Harry Wills vs David Haye

David Haye all the way. Pre 20's is a completely different sport and Haye is unlike ANYTHING that was around at the time.

 

Peak Dempsey of 1919 murders Haye and i'm no Hayter.

 

Look, that is utter bull****. I know the game pretty well from in and out of the ring. I have slowed these films down to watch them. He is fairly prehistoric.

I'm fine differing in opinion with any poster here and maintaining respect. However, tt's pointless to keep this conversation going because you are championing a cause vehemently on so little empirical evidence and apparent knowledge regarding the subject that it's really pointless to keep this tedium extended.

 

Dempseys a different animal to the rest of those guys in the way that he throws combinations and utilises subtle head movement but if Luis Firpo can smash him through the ropes David Haye also has a very good chance, now i'm not saying he would win but Luis Firpo was considered a very large heavyweight for the time. He is half an inch shorter than Haye and in his fight with Dempsey weighed less than Haye has against Valuev and Ruiz. The result is no foregone conclusion.

 

Actualy, Haye is a lot more like some of the fighters that were around at that time than the majority today.

His style is pure old school.

 

O.K.

Watch the film again, and this time focus on McVea's head and upper body movment ignoring everything else.

At what sages of the filme does McVea actualy present his opponent with a stationary target in terms of his head and upper body?

What the film shows is that he is moving constantly so that his opponent cannot set up shots on him.

 

More often than not his head follows his fist in a line when he goes straight in. Then he clinches and wails away. Over and over again. And he is getting caught. He seems skittish at best, but in a purely linear way, forward and backward. I have slowed this film down to the frames. I can see no proof of any defensive mastery, just two guys waiting for the other to throw, one throws and the other reacts. Not much in the way of setting up or countering. There's a little bit of bait and bite going on but nothing that makes me go "wow". Sorry, I don't see the magic.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSyXRe57SCU[/ame]

 

Not just that, McVey also used a very good left jab ... it was a key weapon .. he was a boxer puncher, not a Frazier type pressure fighter ...

 

I guess this is David Hayes equivalent of the Fireman Flyn knockout.

 

His single power jab is his best thing in this footage. Otherwise it is underwhelming.

 

I'm probably a fan of the older fighters more than i am the current ones but defensively, based on the little available footage of Wills, he makes Haye look like Pernell Whitaker in terms of defense (Haye does have head movement and can slip punches). Fighters like Wills are great in their own right and for what they did and THEIR era, but i wouldn't like his chances against a number of top cruiser weights/heavyweights of the last few decades ( based on the footage that is). Haye would just be too advanced IMO in most areas.