Dempsey as a modern fighter-

Dempsey was a lot bigger than people think

187lbs is about as light as Dempsey could get IMO. Remember he fought outdoors (in extreme heat) so he had to be as light as possible to maximise his endurance.

I do not see him as a light-heavy; he would be too drained. Dempsey would be closer to 195-200 lbs today and would make a great cruiser.

 

I'd like to see him against Wilder.

 

Thank you for making a post about him being at a smaller weight and not imagining him as a heavyweight. I see his physicality making him very successful at LH. Combine that with some filing of the rough edges to give him a more modern style of fighting and he becomes elite.

 

As a lightheavy??? Dempsey would have been a absolute killer at that weight!

 

I don't know....he looks greyhound thin at 185...I can't see him dropping down to 175. Putting on 10 pounds and campaigning at Cruiser would make sense to me. 168...he'd look like a zombie.

 

Here's the thing. Dempsey typically came in at 187 lbs on average so SMW is not realistic proposition. Neither is LHW by the way.

The heaviest that Dempsey has ever come into a fight was against Sharkey where he weighed in at 194 lbs. Assuming he comes in at that weight he would be:

18 lbs lighter than Deontay Wilder's average weight
46 lbs lighter than Anthony Joshua's average weight
59 lbs lighter than Tyson Fury's average weight

Let's remember that Jess Willard was 6'6 245 lbs and Jack Dempsey destroyed him. So the weight difference of most of today's heavyweights and top fighters tend to fall within the threshold of what Jack had experienced anyway. And when we factor in that modern weight training and nutrition it's conceivable that he could have at least come in around 210-215 and fought comfortably.

 

He'd have to kill himself to get down to LHW, let alone SMW.

 

Who the hell knows. He could well be a 260Ib lard ass with deceptively fast hands.

I think he'd be better at cruiserweight than light heavyweight. He could probably make light heavyweight, but I think he'd be noticably drained.

 

There is more money at HW or CW....draining down to zombie levels to lose to Canelo on a Las Vegas decision is not worth either the $$ or the physical damage he'd do to his body getting down to 18, even if he COULD get down that low.

 

All the people saying he should fight at LHW would accuse him of being a weight bully if he was fighting today.

 

Dempsey early in his career fought as a light heavyweight, but by 1919 he was coming down from 200 lbs to a very trim 187 to 190 lbs. By 1919 making 175 lbs would've been way too much and Dempsey was a very ambitious man, so it makes no sense to drain himself to fight at light heavyweight for less money.

Also, just because you can take off weight by dehydrating yourself doesn't mean you should. Dawson thought taking off 7 lbs would be no big deal, but taking another 7 lbs off his already lean frame made him useless on fight night.

Here is what Dawson had to say before the fight.
“I’ll make the weight, no problem,” Dawson said. “I’m still eating. I told everyone I could make 168. I wasn’t saying it to sell a fight, I was saying it because I can do it. We have talked about moving to 168 for the last few years. When I finally had the opportunity to do it, I did it.”

Dawson credits an altered diet for his ability to slim down effectively

“The only difference is that I’m not able to eat what I want,” Dawson said. “Before, I would eat steak, mashed potatoes, burgers. Now I’m on a good nutrition plan. I’m eating vegetables, fish, and chicken. I feel a lot faster, a lot stronger.”
https://www.si.com/boxing/2012/09/06/dawson-says-making-168-no-problem

Here is what Dawson had to say after the fight.

"The night before the weigh-in, I ran on the treadmill for about an hour. Then I sat in the steam room for an hour. I didn't eat or drink anything until the next day until 4, 5 in the afternoon. That took a toll on me. Then I went into the fight at 190. My body didn't know how to handle the weight I put on after the weigh-in, but I was so hungry and thirsty that I ate and drank everything. But Andre Ward is a great champion. He won the fight. But I'd love to get another chance at him someday at light heavyweight."
https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/9352159/chad-dawson-bets-future-175

Here is the opinion of Dawson's trainer, who was against Dawson dropping down to 168, but was overruled by Dawson and we seen the result.

Chad Dawson turned in what was quite visibly the worst professional outing of his career last Saturday night in Oakland. Andre Ward systematically dismantled him in scoring a 10th-round TKO in a fight that was over long before that. Dawson connected on an abysmal 29 punches the entire bout. The drop in weight from light heavyweight (175 pounds) to super middleweight (168 pounds) had plenty to do with his lethargic performance, says his trainer, John "Iceman" Scully.

On the surface, dropping seven pounds might not sound like much. But while Dawson fights at 175, he carries himself closer to 185.

"Losing the weight is very hard to do," Scully said. "He looked good the first couple rounds, but after the second, deep down, I knew he was in big trouble. The weight loss affects the ability to take a punch. Chad has taken much better punches than that from Antonio Tarver and Glenn Johnson and never went down. When he got dropped early, that alone told me what was up."
https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/SUNDAY-GRAVY-Thoughts-on-Chad-Dawson-s-weight-11467962.php

 

I love how everyone assumes Dempsey could have fought at 175 or 168 today when he was ripped to shreds and as leave as a cheetah at 190. I think it's more likely with modern nutrition he'd be even larger but what do I know