Does Harry Wills have a case to be ranked higher than Jack Dempsey?

"both were expected to bring their best"

Yeah.

And why assume that the guy who won decisively didn't bring a better best?

Normally in sports the winner is considered better than the loser, especially when he wins clearly as in this case.

I think the onus, to use your term, is on you to explain why the loser of an elimination gets the fight with the champion. And it is not like Dempsey couldn't have fought them both. Whom exactly did he defend against in 1922? He was inactive, so he could have defended against Greb.

 

"You've implied it throughout the entire thread."

I never implied any such thing. This is just your presumption.

"I don't know"

Neither do I.

"at least he was trying and actively showing interest"

Once the demand for the Wills fight got too hot to ignore.

"Better than sitting on his ass doing nothing."

Isn't that a pretty accurate description of his title reign in 1924 and 1925.

 

Because both guys looked like trash.

 

You're all good my dude.

 

Jack Dempsey himself said it was the best fight he had ever seen.

 

He must have seen some pretty boring fights then. Got any proof that he said that or as usual are you making **** up?

 

He didn't win 7 of the rounds out of 15.

 

I agree brother its like spinning on a dime going nowhere.. the same threads and arguements ad nauseam. Maybe it's time to take time off to study other interests.

 

Source?

http://www.boxing.com/the_trouble_with_harry.html

 

Source?

Wills defends his world 'colored' heavyweight title claim

"When they came out of their corners in the second, Norfolk went into a clinch and a moment later fell backward to the floor, taking the full count. No one at the ringside saw the blow that felled him.

After the count, he walked to his corner and did not seem hurt. Wills said the blow was a short inside right to the jaw. Referee Kid McPartland told newspaper men that he saw the blow delivered and that it did not travel more than six inches. The crowd expressed its disapproval of the manner in which the match was terminated. It did not appear to them that Norfolk had been hit.

However, to prove that he really went down under a powerful punch, Norfolk displayed a deep cut in his mouth caused by the blow. In the first round, Norfolk took the aggressive and swung a left to Wills' head, Wills returned a straight right to the chin and followed Norfolk into a corner, landing a left to the jaw.

They sparred for an opening. Wills landed a light left to the body, and Norfolk fell heavily to the floor when he missed a long right swing to the body. Wills landed a left jab at the bell. In the second, they met in a clinch, and after a short interchange, Norfolk fell away from Wills, landing heavily on his shoulders after twenty-six seconds of fighting. Wills said he had floored Norfolk with a short left to the body and an inside short right to the jaw."

Nevada State Journal
Sounds like a real barn burner doesn't it? lol

 

Firpo did not train seriously for Wills the film of the fight shows him carrying excess flab on his body he weighed 224.5lbs for Wills, whereas for Dempsey he was 216.5lbs. Look at the two fights and tell me I'm wrong. The papers castigated Wills after the fight and said he would have no chance with Dempsey.
"In 1924, Wills was offered a golden opportunity. He accepted an offer to fight the feared Luis Firpo, who had nearly dethroned Dempsey a year before. Promoted by Tex Rickard, Wills and Firpo met at Boyles Thirty Acres, New Jersey, on September 11, 1924. Jack Dempsey was at ringside. This intriguing matchup has largely been lost to history.

Both Wills and Firpo were knockout artists of roughly the same size. Firpo was slightly heavier and an inch taller than Wills. The Times Daily reported the odds at all but even on the day of the fight. The fight went the full 15 rounds to end in a no-decision contest. The newspapers including the Quebec Daily Telegraph hailed Wills as a winner who “took almost every round and in the second round floored his opponent.” In front of an audience 75,000, it was the highest profile fight of Wills’ career. But while the fight put Wills in the spotlight, it also put him under the microscope. After three years campaigning as top contender, some witnesses were not impressed. The Milwaukee Journal headlined, “Harry Wills No Match for Champion Dempsey. Wills general ability as a fighter would not be sufficiently high to stand the champion off. Firpo not only telegraphs his wallops, but sends a letter of warning…but Dempsey doesn’t telegraph. His punches come from a short distance and behind them lurk oblivion."