How did 190lb Jack Dempsey DESTROY super-heavyweight 240lb Jess Willard?

Willard was 6'6.25"Dempsey was 6'1" 187lbs.Willard was out of shape, over confident, and facing a guy who could hit like few men can.

 

Ever seen Willard fight? Credit to Dempsey for looking very good but several great 180lbers would mow down Willard. Especially that version.

 

There are a number of factors.

Willard may not have been prime at that point but when he came back a few years later he was still good enough to be relevent among the contenders at that time. I think Jess was a better over all class even then than some might think.

I think an important factor is that today Dempsey and Willard would be fighting each other with gloves twice as big and no way could Dempsey make the required sustained impression to hurt big Jess so much in the first round.

Without question so much of that result relied upon the equipment and officiating of the time. In a way that it can not now.

 

Would Dempsey get to stand over him without the neutral corner rule? That should have given Dempsey the advantage to finish him off early

 

With a neutral corner rule Willard gets more time to recover.

 

I agree Willard would have still been hurt with that punch because it landed sweet but a bigger glove would have cushioned the impact a tad. Put that with a modern standing eight count and it gives Willard that much more time to get himself together. It might give Jess the chance to hang on and at least prepare for what Jack had in store for him after a real count. We cannot rule out the possibility of a lot less knockdowns in the opener, or even points taken off Jack for hitting Jess when he was not properly up. That (if it was called) could cause a delay of some time.

 

The reason the performance is so impressive is because, despite the negative remarks about Willard, very few fighter's (if any) could have replicated Jack's performance. You'll note at the very beginning Willard is not that easy to get to and manages to ward off some vicious attacks. It is the last of a clever four punch combination (body, body, body, head) that gets through and hammers Willard's jaw. This is the shot which started the butchering, but to think any other decent heavyweight puncher could easily recreate this has not paid attention to the positions Jack got himself into, achieved through movement and explosiveness.

 

Willard was big and durable, but older, and poor on defense. Dempsey had top level power and speed. You can find guys 185 pounds that hit harder than those who are 240 pounds.

Once Dempsey first hook crashed into Willard's jaw, Willard went down and could not recover well enough to defend himself...because Dempsey would not let him.

 

Willard was a 37 year old, semi-retired amateur who had fought 10 rounds in 4 years. I think a plethora of heavyweights over the sport's history take him out in 3 rounds.