When McVey and Langfrod had something left ( 1914-1915 ), they got the better or Wills until age and wear and tear caught up with them. Some of the guys that Dempsey defeated also beat an older Langford. Namely Fulton. I think Wills has better names on his resume, but perhaps Demspey beat / fought fresher more prime versions of his top opponents.
Wills did not reach his best until around 1917. Harry wills was still green in 1914 his 2nd year of professional fighting
That's not quite fair. Wills fought several good punchers and was knocked out legitimately very few times. The Johnson TKO was from a broken wrist, not an indication of the quality of his chin, and the Cotton KO occured when Wills was very, very green. It was only his 6th pro fight on record. He was only KO'd in his prime by ATG puncher Sam Langford.
That Jeanette and McVea were part of the 'Black dynamite' crew and are better documented than the equally talented Miske and Gibbons.
Well if we are going to count the jim johnson- wills broken wrist loss as a "knockout loss" we might as well count jack dempseys 1 punch 1 round knockout loss to a 38 year old man.
I disagree with the equally talented. Miske and Gibbons steered clear of the top black fighters of that era for a reason. the only time gibbons fought kid norfolk was when the Kid was blind.
I'd rate Wills ahead of Dempsey. I think Will's multiple wins over Langford, Jeanette, McVey, and Norfolk trump Dempsey's wins over Sharkey, Gibbons, and Brennan. Both beat Firpo and Fulton so I won't include them. As far as a head to head match, obviously with practically no film of Wills, there is no way to make an accurate prediction. Dempsey did well against big men-Futon, Willard, and Morris. But I'm quite certain Wills is on a whole different level than those. Shame this fight never happened.
Gibbons and Norfolk fought at the end of both of their careers, Gibbons was older by a couple of years and Norfolk must have had something left because he beat Ray Pelkey and Jack Reddick after their fight. Miske's resume could stack up to any other top fighter's at the time, he beat a lot of good, and a few great, fighters: Jack Dillon, Fred Fulton, Carl Morris, Battling Levinsky, Charlie Weinert, Gunboat Smith, Bill Brennan, Jim Flynn, and Jack Renault. He was able to give Greb, Norfolk and Dempsey good fights, too. Miske is extremly underrated in my opinion.
Yes, and that shows just how far Langford slipped. Wills beat Langford quite a few times from 1917-the 1920's. We should not put that much stock in the wins. Quick question, Jack Johnson wanted another shot at the heavyweight title after Willard Ko'd him. Why did we never seen Johnson vs Wills?