Willard getting massively undersold. Great natural huge athlete. World class boxer with world class training from the very beginning of his start. Went 26 rounds with Johnson, win by powerful KO. Sustained terrible injuries and beating from Dempsey, wouldn't stay in the canvas, and wasn't stopped on his back. He was getting back into the fight! The man was a maniac. He was starting to land good punches in the third. He was also ramming Jacks head back with punches before Dempsey landed his first knockdown. He was fighting good for a long fight.
Sharkey said Dempsey hit harder than prime Louis. You think he'd say the same about Patterson? If yes pass that crack over here.
No other fighter ever would have done to Willard what Dempsey did...physically and mentally destroy him...had it gone much further Dempsey might have killed him and Willard was one tough hillbilly.... Embodied perfection of the professional boxer scheming on dempsey. Thanks
Hasim Rahman would destroy that sloppy old farmhand in a matter of a minute. Seriously, to exalt a young, fit fighter for timing an old, uncoordinated, rusty slob is just ridiculous. Then, given the rules allowed, he can stand over him and hit him undefended as he rises... might as well allowed him to soccer kick him. AND STILL, it took 3 rounds of action for Willard to call it a day. On with your fairy tales...
Right? Pummeled to pieces by one of the hardest all time hitters in history. And yet Patterson folds him in 1 lol. Forget the fairy tales I said pass the crack!
Well, speaking for myself, I came straight here from the similarly titled Tyson-Berbick thread ("could anyone else do that to Berbick?") where the OP actually has a "caveat" (Tyson's age 20), which I felt made that thread interesting. That's my reason for mentioning the Dempsey's weight: it makes the thread interesting. Having looked back over the thread now, I see it was mentioned already, fair enough. But I suspect everyone answered the thread question too. As for Floyd Patterson, he's in danger of falling down a few times from any light tap with his dodgy chin and poor balance, so while he might be able to batter Willard with his speed, he might be picking himself up off the canvas a few times in the process. I guess you think Brian London, Peter Rademacher and Tom McNeeley were world beaters the likes of which Willard and Dempsey never had to worry and have nightmares about.
I guess has well that u can look at situation leading in to the fight. Jess of course had finally defeted the white man's nightmare jack johnson. Jess went from been a rough farm hand to a hero in one fight. He was the great white hope who had finally cracked it. Add in to that willard s size, back then he was a giant amongst men. Now even though dempsey had been knocking some big guys he would have been seen as having no chance against the giant champion. I believe people feared for dempsey life in there.. So when the fight got underway and dempsey started knocking him to the canvas that I feel made it all the more shocking and unreal. Would be similar to Floyd Patterson knocking George foreman up and down the ring!
Krapton spews more jibberish. Sharkey stated Dempsey hit harder than Joe Louis. Did anyone ever state Patterson hit harder than Liston? Sharkey further stated that he never thought anyone could hit as hard as Dempsey hit him. Sharkey in an effort to explain just how hard Dempsey hit stated the following: "When Dempsey hit you on the shoulder he broke your shoulder, when he hit you in the body it felt like his fist came out your back, when he hit you on the hip he dislocated your hip." Please show such comments regarding Pattersons power.
Unfortunately not. We'd be treated to a dreadfully tedious contest between the two plodding dreadnoughts, probably for the full distance and it would seem longer.
lots of people could stop willard at that point in his career imo. but that first kd is spectacular, only a couple guys do that. Patterson was a good shout.
As far as I can see, every single variable that we could theoretically compare them on, points to Dempsey being a harder hitter. Dempsey stopped his elite opponents more quickly in most fights, he stopped much bigger fighters, he stopped more fighters with reputations for being durable heavyweights, and he inflicted more severe damage upon his opponents. This is as clear cut a case as you get when comparing two elite fighters decades apart. I get your point that there are significant problems with Dempsey's record, but his record as a knockout artist certainly isn’t one of them. In fact I would be very comfortable saying that he was the most dangerous finisher that we ever saw south of the 195lb mark.
Sharkey was former worlds hwt champion and fought both Louis and Dempsey. He stated Dempsey hit harder than Louis. That's very very hard. Arcel who trained Max Baer a hellacious right hand puncher and who watched Dempsey live both in training and live bouts starting with his 1916 bout with John Lester Johnson was asked who hit harder Baer or Dempsey. Arcels response....Dempsey and it's not close!
