Tyson versus Dempsey

I acknowledge your points and accept them, but he was also a fat disgusting mess

 

It's a blot on his record, smack bang in his prime.
But I don't think it's a particularly terrible defeat.
Dempsey was judged to have lost 3 rounds of a 4-rounder and he scored a knockdown over Meehan in the process.

 

What you fail to acknowledge is that Lewis won all those fights and for the course of them. He wasnt knocked out or trailing on cards, thats the point, and that group is far larger and no worse than Bruno and Mcall.

 

I don't fail to acknowledge. I agree he improved.
Like I said to start with, we disagree on the degree to which he improved.

 

I don't really think it's fair to dismiss blemishes because he wasn't at his peak. He was certainly close to his peak though: he'd fought since his teens, had over 50 professional bouts under his belt (with a sick KO ratio), was active, and at the same weight he'd always fight at. Sorry, but I don't think one undergoes a magical transformation from "mediocre, pre-prime" to "all time great champion" in one year and a few bouts.

Arguing that way we can also say that Tyson himself never actually lost (in 1990 he was further from his peak than Dempsey was when he lost to Meehan), etc, etc.

It's silly to play the old that-loss-doesn't-count-he-wasn't-prime game. You know it.

 

An ex-flyweight who ate himself up to 185-195lbs of pure lard & never trained at all...

Meehan would be decapitated in the first round.

 

Cool exhibit card of Meechan ... never saw it before ..

 

If only "Fat" Willie would've stayed in fighting shape. Perhaps we wouldn't be cracking jokes about him but talking of how he was one of the overlooked contenders of his era. He was fast and clever, but had no conditioning. Can't expect a natural middleweight to beat heavyweights without putting an effort in the gym. Still hard to imagine that the man held decisions over the likes of Jack Dempsey, Sam Langford and Jack Dillon.

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Good points and amazing photo!

 

willie meehan was a bonafide thug who was too cool to train in an era of 25 rounders.

 

Meehan seems to be sort of an extreme version of the late James Toney - difference being that Toney was a natural supermiddleweight and actually has championship credentials.

I'd pick Tyson to squash him like a bug over 4, 8 or any number of rounds. Meehan would be murdered.