Dempsey's punching power

Turn away from the darkness! It's not too late!

 

I think rocky and tunney beat him but I am starting to think he does better against the field than those two.

 

And so do I...But as the philosoper said "it is what it is ".

 

I think Dempsey was a relentless fighter with a hard, damaging punch in either hand. I don't know whether or not he hit with extreme power, but he put a number of people away in the early rounds, and he also had the ability, when the early KO didn't happen, to focus on beating his opponent up, and stiffling them with a continuous, swarming attack.

 

He dropped and convinced Sharkey that he didn't want anymore - and Sharkey beat some pretty tough nuts to crack fairly consistently - Floyd Johnson, Jim Maloney, Johnny Risko, George Godfrey, Harry Wills, Mike mcTigue, Tom Heeney, Jack Delaney, Young Stribling, Tommy Loughran, Max Schmeling, Mickey Walker, Primo Carnera etc - who until Joe Louis 10 years later actually stopped Sharkey?? Dempsey turned te trick when he was pretty much shot.

Dempsey was also the only man to drop Gene Tunney and had him very hurt and but for te long count may well have stopped him again when he was far gone himself.

He absolutely obliterated Jess Willard obviously (who in my opinion had one of thw beat chins in history aswell as obviously an insane capacity for absorbing continuous punishment) and in my book on any other day with any other referee that fight would've been stopped after the very first knockdown (2nd at the very latest) which tells you something about Dempseys power - and similarly with the Firpo epic I think most referees would've stopped that one probably after the 4th knockdown - the Fulton blowout is impressive in light of the fact that Sam Langford couldn't get to him and obviously the swiftness of that one indicates how instantly he could hurt you really badly - and obviously the 25 first round kos speaks for itself

Even Carp - took Tunney 15 rounds to stop and past it Carp - and in reality if Dempsey had been let off the leash from the get-go the Carp may have not made it beyond 2 rounds in reality - who else either did or even would've been likely to do that to Carp?

 

My impression is that even though he was 190, his speed, muscles, and technique made him punch like a man who weighed more like 220. His overall results were on a par with guys like Firpo, who also knocked out Jess Willard and Bill Brennan.

What other notables did Dempsey KO? Georges Carpentier was also knocked out by Gene Tunney, Battling Siki, and Billy Papke, so an aggressive style and a good light heavyweight punch was enough to do for him. Tommy Gibbons went the 15 round distance against Dempsey and was only knocked out by Tunney. Jack Sharkey was KO'd by Dempsey, Louis, and Carnera in or after his prime. Louis weighed 199 and probably punched like 230 whereas Carnera was 260 lbs. So a guy with an estimated punch strength of your average 220 pounder would probably be enough to do the job, though interestingly Wills and Godfrey didn't accomplish this and that's approximately what they weighed against Sharkey.

 

OE, excellent post...Dempsey was only about 190, day of the fight because
in those days fighters fought at their lowest weight for speed and stamina.
Dempsey was at 190 deceptive, as he had a narrow waist and dancers legs
[unlike the heavily thighed Marciano]. His main forte was his swiftness and ferocity that got to his target before the bigger boys got to him...
If i can use an analogy...In baseball there was a ballplayer named Dave Kingman who hit moon shot home runs, but hit for a low batting average.
Players as Henry Aaron hit home runs NOWHERE as far, but he hit it OFTEN. Dempsey with his violent fast offense didn't" load up ", but his
quick attack most often got there first, and anyone Dempsey hit he hurt...

 

I can't see it really... I can't think of many ATGs id favour him over

 

This ^^^^:bbb

 

A poor man's Nigel Benn.

In fact I would pick Benn to finish him if Dempsey ever appeared for such a match.

 

:emma So dramatic Seamus

 

Dempsey was one of boxing histories all time greatest punchers. His punches had tremendous velosity and combine this with Dempseys ability to put his body weight behind each blow. Just watch the one punch kos of both Sharkey and Tunney in back to back fights. Yes I know officially Tunney got up from that punch but indeed he was down for nearly 15 seconds. Dempsey came a hairs breath from knocking out the No 2 contender and the heavyweight champion with one punch in back to back fights. Pretty impressive power.

 

I actually think they are very equivalent. Dempsey had a better beard, though.

 

"One punch KO's"? He nailed Sharkey in the nutsack and when protesting caught his unprotected jaw.

He hit Tunney with a combo, albeit a viscious combo, to put him down. Putting down 190 pounders with combo's, allowing them to rise KD you does not a great heavyweight puncher make.