How would the Great Jack Dempsey fair against todays larger Heavyweights

182 jack dempsey beating up a guy in williard who is equal to a modern day peter mcneely pretty much means nothing to me.....
at 182 pounds, dempsey would take a beating from alot of modern day guys and murdered by the klitsckos, tyson, holyfield, foreman, holmes, norton, frazier....the list could be endless

 

Dempsey is the ultimate boxing myth. There are a few small heavies thatd do well, but in todays relatively weak era of giants, he would simply not be effective.

But even disregarding a H2H argument, his achievments just dont match the accollades he receives. Overrated.

 

people tend to give the guys from the 40's, 30's all the way down to the late 1800s more credit than they probably deserve. its cool to throw out how great dempsey, john l sullivan, jack johnson ect were because it sounds like they are some kind of boxing historian. the older the fighter the greater their LEGEND grows......

 

John L was in a completely different sport.

He's reputed to have remarked that boxing had become a game for sissies.


(Upon hearing about the introduction of boxing gloves.)

 

He would get smashed.

 

He wouldn't beat Vitali, and he probably wouldn't beat Wlad (though that chin is vulnerable). Other than that, he'd go pretty well.

 

True.

The longer they've been gone, the least likely it'll be that you will be called out for stating misinformation................

So the farther they are in the past, the bigger legend they are.

But with the extreme advances in nutrition since Dempsey's time, it stands to reason that today's fighters would have alot more strength than someone from the 20s. The size differences is obvious, though.


But the question is a moot point, cause Dempsey would not even be a heavyweight.

 

Sorry but Willard would destroy McNeeley inside 2 rds. I would actually favour Willard over some of todays so called Heavyweight contenders. In those days they fought many more rounds and they were not saved by the referee's, many fouls went unpunished.

 

Because either Klitschko is better than Jess Willard for starters.

 

Agreed, however I still think even Willard would be capable of beating some of the other Heavyweight contenders around.

 

Interesting to consider, and impossible to guess for sure.

I think he'd do fairly well, especially if he bulked up a little bit. No matter how talented, a 185lb guy is not going to be successful against a talented 240lb guy (except by luck).

I agree that "old time fighters" seem to age like the value of a fine wine!

Probably would have trouble with the Klits, I don't think he ever met someone that could punch as hard as Wlad and Vitali. Might be able to overwhelm Wlad (but I have a hard time believing that 240lb Wlad could take quite a few punches from a talented 185 lb guy).

I think a prime Tyson, Holyfield and Lewis beat him for certain.

 

**** the nutritional advances, they don't do much for the boxer's natural skills and toughness. There's is a lot of size in today's HW division but the skill, toughness, and endurance seem to be missing. Size doesn't beat better skills and determination.

 

I had no idea this fight took place in Japan.

One thing for sure, when you got hurt in that era you were screwed, cause there was absolutely no time to recover.