Jack Dempsey and The Color Line...

Wills was a health nut he didnt drink,smoke, or carouse ,went on long hikes and fasted,if anyone was going to be well preserved at 37 it would have been him.

 

Or perhaps ...
.... the racism of the day prevented him from admitting he liked a (Volstead prohibited) drink or two and had spent the best part of the year snorting cocaine from the cleavages of beautiful brown chorus girls in Harlem best 'black and tan speakeasies'
.
Meanwhile, white fighters got away with raping virgins for pay.
Not to mention what white promoters got up too ...

 

Why was Dempsey fighting exhibitions at 37 and not still a pro? Because he was well past championship level at that age. When he fought an exhibition at that age against a young contender, he got a hiding. Had the 37 year old Dempsey fought a prime Sharkey I doubt he would have fared much better than Wills did.

Maybe Sharkey would have beaten a younger Wills. Maybe he would have beaten a younger Dempsey as well. I'm certain that the 27 year old Wills would have made a much better fight of it though. I do take exception to Wills' loss to Sharkey at 37 being used to imply that he was no good all along or that somehow Dempsey was vindicated by beating Sharkey after Sharkey beat Wills.

 

Dempsey was retired and had been for 3 years, do you actually get that?
Wills was an active fighter. Absurd comparison.atsch

 

Yes Dempsey was past it at 32 and was an exhibition fighter by the time he reached the age Wills was against Sharkey. Yet Wills losing to Sharkey at 37 is a big deal? How do you think a 37 year old Dempsey would have fared against Sharkey?

 

Where does this narrative of yours end ? Whatever your punching bag Jack Dempsey DOES or Doesn't do, diminishes him to you and your ilk B....
Let us now play your game of gotcha :
Joe Louis was a GREAT fighter no doubt.
But what would of happened if in 1938 when Louis kod Schmeling in 1rd , Louis would have been 33 years old
[Schmelings age] and Max Schmeling had been 24 years old,
Louis's age ??? Why does Louis get credit for the ko of a 33
year old Schmeling, whilst a Jack Sharkey gets zilch for koing a Harry Wills...?

 

I think a 37 years old Dempsey who had been as active as Wills was would have done emphatically better than Wills did against Sharkey.
Wills was getting a beating and fouled out to save himself . Dempsey took his lumps against Tunney in their two fights.

 

The 32 year old Dempsey was also dominated by Sharkey and a lot of observers thought he should have been DQ'd for fouling just like Wills was. On that basis I wouldn't give a five years older Dempsey much chance of out-doing Wills.

 

Headlines a few weeks after Dempsey Sharkey....

"Film of fight shows body blows were legal"

That's 1927. Like "Dempsey ducked Wills" the idea that Dempsey fouled Sharkey in order to win is a complete myth. Dempsey was exonerated from blame 90 years ago.

 

"Dempsey fouled, says Mathison, fight judge"

Charles Mathison, one of the judges, issued the following statement:

"While the referee is the sole arbiter in the matter of foul blows, I am making the following report to the state athletic commission:

Jack Sharkey was hit below the waistline immediately before the knockout punch and Dempsey should have been disqualified. Dempsey was also guilty of hitting low in several other rounds."

 

The point I made in my last post ,which you ignored is that Dempsey took his beatings off Tunney and never stopped trying to win,never stopped coming forward into the guns.

Wills fouled out deliberately when the going got too hot against Sharkey and he surrendered rather tamely when non puncher Uzcudun dropped him.

BTW
After a shaky start Dempsey was coming on against Sharkey his body shots were weakening him and Sharkey was slowing down.

The punch that floored and ko'd Sharkey was a left hook to the chin not to the nuts, and he had no business dropping his hands and complaining to the referee ,protect yourself at all times.
As Dempsey said about the punches," what was I going to do write him a letter?"

 

When you have a live event where there are no instant replays depending on where individuals were sitting they may think they saw one scenario or another.

However once the weeks unfolded after the event the film of the bout was examined and the result?

"Film of fight show body blows were legal"

Put YOUR hatred of Dempsey aside and watch a clear version of the KO on YouTube. If after watching the KO sequence you still think the body blows just before the KO blow were low there is no hope for you.

The body blows prior to the KO blow were not low.

 

Actually there are live accounts of the Dempsey Sharkey bout where they felt Dempsey was leading at the time of the KO due to his aggressiveness and non stop punching.

 

Many felt the tide was turning in Dempsey's favour.

" The former champion, staggered in the first round and groggy, came back to force the fighting and finally dropped his young rival." (Associated Press)"

 

Yes. Absolutely. Over and above this you will also find accounts where the writer who watched the bout from ringside states that Dempsey was ahead as of the KO. Not the majority opinion mind you but to those who valued aggressive fighting Dempsey not only was coming on but was leading after six rounds of action.

Also if you watch that bout you see that Dempsey really turns on the heat in round six to the body. Sharkey starts bending low at the waist to try to keep his body away from Dempseys short body blows. You can see he is seriously being bothered/hurt from those blows. Then at the start of round seven Dempsey is just all over Sharkey inside. Those last three body blows were crippling shots. Similar blows singularly dropped Firpo and here Dempsey is pumping three consecutive punches to one specific area of Sharkeys belly. Had to hurt like hell.

Regarding these blows as being low the film clearly shows Dempsey threw three consecutive right uppercuts to the body and it appears all three were to the exact same location which is right on the beltline. Understand that the "beltline" is defined as an imaginary line that joins to hip bones. Anyone and I do mean anyone who states Dempsey hit Sharkey in the ***** never bothered to watch a film of the bout (freely available on Youtube). Those three punches were no where near that area of Sharkeys body and this is very clear. One other point is that the doctor assigned to the fight examined Sharkeys groin after the bout and found no signs of damage due to Dempseys punches.