Is Jack Dempsey the most overrated fighter of all time

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This thread shows why I refuse to read any of the troll's books. I don't believe in supporting people that act like petulant children.

 

I have been pondering which fighters people compared Dempsey's style to, more from a standpoint of understanding them than him. The names that keep cropping up are:

John L Sullivan
Terry McGovern
Stanley Ketchell
Jack Dillon

 

Lets use this apt statement (of a true SHW opponent) to complete the discussion of "HW power" and forget about 100 years of progression.
Nevertheless, we can add another candidate to the "Hardest puncher I faced List".......with always beeing a fellow who didn´t leave his nominator on the floor (Witherspoon: Frank Bruno ; Mike Weaver: Bernado Mercado LOL).

"Look at me! The hardest puncher of its time threw 50 unanswererd punches to me, barley getting up and yet, I continued for the next round *shoulderslap* !" ......

 

The problem with Dempsey is really a problem with the ballyhoo and mythmaking perpetuated around him for gate receipts. When we see film of Firpo or examine Carpentier as a heavyweight and compare those estimations to what was made of them in the press (largely at Rickard's behest) and what lingers in popular imagination to that are eyeballs see, it's hard to reconcile the two. In the end, some see a carefully constructed and managed artifice that had less to do with boxing excellence than the business of show.

Dempsey was great at The Event. He always won The Event. That does not make him the greatest at boxing.

 

All that I took away from this thread is that I now have to read McGrain's posts in a scottish accent

 

I think that you would be well justified in saying that Dempsey was overrated in the 1960s for example.

Now he is perhaps being somewhat underrated by some.

 

Precisely this. In an era that spawned and supported the idea of heroic legends such as Ruth, Lindbergh, and of course Dempsey (unlike today, where we're trained to tear them down as soon as we build them up), it figures that we'd build up a mythology surrounding these people. It's just what we do. No one could survive a thorough reality check given that kind of buildup.

 

" I suppose dempseys jaw is made up of bone just like any other human. But I hit that jaw just like the Frenchman did and ive got a suspicion that he wears a few slabs of iron there instead of bone . "
Bill Brennan july 5 1921

 

This is almost a good post!

 

Did Willard even have a prime?

 

You need to consider, that the historical correction might have gone too far?

Dempsey was highly regarded for some good reasons!

 

Is Dempsey overrated? Make a Dempsey related thread and I assure you that you'll get 3/4 of comments being something about him being too small or his title opponents being guys that walked off the street and had never boxed before. I've no **** been in conversation with posters here who think you could legitimately walk off the street back then with no prior boxing experience outside of a few drunken bar fights (which isn't boxing) and win the heavyweight title. Unironically.