Yes mbp,I DO HAVE MY FAVOURITES, and MY OPINION is BASED ON OPINIONS of EXPERTS OF THE TIME, and 65 long years of culling the facts, mulling things over, prior to posting my views of Dempsey and others that have followed him, and you are not going to diminish my boxing acumem one whit by demeaning my choice of Jack Dempsey as a great fighter, whose peers were in awe of him, and one more thing , the great boxers and experienced historians who SAW him at his best KNEW considerably more about the makings of a great fighter than you sir, of that I'm certain...You and some posters see Dempsey as a nothing because of not fighting a Harry Wills, regardless of the CIRCUMSTANCES of the day, and irrespective of the fact they DID sign for a bout which was cancelled due to money problems....I see Dempsey at his best as a great and unique combination of speed, hitting powers and a will to conquer seldom seen before and after...and mbp, I am in GOOD company along with [it bears repeating] a Sam Langford, Gene Tunney, Jack Sharkey, Max Schmeling, Mickey Walker, Ray Arcel, Damon Runyon, Hype Igoe, Nat Fleischer, and several hundreds of boxing people who in a poll voted Jack Dempsey as the best heavyweight they EVER SAW RINGSIDE by a vast majority ,and so I am in good company I know...They knew aeons more than you and today's revisionists, of that I'm convinced...Good day...
we are all entitled to and have our favourites. context of the times certainly adds a lot to our opinions
Well, that's feeble methodology to ignore those with better perspective, those that have let the hype die down and the cold eye of objectivity take its place, those that have actually seen what heavyweights were to become, athletes culled from a far greater sample of the population both geographically and racial, stylistically confounding specimens of the highest pedigree, groomed from youth in rigorous amateur programs and faced against their like to produce true champions...
N, yes we all have our opinions. True, but if a person had an unknown ailment wouldn't the opinions of medical doctors trump the opinions of laymen 80 years or so after the fact ? The opinions of the vast boxing fraternity who saw Dempsey fight are a heck of a lot more meaningful than today's "opinions", I am convinced...Any thoughtful observation would bear me out, wouldn't you think...? Can all the historians of those times and past the Louis era be wrong, whilst some posters who feel they somewhat know better be correct...? Not by a long shot ....Cheers...
and i would ask burt, would all the experts who have those opinions about dempsey still feel the same if they were able to watch fighters all the way through the present?
Especially considering about seven or eight of the 10 greatest heavyweights of all-time fought post-1960.
So S, then we throw out Greb, Leonard, Tunney, Langford, Louis, Gibbons, yes even Ray Robinson, as inferior to your master race boxers who fight one third of the fights than the fighters of the "neanderthal " 1920s to the 1940s... Wow and i thought fighting experience counts...Hail to today's super boxers S...atschatschatsch
what i mean burt, is that ranking a fighter is always subjective and your experience gives you a different and perhaps better persepctive on dempsey, rocky graziano, joe louis, etc. than I might have. the same as boxing fans 20 years from now won't have the same perspective and experience with roy jones that I have now, seeing him live and watching his career.
it's impossible to rank george foreman, joe frazier and lennox lewis on an all time list if you never watched them fight and stopped writing about boxing in the 60s
N, I am not trying to compare a Dempsey with fighters of today that the great historians of his time, to past Louis never saw...Of course not. But what they saw of Jack Dempsey til past Joe Louis convinced them that he was their choice of the best heavyweight of the first half of the twentieth century...And anyone that could at least be in Joe Louis's class as a great fighter deals with anyone since IMO...
Burt clearly didn't read my post at all. Gave his stock reply to questions on Dempsey. I typed out a ****ing Miss American Teen pageant speech too. Never posted such a long reply.