Knowing what we know, would you pick a PEAK Dempsey to beat Tunney?

Some fighters will always have the other guys number, although I don't feel this to be true of Tunney, he got caught by a faded Dempsey in Chicago and was hurt. I could see a prime Dempsey v Tunney fight going along similar lines to the Brennan fight with Dempsey eventually catching up with his man to dispatch him late on or get a tko, I can never see a Dempsey points win though

 

Dempsey at his peak was very motivated and filled with desire. In my opinion he would beat Tunney. Probably hand Tunney his first stoppage loss.

Fighters with Dempsey's style are very dependent on reflexes, speed and timing. In other words, their effectiveness declines rapidly as they age. That is why Tunney gave Dempsey such a bad beating twice.


I do think it would be a very hard fight for Dempsey though.

 

Dempsey at his peak??????????????

I would not make any man who has ever boxed much better than 50/50 odds against him.

 

I would but Tunney was no slouch,it would be tough

 

A peak motivated Dempsey blasts this guy out of there in a few rounds...

 

Tunney imo would always give Dempsey problems. Dempsey would relly need to track Tunney down and catch him to win. Also Tunney was never knockout. I think people are going over board when they think Dempsey can ko Tunney in a few rounds.

 

I think the Dempsey of Toledo would have been repeatedly slipping Gene's jab and countering with his right to Tunney's temple, as he did in setting up the Long Count knockdown. While we don't know how much better Gene might have become had he continued on after Heeney, we do know that a shot Dempsey had sufficient firepower to stun and drop Tunney when Gene was near the top of his game.

IMHO, Jack would never be able to floor Tunney for the count, but eventually the referee or Gene's corner would have no other choice than to stop it.

The Dempsey of the Willard fight wouldn't have grazed Tunney with that three punch barrage which immediately preceded Gene's hitting the deck, but would have landed all of them flush. At Jack's peak, he had no difficulties with accuracy. Tunney analyzed him brilliantly, but carrying out his strategy against a razor edged Dempsey would be a very different matter than dealing with a version which had been inactive for three years (or who didn't have a screwed up hip from Firpo's shoving him out of the ring).

 

I think some underrated Gene's durability.

Look at how Greb mauled his face. Supposedly one of the worst beatings in boxing history.

I don't know... Hmm.

 

I don't know. Maybe Tunney simply was to Dempsey what Holyfield was to Tyson(?). But I'm not 100% sure that Ali would beat a peak Dempsey either although Ali would be the favourite IMO. But Ali was vulnerable to the left hook. Not a good deficiency to have when you're fighting Dempsey.

 

I would pick Tunney. Dempsey may win more than one round this time.

 

I would bet on Dempsey

 

does anyone remember a shorter come forward fighter with a swarming aggressive style and a superb hook giving ali a whole heap of trouble.....joe frazier.....dempsey is frazier but 100 times more so........ali on his best night ever keeps jack at the end of his jab and keeps up on his toes and out of trouble, busting him up badly......the other 100 times he fights dempsey, he loses by decision to the perpetual motion buzzaw.....and i love ali...he is the greatest...but styles make fights and dempsey was a ferocious ring predator whose only real problem against a fighter like ali woulda been his lack of physical size.....i couldnt see ali gettin inside jacks head before the fight either, dempsey was almost feral in his ring perfrormances....

 

I think maybe Gene was the man.