Was Demspey's duck of Greb even more blatant than his duck of Wills?

So much do we hurt Willis' legacy for not making the fight happen? How much can you? I've seen him listed in some people's top 10 and or ahead of Dempsey. I don't really get that though.

 

So how much significance do you place in actually winning the HW championship? Or do you give reason to exclude the significant of titles during a racial infused time in society and boxing where there wasn't equal chance? Do you give credence to the domination that a fighter has. Does impact bear any affect on his ratings to you or no?

 

I think that is an overstatement for the early days. Dempsey in particular cared about not going back to mining, tossing beets or pimping in order not to go hungry. He cared about his reputation as a fighter, but when it came to brass tacks, only insofar as it made him a better payday. Hell, he came back after the crash trying to cash in one more time, not for his legacy. This is not an accusation but a reality of the times.

 

Sounds like a reality of any time.

 

Put it this way.

A lot of people myself included question whether Dempsey really regarded Wills as a serious threat.

Finding sombody who questions whether he regarded Harry Greb as a serious threat is somewhat harder.

 

Do greengrocers particularly care about their legacy?

 

Dempsey cared enough about his legacy to constantly speak out about how he would easily handle Wills---both while he was champion and later in retirement and even after Wills was dead.

If you don't fight the guy for whatever reason, I think you should let it lie and keep quiet about how you could handle him.

 

All I'm saying is that once he reached the pinnacle (and I think no one faults him for quality of this ascent) he- and more his management- was very conservative about his matchmaking. Furthermore, Rickard had struck a new commodity in the world- sports entertainment- and he was not about to give it up without fully cashing in.

Now, does this effect our thinking in regards to Dempsey's legacy? Of course, but it's a very idealistic take on the whole affair. It is called PRIZEfighting after all. Not LEGACYfighting.

 

Greb gave a prety good impression of it.