Could Jack Dempsey have competed in place of Floyd Patterson?

Pretty much what you said. While Dempsey definitely had a much better chin, he was still like 190 at best. That will be very troublesome against Liston and Ali.

 

Honestly he’d improve dramatically. On the inside he’d massacre Liston- Ali I have no idea, Ali was no Tunney as a boxer.

 

Frazier trained upwards in weight and was naturally high 190s from memory or about 200lbs? Not a big difference.

 

Floyd had such a good career when you think about it.

Without an Olympic background Dempsey had to have a lot more pro fights, and losses to lesser fighters, to develop into the level of fighter Floyd was by the time he was 21 year old.

I guess if Jack only fights the guys Floyd met in the order he fought them, without the opportunity to develop in the era he had fought in after so few fights even Jack might drop that decision to Joey Maxim that Floyd did.

However, Jack by the time he fought Billy Miske was ready for anyone. It just took him a different system and number of fights to get there. That fighter, potentially only loses to Muhammad Ali.

But that’s not to say fighters like Slade, Tommy Jackson, Archie Moore, Roy Harris and Ingo wouldn’t provide Jack with the kind of thrills and spills we know he had with Gunboat Smith, Fred Fulton, miske, Firpo, Brennan and other guys.

 

He would get butchered by Liston as well. Also, Frazier's weight for the Ali fights was around 205-212. Prime Dempsey was usually 188-190. Those pounds make a difference against big fighters who are already stylistically challenging for Dempsey.

 

Patterson is definitely underrated!

 

Jack would do the butchering. Liston is a rudimentary guy who Jack would find with ease, more ease then the one armed amateur Williams who broke his nose and "almost stopped him" Jack would finish it. Frazier gained weight on purpose he could've easily been 200lbs.

 

He would be more dominant in his prime, but the longevity aspect would be impossible for him.

 

Trained upwards? Honestly, he looked like he went upward in weight by gaining fat. He never looked lean, even at 205. Which only makes what he accomplished that much more impressive -- a natural cruiser who cleaned out the HW division and has the biggest scalp in all of boxing (taking Ali's 0).

 

Dempsey is overrated in my opinion. There's nothing
in his career that suggest he'd be a serious challenge
for a fighter like Liston. Especially Ali.
Or Lewis,Frazier, Holmes, Tyson, Bowe, Foreman,
Marciano, Holyfield , or Joe Louis .

 

I personally think he beats everyone Floyd beat and beats everyone Floyd lost too. The exceptions being Ali and Liston. I can't make up my mind how those two fights would go TBH. I give Jack a better shot at Liston though based on there styles

 

If Dempsey is prime for all these fights, I think he has at least 3 losses. He has a better chance, against Liston and Ali and even has a decent shot at pulling off an upset against post-exile Ali (particularly the version Patterson faced who didn't look to motivated).