ali might beat a prime dempsey by tko or dec.but a 1919 or before dempsey would have a hellava chance of ko,n ali.its sad people usually only see films of the prime dempsey against willard.hefought as he did because he was mauling willard everywere,jack could box slip and bang as well as anyone and if ali tried to fight in side he would pay,if it was a young peddlin ali he dec. jack-if he,s carefull
Ali had to have a high opinion of himself it kept him going. Funny but Ali said willard was a freak at 6'6 too big to move, I wonder how he would feel about Lewis and the Klitscko's. Ali at his best may have been able to outbox Dempsey if we look at the Tunney fight but Jack was rusty and not active going into the Tunney fights. I also look at the Cooper fight and the Frazier fights and can see Dempsey who had speed and incredible hook causing Ali problems...either way they were the best of there day and if you had to bring Ali back or Dempsey forward it would be a different fight. Dempsey was far from a joke. Ali said the one who would have given him his hardest fight was Marciano but he sparred with Rocky and I think they became friends so there was mutual respect.
If you watch the whole series that Great A posted you can later hear he says that a style of someone like Dempsey would give him the most trouble out of past fighters. Although he believes Marciano would be the most trouble.
It's strange that Ali doesn't seem to respect past greats in the same way that someone like Tyson did (it's one of Tyson's few redeeming qualities IMO). Ali reminds me of Larry Holmes in this respect. Having said that, he dominates and stops Dempsey with no problem whatsoever. Dempsey could never deal with footwork and movement particularly well. Whilst Ali's jab was inconsistent, he could probably dominate with it alone, combining soft jabs with harder ones as he generally did. The young Ali would be a horrific style match up for Dempsey - and even the older Ali would probably be too clever with his clinching and ring generalship for Dempsey.
No problem?? I sure Dempsey would have a few scares for Ali, if not more. I dont think Ali can walk in and do what ever he wants with Dempsey. This could be a very close fight imo.
I'm sorry, but Dempsey had nothing that Ali pre-jail couldn't deal with. The older Ali could possibly be in difficulties as he couldn't keep his distance as well.
Ali was part showman and like all fighters who are still practicing you have to take his comments with a fistful of salt. I think Dempsey has great footwork, a decent defence for a come-forward fighter, heart, stamina, durability and, the vital ingredient, one of the greatest ever left hooks in the history of the sport. I'd pick Ali to win but there's no easy dominance here. Dempsey was not a plodder. He could move. He had excellent speed. I rate Ali as the top HW but Dempsey is one of the guys I give a good chance of causing an upset.
Sure on that?? Feet faster than Fraizer?? 2 handed speed? Hand speed almost on Ali's level in his prime? The left hook? Dempsey would relly give Ali a run for his money, prime or not. Ali is not going to just out run Dempsey here. Dempsey would be with Ali on footspeed about.
you know what screw this.... muhammad ali is a joke........ he sits around calling legends like dempsey a joke, talks about how this or that fighter had no foot work, then says another swung like a washerwoman, talks about his guard....etc etc speaks of proper boxing etc buts lets examine this guy for a min.... kept his lands low....much like the old timers he makes fun off.... did not punch properly....often times he would slap, almost no body work....did not vary his punches...almost everything was jab or straight right who the hell is he make fun of dempsey's hooks.... yes he did have good foot work but so did some of this guys, saying people like walcott did not have good footwork....what because he did not run from guys.... also there is many ways to have good foot work, side to side movement, in and out footwork(which east euro fighters are known for),cutting of the ring.... i see dempsey doing different stuff, getting in using head movement, moving around, body work, nicely timed left hooks.... while can say ali always did the same stuff use the jab(which by the way was often a slap)and mix it with a straight right hand.... and talk **** from 10 feet away.... he makes fun of these old timers, and then after putting them down...he pretends to respect them.... also when you show clips of ko's you would often see types of things looking sloopy because one guy is hurt and the other is going for the kill... ratherly do you see smooth boxing in this type of thing
Well the leaping hook is mostly on a guy running or a tall guy like Willard. Hell the wide hook is what started the fame long count. Ali would have his hands full. Not saying Ali would win or lose here, but it would be a hell of a fight for 6 or 7 rounds when Dempsey was on fired.
It always seemed that Frazier could better vary the width of his overhead punches at long range. :think