Harry Wills resume UNDERATED....

Like Fred Fulton whom Dempsey iced in 1 round?

 

Does Fred Fulton at 6 4 1/2 ,225 lbs count as tall and rangy? Dempsey hadn t fought for three years when Tunney beat him ,he was no longer the Mauler.

 

Fulton was not a boxer puncher. He was a china chinned slugger made to order for Dempsey. Wills iced him in two, or have you forgotten that? Dempsey was still in his physical prime when he lost to Tunney and fought in the same manner he always did in the fight in 1927 and still lost. The bottom line is that Dempsey was never as invincible as his fanboys argue he was. Carpentier hurt him badly in the second round of their fight, Brennan outboxed and outpunched him for eleven rounds, Firpo dropped and hurt him, etc etc. All fighters far below Will's skill level. Even Gibbons made Dempsey look bad, Sharkey easily outboxed him until getting fouled (he admittedly quit but...) and Tunney had no trouble at all outside of a few seconds in second fight. The fact is that Dempsey or his management avoided the guys who deserved to face Dempsey and would have given him the most problems. It just so happens that Wills was chief among those he avoided.

 

Much as I respect your writings I have to take you up on a few points.

 

Actually Wills stopped Fulton in 3 rds ,no I hadn't forgotten ,and I think you will find it was body punches that stopped Fulton when Wills beat him , not punches to the chin,Dempsey 2 years earlier kod Fulton in 23 seconds ,giving him 20lbs in weight.I never said what style Fulton fought ,but listed at 6 6 and with a n 84in reach I think he qualifies as tall and rangy ,don't you? SDempsey was not in his physical prime when he lost to Tunneu ,how could he be ? He had been inactive for 3 years ,living the Broadway life.I see no evidence that Carpentier did anything but temporarily inconvenience Dempsey George's hand was damaged far more than Jack's chin
Dempsey hit Brennan so hard Brennan broke his ankle spinning down from the ko punch,Brennan nearly tore Dempsey's ear off ,but he did not outslug him ,no one ever did when he was in his prime.Sharkey did outbos Dempsey ,imo,but took his eye off the ball and more importantly Dempsey,Sharkey was kod from a lefdt hook to the chin not the low blow.who are these other "guys" you think Dempsey avoided ?Young lh Jack Dillon ?or one eyed M Hary Greb? Ive never suggested Wills was not a world class fighter or that he would be an easy fight for Jack ,but I think Dempsey takes him ok?

 

You have solid points, but IMO it´s not only with Wills so, it´s with almost every fighter the same, which fighter can say about him he beat many elite fighters in their prime and at their absolute best? IMO Wills was pretty consistent, he had only very few L´s in his prime, IMO it´s better to beat an older great fighter like Langford for example so often and clear like Wills did, than a young, unbeaten mediocre fighter with a padded record...

 

Thank you very much for the nice "welcome"! :hi:

 

Fair counter punching L?

 

Ditto.

 

While i'm not very impressed with Firpo's ability on film, i think he compiled a pretty good record going into the Dempsey fight. I think he was a legit top guy.

 

Dempsey was lineal champion, had more spectular results, and was the first million dollar gate fighter. History remembers him far more than Wills. You could argue Dempsey is more accomplished.

While Wills did not get a chance to fight Dempsey, Wills defiantly avoided George Godfrey. Godfrey's manger tired to make the match several times. Wills vs Godfrey would have been HUGE.

As McVey point outs, Wills holds many wins over past their prime versions of Sam McVey and Sam Langford. I tend to believe the black fighters of the 20’s aside from Godfrey who Wills never fought were a very weak lot in general.

 

A typewriter saved Dempsey? That is funny. If anything, you do not want to fall on machinery. While Firpo did catch Dempsey, its amazing how easily Dempsey put Frio away, and Wills could not for the full distance. I believe Dempsey hit harder than Wills, and was much quicker.

I read the news review regarding the Firpo and Wills fight. Wills was called more of a wrestler than a fighter. Wills won, but it was not impressive.

 

That isnt the subject of my post the question I posed is "Is Wills Overated?" Your post was is he Underated?.,I mentioned my belief that Dempsey would have stopped Wills ,that is a personal opinion,and has no bearing on "who accomplished more ".I think you could make a case that as Dempsey actually won the title ,he accomplished more,plus he was only kod once when young and callow against Flynn in what may have been a "tank job".Whereas Wills was kod several times .Dempsey featured in the million dollar gate he was a household name ,he went on a world tour ,made big bucks ,bedded Filmstars and became personal friends with the likes of Fairbanks,Valentino,Chaplin ,Getty.It depends how you define accomplishments.You may think Wills met better competition ,and ,as a result accumulated more losses,but we are really arguing about wether he is under ,or over rated aren't we Suzie?