25 rounds Prime Jack Johnson vs Prime Dempsey.

Wow this would be brutal inside battle.

 

Johnson, but he would be in harms way throughout the fight.

 

Probably Johnson due to his style and strength advantage but it's close and Dempsey could be dangerous for anyone.

 

On face value Johnson should be awful for Dempsey, with his sharp uppercut to catch him on the way in and advanced clinchwork that would diminish Dempsey's offence. Not to mention his ridiculous stamina and endurance leads to what you'd expect would be a win under his ruleset. However, getting hit by Ketchel (who's somewhat similar to Dempsey just much worse and smaller) and going down isn't exactly filling me with confidence.

I think Dempsey would land, dart in, and then it's over.

 

Johnson gets a decision, I think it's one of those style s makes fights affairs. Dempsey really struggling to nail his man clearly, JJ doing his damn hardest to shut him down and hold. But, no man is totally shock proof and if any guy can whip over a punch that drops you, then it's JD.

 

This is quite interesting because:

1. Dempsey struggled with fast defensive counter punchers, which Johnson was

2. Dempsey's level of output and aggression was 'new'. Would he fight the same way over 20 rounds and potentially punch himself out? If so how does Johnson handle this workrate?

The real question is if Johnson can evade Dempsey often enough and counter him effectively. Would he tire him out and counter him.

How would Dempsey do against Johnson's uppercut on the inside?

It's a really good contest in fighters from slightly different eras.

By rights Dempsey should have fought Johnson, Wills and Langford but chose to draw the colour line. It doesn't mean he'd lose but he obviously saw that as reasonably likely.

If I remember the story correctly both fighters agreed to take the fight the distance and wear the wraps. Ketchel broke the agreement, so Johnson got up and sparked him. A flash KD doesn't necessarily mean you can't take bigger punches that you're prepared to take. And ofcourse it's the punch you don't see that puts you on ***** street.

I'm not sure why that none swearword is censored. It is used by some to describe a homosexual but still why so prudish, it's a valid word

 

Ketchel was already down twice and he wanted a 45 rounder, I assume to catch Johnson late. That was never going to go the distance.

 

Let's be honest - Johnson toyed with Ketchel. He paid the price for being too careless, but that didn't make him struggling at all.

I don't see Johnson carrying Dempsey this way. He wouldn't help him not going down like he did with Stanley. Of course Johnson is Johnson, he would always try to clown a bit but I see him being fully motivated like he was against Burns and Jeffries.

 

That's not true, at lower weight you can watch plenty of agressive high volume punchers way before Dempsey (Ketchel, McGovern, Nelson) and even at heavyweight there were guys like Tom Sharkey way before him.

 

Yes. However, he was hit and was hurt. Ketchel managed to get him in a way Dempsey would do all night.

 

Yeah, he was hit and got down but he got up and knocked out Ketchel immediatly. It was a lucky punch in my opinion.

It'a true that Dempsey could catch him though. He was much better HW fighter than Ketchel and he's really dangerous puncher.

 

Dempsey..Too fast too mobile and has the stopping power.

 

I bounce back and forth on this one. Johnson was strong and knew how to in-fight by holding and using his uppercut, but we've never seen him against a relentless and strong foe like the Dempsey we've seen in the Brennan, Firpo, and Sharkey films, guys I use as a gauge because they were similar in size to Johnson, at least more so than Gibbons and Carpentier. Even as late as 1927 against Sharkey, Dempsey is relentless and strong. The Tunney fight isn't much help here because Johnson never showed the type of ring generalship involving footwork and foot speed that Tunney excelled in. And the Willard fight isn't very helpful even though he was an opponent common to both because Willard was totally shot when he fought Dempsey.

Dempsey showed a lot of stamina and late-round strength against Brennan and Sharkey. He would make Johnson work, and I think he would tire Johnson out. Of course, Johnson's holding might tire Dempsey out too. But I will go with Dempsey here. His brand of effective aggressiveness would have been something new that Johnson had never had dealt with. I wouldn't bet any money either way on this one unless I was given great odds one way or the other, but pushed against a wall I'd take Dempsey.