills was all he's cracked up to be they would have crucified Jack. I think Wills was overated and that Dempsey would tear him a new rectum,I also think he should have got his shot and Dempsey must bear some of the blame for him not getting one,How much blame is a question I cannot answer. I think Dempsey stops Greb over 15rds and probably looks fairly ordinary in the early stages before his power starts to take its toll and he takes Harry's belly away from him.
I have been directed to this article many times. It is certainly possible that Wills could not have beaten Dempsey, at least by 1924. But this quote is interesting "Against a man like Firpo, who not only telegraphs his wallops but sends a letter of warning about them, Harry will always be perfectly at ease." But Firpo KO'd Willard and Brennan, and knocked Dempsey down and later out of the ring. What does this say about Willard and Brennan, and what about Dempsey's defense. A J Liebling commented that remembering watching Willard and Firpo fight at Yankee Stadium against different opponents, he was of the opinion that Archie Moore would have beaten Willard and Firpo, and their opponents, within fifteen rounds. Perhaps Liebling was right. Rather than going back, heavyweight boxing had vastly improved over the decades.
