Not trying to make a case that one is, or was, better than the other. I just got bored and decided to do this just to kill time. A list of each fighters performances against some of their best (in my opinion) opposition. Got all this info off of boxrec, but I might have missed one or two fights or accidently listed a KO as a TKO or vice versa. DEC=Decision, Newspaper decision or otherwise. Notable wins: Wills Jeff Clark-DEC 20, TKO-5, TKO-5, TKO-4, TKO-4, TKO-2, TKO-2, KO-3 Sam Langford-DEC-10, DEC-10, DEC-20, DEC-10, DEC-8, DEC-10, DEC-12, KO-6, TKO-7, DEC-8, DEC-15, DEC-15, DEC-10 Sam McVea-DEC-12, KO-5 Charlie Weinert-KO-2 Luis Firpo-DEC-12 Kid Norfolk-KO-2 Joe Jeannette-DEC-10, DEC-8 Fred Fulton-KO-3 Gunboat Smith-KO-1 Notable wins: Dempsey Jack Sharkey-KO-7 Fred Fulton-KO-1 (18 seconds) Jess Willard-TKO-3 Bill Brennan-TKO-6, KO-12 Billy Miske-DEC-6, KO-3 Tommy Gibbons-DEC-15 Georges Carpentier-KO-4 Gunboat Smith-DEC-4, KO-2 Battling Levinsky-KO-3 Carl Morris-DEC-4, KO-1 Luis Firpo- KO-2 Notable Losses: Wills Sam Langford-KO-14, KO-19 Sam McVea-DEC-20, DEC-10 Notable Losses: Dempsey Gene Tunney-DEC-10, DEC-10 Willie Meehan-DEC-4, DEC-4
Newspaper decisions are not always reliable. I posted an article from The Ring several days ago for those who are not familiar first-hand with old newspaper reports.
Yeah, I know, but that's how his record stands. I don't have the dedication or the resources to look up news reads and read eye witness accounts for every one of their fights that ended in a newspaper decision.
I've always felt Wills has a much better resume then Dempsey, but feel had the two met Dempsey would have won.
I wouldn't say it's "much" better, they both fought good competition. Wills fought good fighters more often, but they were often fighters he'd already proven himself against like Langford, Clark, Bill Tate. Dempsey fought as many good fighters as Wills did, but he didn't have many re-matches. Of course, it's not Wills' fault he had to fight the same people over and over again, he just didn't have the opprotunities that Dempsey did, what with him being black and all.
Wills defintley fought higher quality. Langford, Jeanette, Mcvea were better than anyone dempsey ever defeated except jack sharkey, but the sharkey win was controversial. sharkey was by far the best opponent dempsey beat.
are you saying this because you have not seen a prime harry wills on film? for all we know he could have been the next lennox lewis.
Exactly you can't knowingly pick Wills to beat Dempsey or vice versa, because we don't know what Wills ability level was. Was he simply a little better than his contemparies? Or was he a genius? Without film we can't say Wills has the better resume, partly due to the colour line, which may not have been Dempsey's fault, its hard to say.
There isn't a significant gap in talent between the likes of Gibbons and Miske and Jennette and McVea. Actually, now that I think of it, I think Miske was better than McVea, if only by a slight margin. I fight between those two would have been interesting.
The reason I picked Dempsey over Wills was purely due to what I’ve read about Wills and feel Dempsey might have the style to beat. I know without watching him in his prime it hard to tell it’s just my opinion not a certainty by any means.
I fully agree. :good Who could pick against Dempsey when seeing him destroy Willard, when there is no footage of the other fighter when he was in his prime. Nevermind that Willard was 37 years old coming off 3 years of inactivity and never possessed much skill to begin with.
After reviewing what Harry Wills did to Kid Norfolk, I have no doubt Harry Wills would have put a serious hurting on greb, miske, and gibbons.
I'm not comparing Gibbons and Miske to Wills, I'm comparing them to McVea and Jennette. Also, I don't think Norfolk had quite as good a chin as any three of them.
