How good was Dempsey's title reign?

Greb was too small and Wills was too....black?

 

Why did nobody tell him prior that William Meehan was too fat?atsch

 

Carpentier was promoted as a fighter who packed a punch.
He was built up on his KO of Battling Levinsky (the only man to KO Levinsky apart from Dempsey) and tales of his 1st round KO over Britain's Joe Beckett for the European championship.
Carpentier was a KO puncher, he scored KOs.

Tunney was doubted as a puncher, but the fact that he had KO'd Gibbons (who everyone knew had gone the distance with Dempsey) was used a currency in his claim to be a man worthy of a shot at Dempsey. Also, his KO of Bartley Madden was very impressive.

I'm not pretending anything of the sort.
I'm saying Rickard probably wouldn't have wanted Greb as a HEAVYWEIGHT champion.
It's pretty obvious why. The guy was a middleweight who won his fights almost exclusively by decision.

 

Strange comment from someone who just a few days earlier had been offered $100,000 by Philadelphia promoters to box Greb in an 8 round no decision bout... I wish someone would pay me $100,000 to fight someone that was so obviously overmatched... :-(

On this same Chicago stop off Jack was quoted as saying "Yes, it is possible that I might get a match with Harry Greb and if I do and there is call or demand for it I will surely take it. there is just a chance that Greb might have an idea that he can beat me. Id like to have a lot of persons with good drawing power think they can beat me. It would make good business for me."

So you admit that Greb is a draw, and state that if such an offer is made you will take it, you say at one time that Greb is big enough but then say hes too small and nobody is calling for the match. Sorry but the proof is in the pudding. If you beat the top contender, and have the backing of promoters who offer a purse of $100,000 for a safe 8 round ND bout. Its pretty tought to argue that you are too small, theres no money in it, nobody supports the idea, etc etc. Those suddenly start sounding like excuses not to fight the guy who just dominated your top white contender.

Typical of Dempsey to talk out of both sides of his mouth. You see this throughout his career. I wonder if anyone here thinks its good business to pass up $100,000 for a supposedly overmatched opponent? One thing is certain: When Dempsey returned from Europe in the summer of 1922 the #1 opponent on his mind was not Greb, or Gibbons, or Tunney, or Wills, but a rematch with Carpentier. That right there should tell you exactly how seriously Dempsey was seeking out the best challenges.

 

Yes, and the article calls him out on all that. :good

It was Dempsey's contention all along that Greb was "too small", or so it seems.
klompton seems to have a different take, where it took Dempsey a trip to europe to discover he didn't want to fight Greb - unless I've misunderstood klompton's post.

Interesting that Gibbons was such a big favourite to beat Greb.

 

sounds an awful lot like Floyd Mayweather Jr, no?

 

Obviously he wasn't seeking out the best challenges. He was hoping to milk the title, the easiest challenges for the biggest sum of dollars. Or, if not that, the toughest guys if the money was right.
..... or look to make easy money outside the ring in motion pictures, exhibitions and other appearances.

Somehow, I think someone else was calling the shots (ie.Kearns), because as soon as he broke with Kearns he ended up fighting a tough one (Tunney) straight off a 3-year layoff.

 

You seem to be missing the point.
Carpentier-Levinsky was a massive promotion, and Levinsky had only ever been KO'd by Dempsey.
How many times did Greb fight Levinsky ? Several, I think. And no KOs, so your statement there is illogical.

If you want to argue that Harry Greb had acquired a reputation for scoring knockouts and sheer punching power as had Georges Carpentier, then go ahead. As you say, that's just "**** getting talked" :deal