Dempsey--one man's opinion.

I am happy that you recognize Jack Dempsey as a great fighter ,along with everyone who saw him in his glory days...
However you hold the fact that he never fought Harry Wills,even though it is a FACT that Dempsey and Wills signed a contract for the bout..But the fight fell through because the promotor couldn't guarantee the money for Dempsey and Kearns cancelled out,and Wills pocketed 50.000 dollars deposit...So Dempsey wanted the fight and may i say would have been a prohibited favorite had they fought. Sam Langford when asked who would win the bout was quoted as saying,"well if they fight my money is on Dempsey,as he is the greatest heavyweight fighter I have ever seen ".
Shouldn't Langfords opinion have some value today ? Yes I think..
I fervently believe Harry Wills deserved a title shot along with many other great fightrers as Burley,Holman Williams, LeeQ Murray etc, but they did not get their shot...My point is Dempsey Was willing and signed ,but the fight never came off, and his greatness as a fighter should not be diminished ninety years later...

 

Sorry Tyson was a jabber.

 

I that supposed to be funny?

 

sarcastic

 

I think it is important to understand that no before Dempsey had fought like him with his ferocity, you could not fight over fifty rounds the way Dempsey did. I always regard Dempsey as a real fighting man lean, fast ferocious and powerful. I admit I am a fan but so should any one, who is a boxing fan.

 

It boggles the mind that anyone thinks Grebs chances to beat Dempsey are greater than Willis. Willis was a big strong heavyweight, and very skilled from what I know. And his resume and record are very proven. Greb was a very fast, and very skilled fighter that feasted on a lot of big (Probably slow) men. I feel a light-hitting fast swarmer type would be doomed against a hard hitting fast puncher like Dempsey. Regardless of attributes. To me, it's almost like envisioning Dempsey beating Tyson. Or Calzaghe beating Dempsey in some time machine match (Not saying Calzaghe is Greb, but this is the closest parallel we've got in modern times).

 

Pete, what if I told you that Greb:

-Did better against Meehan than Dempsey
-Did better against Tunney than Dempsey
-Did better against Miske than Dempsey
-Beat Gibbons & Brennan before Dempsey did - of course, Dempsey fought the loser of the title eliminators
-All of this despite Greb fighting a good 10 times more often than Dempsey during this period


Based on that, I hardly think it's preposterous to suggest that Dempsey would've trouble from Greb, aside from the fact he stayed away from him.



Bottomline: top heavyweights when he was climbing the ranks: Langford, Jeannette (ran out of the ring when Jeannette challenged him, gave boxing a black eye by doing so - where was the racial barrier, or better put, excuse?), Johnson, Willard, Wills, Greb & Tunney.

Of those 7, he fought two men - Willard and Tunney, beat Willard who at that point was 37 years old and had not fought in four years. Tunney twice embarrassed him from start to end over the joke title distance of only 10 rounds - probably a stoppage if it'd gone 15.

So, he fought little of the best men and of those he did fight, his record isn't pretty.

I know this is harsh, but think of it this way: a guy like Patterson gets blasted for his losing record against the best, and perhaps rightfully so, but why should Dempsey be judged differently?

 

I disagree here. A champ my lose credibillity by not defending or defending against crappy challengers but that does not make it an empty concept. In a perfect world a champ would always face the best contender but in the real world most champs just try to hold on and milk the championship as long as possible. I don´t really blame them for that. What I do is giving the guys who defend against the best huge amount of credit.

 

A question who is saying Marciano and Dempsey are Top10 hws but Frazier is too small? Examples please or are you talking out of your ass? I think so.

Dempsey and Marciano fought in the open weight class called heavyweight thus they are heavyweights. If you like it or not does mean sh*t.

And now, seriously, **** off, you clown.

 

Well, to be frank I think it's hard to get a gauge on 4 rounders. The Miske fight was close, but Dempsey avenged himself by winning twice. In the last fight he KOed him in the 3rd. Greb beat Tunney once, while Greb was within his prime. I was say Greb fighting more was a positive to his ring sharpness, not a negative.

I just feel the idea of Greb. With his style of being a swarming like fighting that out-worked his opponents he would be in a nightmare against a Dempsey. With Dempsey's speed and power, I just feel this is an awful style matchup. Greb was a phenom for his time, no doubt. But I just struggle seeing how he would be more of a threat than a big strong HW like Willis, who I actually think is more proven against better fighters (These fighters being black).

Dempsey's run as a HW was disgraceful, and I'm not defending that. He should've fought Jeannette and Langford if possible. Dempsey took the title and basically ran to Hollywood. He should've fought Willis. Had he done this I think he would get more credit. And that's a shame. I don't really rate Dempsey too highly, and I'm not defending that. I'm just have trouble seeing how Greb would threaten Dempsey more than Willis. Willis not only more established at HW, was just a plain better HW. Greb, stylistically being smalled against a puncher of Dempsey's caliber seems frightening. Especially since Greb is a swarmer type fighter as is... maybe it's the mystique of Dempsey. Maybe his legend is a bit mythology. I mean, people expect that he's got the power to chop Wlad down but a light hitting Greb will out-skill/finese him for 12-15 rounds? Greb admitted he couldn't beat Dempsey, I believe. Anyway, I digress.

 

And Willard underrated. Agreed.

Especially people who rank V. Klitschko high must rank Willard. they are just so f*cking similar.

 

Lennox Lewis didn´t face Wlad Klitschko for a long time despite him beeing number 2. Does this mean he wasn´t tested at the highest level?

 

Dempsey also fought the guy who beat Greb in a series. Why are people bringing up Dempsey often fighting losers to Greb but ignoring this. :huh

 

Wills was also said to be rather slow of hands and foot if I remember right why people said Greb never stood still, never was in one place and very, very fast with both, hands and feet. I think this may have something to do with it.