Harry Wills Articles

Anyone suggesting Wills did not deserve a title shot probably sports a Confederate Flag on his car,and has a white hood in his trunk!

 

Well, this is from 1926, and the frequent claim that Wills didn't feel he was shafted by Dempsey is certainly rebutted by this article--

"I do not blame Dempsey altogether for his shifting, backing, and filling. Jack Kearns, shrewd and side-stepping baby himself, aided and abetted Dempsey in protecting that precious crown. While it is a shameful sight to see a so-called champion dodging challenges that he had been ordered to respect by the New York Boxing Commission and which he accepted and then ran out of in a most cowardly way, you can understand why Kearns wanted to keep a good meal ticket."

Later Tunney is pictured as a built-up challenger who wouldn't get into the ring with Wills. Wills definitely was right about the not getting into the ring part, as Tunney drew the color line immediately after winning the title.

Wills justifies his criticisms of Dempsey by pointing out that Dempsey and his advisers have no problem putting Wills down. I have always cringed at this even before reading Wills saying it. A champion trashing the fighting qualities of a top contender he will not get into the ring with strikes me as leaving about as poor a taste as it is possible to leave.

I also found this interesting.

"I was born in New Orleans in 1892, the year that Jim Corbett beat John L. Sullivan for the heavyweight title."

The US census and his gravestone give his birth year as 1889. What to make of this? I don't know, but I can't really think of a good reason to lie on your gravestone. He might have been shaving off a few years here to make himself younger as a challenger, but that is only a guess on my part. The later date would make him younger in the 1920's for Firpo and Uzcudun, but also much younger when fighting Langford, McVea, and Jeannette in the 1910's, so I think it comes off somewhat of six of one and half dozen of the other.

I myself judge the best evidence to be the census and the gravestone.

 

Or to put it another way, Dempsey is still almost always put ahead, and often way ahead, of Wills.

I honestly don't see anything in the record to justify that.

Wills supporters are overreacting? Perhaps Dempsey supporters are overly defensive.

 

"I am the only person on this forum I am aware of who ranks Wills higher."

I do,

but I can understand folks not noticing me.

 

Great series of articles but you really have to take these stories with a pinch of salt.