jack dempsey vs rocky marciano

Louis had neither the power ,nor the reflexes left to deliver it,against Marciano he relied on the remnants of his jab ,and an occasional left hook,his right was rusted in its scabbard.
Louis had gone the distance in 4 of his last 6 fights prior to Marciano ,only ham and egger Andy Walker and veteran Lee Savold were stopped by him,Joe's power, and the ability to apply, it was seriously diminished.

 

Yes Rocky, I once saw Johnny Bratton at St. Nicholas arena, at the tail end of his career.against an opponent I can,t recall...But I saw him several times,in his prime on tv. Bratton usually fought out of Chicago.At his peak he was a great, great fighter, a boxer/puncher,and a tremendous crowd pleaser. Bratton fought straight up with his hands dangling, brilliantined hair, a great combination fighter, who loved to mix it, much to the delight of the screaming fans....His weakness was a fragile jaw, that was fractured several times...I would favor him over Manny,or Mayweather, easily...He had two nemesis at the time, who were a shade better,Ike Williams [best lightweight I ever saw}, and the great Kid Gavilan, who beat Bratton a few times...No shame their....But Bratton was a great welterweight of the 2nd Golden Age.........

 

I HAVE RING MAGAZINES , FROM THE 50's, WITH EDITORIALS BY FLEISCHER UNFAVOURABLY COMPARING MARCIANO TO DEMPSEY.
DEMPSEY WAS PERCEIVED AS QUICKER OF HAND AND FOOT ,WITH BETTER SKILLS ,AND MORE EVASIVE DEFENCE.
IV'E NO PROBLEM WITH ANYONE PICKING ROCKY ,IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A WAR MAYBE THE GREATEST HEAVYWEIGHT BANG FEST EVER.

 

Nat Fleischer is a dinosaur who's been dead for roughly 38 years........... Plus, he was partial to all the old geezers and fighters from the stone age...... I too like and respect many old fart fighters from our past, but I am not so blind to linger on an era so long ago that it clouds my better judgement...... Nat Fleischer would say insane things like Marvin Hart and Tommy Burns would lick Ali, etc........ Or lightweight Joe Gans would've schooled middelweight Jake LaMotta......... I think Ol' Fleischer was whacked out to a degree...........

Note:

While I know The Ring Mag. has been around since '22, I never thought it was the best mag. out there............... I liked KO magazine the best when I was buying mags from 1981 to 2005........... I retired from magazines five years ago..... Why buy old and stale news when I can get up-to-date news here on ESB???

MR.BILL:thumbsup

 

Fleischer had ONE advantage over most, Bill he actually saw Dempsey and Marciano from ringside.
By the way the consensus at the time among boxing writers was that Marciano was an inferior version of Dempsey .

 

Mr. Bill,I too have Ring Mags, from the 1930,s, when it was called then,"the bible of boxing, besides Nat Fleischer,the magazine hac Hyoe Igoe, Tad Dorgan,Jersey Jones,etc. These great writers,along with virtually all other boxing experts ,always picked a prime Dempsey over Marciano [who I saw], at their best....I agree with their choice....Dempsey, before his 3 year layoff,was abobbing and weaving two fisted killer'who flattened 25 opponents in the 1st round.When at his peak, he was as fast as a welterweight, and very elusive to hit solidly....One piece of film clip,still awes me....It shows Dempsey,in a near clinch with Firpo, almiost chest to chest...His free left hand shooting left hooks AND uppercuts, so fast and with such power,and minus punching room, it still amazes me....He was a killer at his best , and he would outpunch Rocky 3 to one...Yes SPEED KILLS.......Dempsey by KO in two.....

 

Of course... Very few guys get tagged as "Great" or "Greatest" during their peak years..... Marciano was no different.......

MR.BILL:deal

 

Just because some one has been dead for a number of years ,does not mean they are no longer relevant Bill.
Otherwise, we would not be discussing Dempsey and Marciano.
By the way , I like your posts,I often find myself at odds with them ,same as Suzie Q's.but they are provocative ,and take us old fogeys out of our comfort zone. :good

 

I respect Suzie Q. and Janitor, but, both are way out in space and partial to old farts, etc....... Its hard to get through to them types...... Lost in the past.......

MR.BILL

**** it........ Marciano KO's Dempsey in a wild affair....... I'm not budging......

 

I have to agree with you in this one Bill...Marciano too relentless and he hits a hell of a lot harder than Firpo and more often...I see this being a ripper and a war of wars but I favor Marciano as the fight goes on. Subtle moves and counters and yes deceptively fast with a odd angled counter. Rocky beat a lot of men to the punch. He was not a classic counter puncher like Louis but a change up Break your ryhtym fighter with more ring savy than givin credit. Dempsey also very underated on this site, he had raw power and decent combo speed...rd. 8 to 15 tough rounds to share with Marciano and I think he will get to Jack somewhere in there but he may have to pick his solid ass off the canvas to do it.

 

I still pick Dempsey over Marciano, with this apropo saying oc Civil War General Nathan Bedford Forrest, Quote: "Get There Fustes with The Mostes", and Dempsey certainly would do that.....

 

You're right.

 

End this thread.......

MR.BILL

 

I say keep the thread going :happy- it even morphed into another thread at one point thanks to yours truly (whats the record for pages that a thread has reached in terms of responses btw??) I think p-4-p this one ranks right up there ps Burt is the man :good everyone needs to encourage him to gets posting in a lot of the threads in the classic section - he has serious amounts of knowledge - lot of respect for what he says

 

Great story, thanks Burt.