Countless amateur boxers can hit harder than Dempsey. I've met some guys that could probably KO any pro, they hit like a hammer, yet their skill level is a joke. Punching power is a direct result of speed, mass and technique. In time and with practice a big guy with speed can become a very hard puncher. Many modern boxers that are not as famous and accomplished as Dempsey hit way harder than him.
I may remind you that pure amateur level boxers imposed their physicality two times against good 190-punders of that time and even beat them: Carnera (who was bigger than Jhonny but prob. less skilled) as well as entertaining honky-tonk rowdy Max Baer against Schmeling. I´m not saying that Jhonny is gonna win this, but give a modern 2000s boxer with good amateur bankground, who is a lean 220lb a proper training camp and put him against a 190lb, especially a featherfist like Sharkey. Since Sharkey can box and duck a little himself, this might come down to stamina. But a jab (reach), stamina and some rough weight advantage can beat a featherfist like that. Don´t pretend he was that special. He´d never beat 190lb Holyfield, Spinks, Byrd or Skillsters like that.
Which is my only mission here! We've had several friendly discussions about this in the past. I'm not in any way claiming that today is "better" than past eras. Nor am I claiming, that the BoxRec numbers tell the full story - but looking at them, I find it hard to subscribe to the idea, that boxing is dying. Especially when we also consider the many new countries that have opened up to pro boxing - and knowing how boxers from these countries have impacted the boxing scene in no small way. To keep insisting (and I don't mean you!), that boxing is dying, because fewer Americans are taking up the sport, and completely ignoring what goes on in the rest of the world - well, that's just plain silly, imo.
Yeah. Even these "modern" fighters who laugh at guys like Marciano and Sharkey would get absolutely waylaid by them in an actual boxing ring. And as far as punching power is concerned, you may say a fighter like Jack Sharkey is a feather fist, but that's in comparison to other world class fighters his size. He would probably knock the average tough guy senseless with one punch. I've heard about local level light weight champs (light weight not light HEAVYWEIGHT) knocking out 250 pound bouncers with one well placed shot to the chin. There was a video of a guy who was a 150 pound MMA fighter leaving a 230 pound college football player unconscious in front of a nightclub floating around on YouTube.
Tell who? 186lb Tommy, who got stopped by 24% KOs artist Jack Sharkey, but himself packed a dynamite 11% KOs punch ? You´d never get tired to get your monochromatic rubbish get pluck to pieces, do you? The mighty gloved Sharkey who´d tango 21 rounds with Carnera, 15 with a middleweight, dozens of ten-rounders with Neverheards and Striblings, while - Spinks stopped powerpacked 6'6" Carnera² (forget about that 30 rounds against another guy....) - Byrd went rounds of rounds with TWO Ukrainian Carnera³s, Samoan tree-legged A-Bombers and 5 more rounds at old age against young primed Povetkin than Sharkey did against the oafing italian circus act - Yep, I guess you rly want me to compare Holyfield with Sharkey Yep, you never get tired....
The idea a KO% is a good indication of someone's chin is some of the most bizzaire nonsense I've heard
There was no word about chins, but about Sharkey not showing any signs of power anywhere, beside some subjective 186lb Mr. XY that Shakey managed to stop....
Here's the problem. You're not a top world class amateur. If You were at least that good we could maybe entertain this discussion. But you just admitted you're not used to fighting guys who are going all out and aren't using head gear. Those are 2 major marks against you, along with actual experience and reflexes/muscle memory/timing/etc that you can ONLY gain by facing actual live opponents who are trying to tear your head off. Unless the pro in question is feather fisted and glass jawed, those are nearly insurmountable advantages over an amateur, and Sharkey was neither of those things. A high school level player would beat "any" pro player from 100 years ago simply by being taller? Yeah you definitely don't know anything about basketball.
While I think that you may be a better fighter than the average guy, I would have to see some evidence of your skill set at some top level to buy that you would have beaten anyone who has held a world title. I mean, if Tyrell Biggs came on here and made an account and we could verify it was him and he claimed to be able to beat Jack Sharkey or Max Schmeling or some other old time heavyweight when he was in his prime, we may disagree with him, but he does have a record to back up his assertion. Biggs was a 6'4 220 pound heavyweight who won fights at the world level and he was an Olympic boxing champion who won a gold medal. And we have plenty of film on him. So if he made an account and said "I could beat Jack Sharkey" or "I could have beaten Jack Dempsey", even if we disagree, it can still be something that can be debated.