Interesting article on Dempsey's next opponent post Toledo

1919 ?

Billy Miske being mentioned is interesting.
Miske's record in the month leading up to this article was unimpressive.

It seems he and Meehan are mentioned because they had extended/beat Dempsey in 1918.
No mention of Harry Greb, who had beaten them both recently.

 

You implied he was scared of all black fighters because J L Johnson had broken his ribs (a fight some ringsiders reckoned he'd won), which is silly for several reasons.
But maybe it's all for laughs, which is all well and good.

 

McGrain, allot of this really doesn't seem to read right, can you check the below, because it looks like you may have muddled some names?

"Harry Wills, the black giant, looms up as the one man physically entitled to dreaming of the championship. Wills can hit, box and take punishment. Wills will probably have to content himself with draming of possessing the championship, for Dempsey is on record as opposed to allowing a negro challenger another chance to own the crown. It is not likely that Dempsey fears Wills, or any other man. When Jack Kearns offered Wills an opportunity to spar with Dempsey before the Willard contest, the repoly he got from Willard wsa:

"Nothing doing. I can lick both big bums." [Meaning Willard as well as Dempsey).

Is the bold meant to read Wills or Dempsey instead of Willard? And are the bracketed names correct?

The thing is many people do strongly believe and hang onto racist generalisations. I remember a thread in the lounge a couple of years ago asking 'would you date a woman who'd previously been involved with a black man' and a large percentage said they wouldn't. And this is modern times, racial myths in days gone by were likely allot stronger and less unchallenged

As for Dempsey Wills was without doubt his stand out challenger, as was Greb and later Tunney. Jack Johnson said Dempsey wouldn't even spar with him. There's a saying long before Dempsey stating 'the colour line will only be drawn

 

Yes, but the fact that Dempsey seems to have rubbed shoulders with black fighters in the ring, in fights and/or in training camps, and in full-on "exhibitions", and in the gyms, for years before and years after ...... and the fact that he was an astute championship-level fighter who would recognize through experience that all fighters are different, makes the claim that he developed a phobia of black fighters untenable, IMO.

There are far simpler explanations for why Dempsey didn't fight black challengers, but I guess those explanations don't belitte Dempsey's reputation enough.
"Scared of all the blacks" is a better soundbite, I guess.

 

Conn ,save your breath. You will not convince some posters,who have a DAMN agenda,that Dempsey was a racist, a coward, couldn't fight, NEVER signed for a Dempsey/Wills fight, THOUGH IT HAPPENED, and these NOBLE posters of today would have acted DIFFERENTLY than Tex Rickard did ,
by not matching Dempsey and Wills, after the terrible race riots FOLLOWING the Jeffries/ Johnson bout in Reno, in which terrible riots ensued,and scores of people were KILLED. This is a freakin FACT, but these
Dempsey haters WORRY little about facts. They want to somehow feel superior to the promotors as Rickard and the NY Athletic Commission who would have been excoriated if they matched Dempsey / Wills and riots and death had OCCURED AFTER THE BOUT would have been fought.
To all the posters who care nothing for history as it truly happened.
One more time : Jack Dempsey and Harry Wills SIGNED for a fight that Floyd Fitzpatrick from Michigan promoted. There have been many photos of the signing on ESB not too long ago. But the bout was cancelled when the promotor couldn't come up with the damn money. This is a FACT ESB.
P.S. And Sam Langford born in 1883 was close to 40 years old during Dempsey's prime title reign,alongst with Sam McVey and Joe Jeannette,
all three were at the end , or retired from boxing in the 1920s.
P.S. Sam Langford ,when asked by reporters at the Dempsey / Wills signing
when asked who would win the fight,was quoted as saying " my money is on Jack Dempsey, for he is the GREATEST heavyweight I have ever seen ". Unquote...Here this Seamus ? Sometimes the darn truth hurts. Cheers C...

 

Yes, this is the kind of man it takes to take down a true great...

This content is protected

 

He beat at least 3 true greats, to be fair to him.

:good

 

Just goes to show what used to qualify as "great" in the heavyweight division.

 

It doesn't show me anything.
How many Willie Meehan fights have you seen ?

 

I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say 0?:think

Bet he's memorised his record from Box-rec though.

 

Given what you know of Meehan, and yes, what his physiognomy might tell us, can you tell me an analogous fighter who has competed over the past 30 years who would be able to beat Tyson, Holyfield, Lewis, WK, VK, Bowe over 4 rounds?

Just for a refresher, let me present all 5 foot 9, 190 pounds of this mankiller...

This content is protected

 

Probably that he was happy making millions against overmatched opposition that the general public unwittingly considered legit, rather than take on men who may beat him senseless and take away his meal ticket. Sounds smart to me

 

If you put them all against every single 195 pound fighter of the last 30 years, over a 4 round distance, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a few upsets. With Holyfield and Tyson especially, who weren't exactly massively tall goliaths.
There are some awkward unorthodox fighters out there, horrible spoilers that will prove to be a pain in tha ass over a short distance, and sometimes those guys would be able to nick a decision over 4 rounds despite being woefully outgunned.

Over 4 rounds, Meehan had Dempsey's number .... well, actually he didn't, that would be an exaggeration, but he was pretty much a pain in the ass, and had the edge over their 4 or 5 fights. It was Dempsey who scored the knockdowns though, he just rarely did enough in 3 rounds out of 4 to get the verdict.
This is a blemish on Dempsey's record, but don't pretend it couldn't happen to other fighters.
Most top level fighters have shrewd matchmakers to weed out such troublesome spoilers, and wouldn't be matched against horrible guys like that over 4 rounds anyway.