Good fight! Uzcudun was tough and aggressive. Does Dempsey still have the stamina and mean streak to hang with Paulino? I say he does and wins a tough close decision.
Why?This isn't a prime Dempsey we are discussing. Uzcudun went the distance 3 times with Schmeling , beat Max Baer over 20 rds and was only stopped once ,in his last fight by Joe Louis when Paulie was 36. I think he sees the distance ok.
Pauli doesn't do too badly here. Dempsey while still dangerous is not the man he was. He'll over work Pauli but he'll be taking some hard leather himself. Dempsey wins a unanimous but isn't overly impressive.
Dempseys power at this stage of his career was still awesome. Uzcudun was not hard to hit and he never came close to winning the hwt championship. Sharkey a soon to be hwt champion was a far better fighter and he was knocked cold by one Dempsey hook. He would do the same to Uz.
Sharkey may have been a better fighter but he didn't have a better chin than Uzcudun. .I don't have a problem picking Dempsey to win this but I think you are being optimistic saying he ko's the only once stopped ,[36years old in his last fight against Joe Louis],Uzcudun inside 5 rds!
The alternative is that Uz takes the punches that Sharkey "never thought anyone could hit that hard" for 10-15 rounds. I don't think anyone could stand up to those kind of shots as an open target. If Uz was a cute boxer ....yes but not the fighter I see backing straight up to the ropes as Uz did when pressed. I really can't see any other outcome.
Uz took the punches of Max Baer for 20rds and twice went the route with Schmeling. Prime Dempsey stops him but I have reservations that," Hollywood Jack," could. And Dempsey is my favourite fighter.
I just can't see any open target such as Uz avoiding a ko blow from a hwt so powerful and so intent to immediately destroy. I don't think any Max Baer displayed the continual ferocity of the Dempsey of 1927. Not Prime Dempsey certainly but nevertheless not the kind of fighter that goes 15 rounds with a man he can easily hit with ko blows. Can't see it going the distance. I would wholeheartedly agree if Dempsey were fighting a fighter such as Loughran.....but not an open target.
Joe Louis did not find Paulino an open target after the first round he went back to Blackburn and complained he could not get a shot at his chin! Blackburn said ,"that old man knows how to hide but sooner or later he will leave himself open." Schmeling was a methodicaly accurate, heavy puncher ,he couldn't floor Uzcudun in two fights.You keep saying he was, "an open target" yet films of his fights show him adopting a crouch with a cross -armed defence?
There are several of Paulino Uzcudun's fights on youtube. He beat Harry Wills up pretty bad in 1927 and made him quit on his stool, so I guess he would have done OK vs Dempsey. This content is protected
