A few posters have critisised Dempsey for not fighting Harry Greb and Kid Norfolk during his title reign,these guys fought each other ,in fact Norfolk is believed to be responsible for Greb being blind in one eye ,courtesy of a thumb,how would the "Mauler "handle them ?
I think that Dempsey would absolutely ruin Kid Norfolk, who is made for him in my opinion. Greb...look, when you look at Dempsey's punching and measure their respective sizes, you have to lean towards the Mauler. But there is that troubling sparring session...I think Greb should be considered the best white challanger to Dempsey's title regardless of the fact that Jack should be favoured...so there you have it! There was no colour bar! He dodged the best white challanger AND the best black challanger! For a spell.
I think both guys would give him a good fight both fights could get very dirty but I would expect Dempsey to stop Kid Norfolk and Greb.
I think, that Dempsey would be the favourite against both fighters - with some tough moments (especially versus Greb). @Minotauro Who are the two guys on your avatar?
McGrain really spelled out my thoughts on this one, i'll take Dempsey over both, who the hell knows what Greb could pull off though.
Greb in 1924-1926 would have been a serious threat, supposedly he outboxed Dempsey in sparring and ofcourse beat Tunney who beat Dempsey Norfolk has a shot but he seemed not to do so well against the better heavyweights he fought.
Well Tunney beat the **** out of Greb in their last fight in 1925 ,of course what a guy does against one fighter doesnt mean he will do against another,but I don't see Harry beating a Dempsey who had been active,the Dempsey that had embraced Holywood and had his nose fixed etc might have been vulnerable .
Either fight could have been made. Greb and Dempsey share some common opponents, and in some cases Greb had the easier time. I do think Dempsey was too strong for Greb, and would stop him late. Norfolk did not do well vs power hitters, so I think Dempsey stops him early. To bad neither fight was made.
the dempsey of 1919 would catch and destroy both opp. greb in the later rounds,the refined tame dempsey would have more trouble with greb but if the ref wasnt barry and could count dempsey would problobly catch greb mid to late in the fight
Didn't Loughran say the key to beating Greb was to jump on him early and wear him down with a consistent body attack? I read that somewhere.
Yes Loughran said that Greb had freakish stamina,and speeded up as a fight went on, he countered this by using a lot of straight punches to the midriff and chest area,starting fast ,and maintaining the tempo.Tunney did the same as he matured and handled Greb easier,he would sling right hands in under the heart to wear Harry down,after their last fight in 1925 ,Greb conceded "Your'e getting too big and strong for me".