Any discussion of Jack Dempsey and his place in the pantheon of pugilistica sooner of later gets around to the fighters he missed. Harry Wills the long standing black challenger who undoubtedly deserved his title chance,and the other Harry, Harry Greb,and here imo the grounds for a title shot are a little murkier. Lets examine Greb's credentials. Wins over heavyweight leading lights.
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...n-more-blatant-than-his-duck-of-wills.162490/ https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/jack-dempsey-vs-harry-greb-in-1922.677842/ https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...k-dempsey-for-not-fighting-harry-greb.606350/ There are about 30 threads in the archive on this topic, but i think these three are the most attended. Lots of decent stuff in there.
Jack Dempsey vs. Harry Wills is the fight that really should have been made. I do not necessarily lay all of the blame on Jack Dempsey, himself, for that not happening. Jack Dempsey vs. Harry Greb? I cannot blame anybody for that not happening. If I had been Dempsey's manager, I am not sure I would have wanted that fight. Dempsey would have looked bad after that fight even when he won it, which I believe he would have, and rather easily, really, assuming that Harry Greb's style was what I envision it to have been. A smaller fighter trying to swarm and windmill Jack Dempsey? I do not think so.
Dempsey would’ve beaten both Wills and Greb in my opinion. Greb simply wasn’t good enough to overcome all the aces Jack had, Wills just judging from the film we have of him which I hate to do circumstances considered, looked like a wrestler with too little dog in him for an onslaught from Jack.
Thank you for these links i learnt alot reading the first one, as i'm not really clued up on that era. I can just imagine how savage a fight Greb vs Dempsey would of been, two of the most ultra aggressive fighters ever fighting eachother would of been a bloodbath.
I guarantee you if Dempsey fought him and won he’d be criticized to this day for even taking the fight.
The Wills fight 100% should have happened, would Wills have prevailed, the consensus of opinion is no, however the opportunity should have been given, let's be honest Dempseys diary was not exactly overburdened with title defences.
Greb beat Gibbons, Brennan (4 times) , Miske and Tunney (once, understood). Carpentier wouldn't even sit next to him at a fight let alone fight him. Should he be criticized for facing those guys?
Gibbons fought Dempsey in1923 the next year he was ranked no2,Wills no1. Greb ,whatever he may have done ,was never a ranked heavyweight.
No and nobody is suggesting he should be. He could have fought Wills ,Firpo,Godfrey, and Fulton could he not? What Im saying is ,if Dempsey fought Greb and beat him, as I think he would the reaction would be ,"well he' s really only a middleweight.If Greb put up a good fight as he probably would have ,and made Jack look silly for a few rounds with his speed before being ko'd,the reaction would have been," Greb embarrassed him and he's just a little guy".Tunney according to reports beat up Greb in their last encounter with Greb purportedly saying," he's too big and strong for me now.Tunney was181lbs for that fight "Klompton would no doubt argue this. If it's true, how would he cope with the more physical Dempsey?
Hi Buddy. Just before your post Sha Sonya had posted that a smaller fighter that tried to " swarm and windmill " Dempsey would be in deep trouble, and I wholly agree with his assertion, and your good self referred to " two of the most ultra aggressive fighters " would have been a bloodbath, and again I am in full agreement, BUT he was not ( as far as I have read ) a one dimensional aggressive fighter, in the mold of say, Armstrong, Frazier, et al, far from it, why he was, and prob remains unique is that he would after lathering his opponent with an array of punches, coming from every conceivable ( or inconceivable ) angle, he would then move backwards as fast as he moved forward, or to the side, or behind , as all of his opponent's have testified, you could not hit him, try as they might, the best of his generation would be bedazzled, and bewildered by his unfathomable style, Ted Moore " it was like someone had opened a ceiling up and hundreds of boxing gloves had fallen down on me " Tunney and Walker repeating the same mantra, he was nether in one place for more than a second, sure he wasn't a big hitter, but his punches, stung, hurt, and cut, his adversary's were befuddled, they didn't know what to do when presented with the firecracker that was Greb, as we all know they had a 3/4 round spar, in 21 and by all accounts Dempsey was purple with rage, that he couldn't pin down Harry , so the story goes Kearns called a halt to proceedings so as to not further humiliate his charge. Would Jack have caught up with Greb over 15, in all likelihood yes, but the first half of the fight he would have been chasing a shadow... stay safe buddy.