Evander Holyfield vs Jack Dempsey

So much absolute cognitive dissonance here. Dempsey is a great for his time and an excellent New York socialite who had a great run of being written about by Nat Fleischer.

Holyfield would dog-walk Dempsey, get real. Jack didn't even fight the best of his time while Holyfield fought the best over several generations. He was a better boxer than Jack by miles, was bigger and buffer naturally and unnaturally, and had a better chin and hit just as hard for me. Dempsey was just hitting men from 60-70 years earlier who were a lot cruder generally speaking. Holyfield could box Dempsey, he could slug Dempsey, he could do anything he wanted and win this fight. Dempsey never fought anyone nearly as good as Evander.

Holyfield would beat Gene Tunney's ass too, and they are nowhere near the same galaxy in terms of resume or ability in the ring.

Color line aside, Dempsey's reign was inactive and horrible while Holyfield gave the fans what they wanted over and over again. Dempsey hid the belt and sequestered it while doing a PR tour basically and opening restaurants and ****. Dempsey was largely a media hypejob, the fight with Firpo is so overrated it's ridiculous--if you have watched anything boxing in the last 50 years you've seen a roundtable with Bert Sugar calling it the best fight ever and waxing poetic for 10mins. Dempsey's inactivity was only allowed because the public was so relieved to have a white champion lol. Dempsey in reality is nowhere near the greatness, accomplishments, skill, or ability of Evander.

How would people be talking about Holyfield if he was 6-2 in title fights, with 3 of those fights against men of much lower weightclass? That's dog****, it isn't even close to the same discussion. It's rose-tint to the logical endpoint. Hell, imagine if Evander got caught faking war pictures or ducking fighters or was knocked out in a round or fought smaller men of only one race. Imagine he wanted to defend the lineal Riddick Bowe titles against a former welterweight. People would be discrediting him completely.

 

To me Dempsey occupies the same space as the Babe. It would be easier to fairly evaluate them if they faced the best Black athletes of their time.

 

Agreed. I believe nostalgia-drunk personalities around the sport...like Bert Sugar for example...have helped grow the legend of Dempsey, among others, to the point where some folks believe he would have just steamrolled Evander. Demsey's greatness been exaggerated over time by the pundits. It's like that 5 lb. Bass you caught back in 1992 that is 14 lbs. nowadays when the story is retold. He was a stand-out fighter in a not-so-great era. Nothing more, nothing less. Just my 2 cents...

 

Wow what a war this would be! I think that Evander does much better in a firefight than most, he was very adept at taking the brunt off of punches and moving his head with the flow. I see Holyfield winning this whether it's a brawl or a boxing match, but he would have to be very careful because Jack would be dangerous at all times and would never stop trying.

 

And no doubt Dempsey gives Evander a much tougher fight than Tyson, albeit Tyson was nowhere near his best when they fought.

 

There is a difference between "greatest" and "best". Greatest involves the effect on the sport, on society, and the media. The Babe changed the way baseball was played, and baseball was the Number 1 sport by far when he played. Compared to his peers, he was head and shoulders above anyone who played up to that point. Best? Now we are talking sheer athletic ability, so you have to bring in the Barry Bonds, the Mike Trouts of the game.

In boxing, "Greatest" must include both Dempsey and Ali in my definition. Ali still gets to the top in best, but that is arguable.

 

The brutal, honest truth.

 

Prime Bowe?...Oh...the guy who threw the title belt in the trash can instead of fight the #1 contender?....That Bowe?

 

Holyfield could win this fight, if he fought smartly, but my guess is that he wouldn't.

He woudl get drawn into a brawl with Dempsey at some point.

Unlike Tyson, Dempsey had an exemplary inside game, and hit harder than Holyfield.

I don't see this going well for Evander, but if he wants to ask me for a fight plan, I could come up with something.

 

That's wild.

 

I agree, Evander gets lured into a brawl and gets busted up and kod or the ref has to step in.

 

To be fair, that draw with Lewis was only a draw by name.