Jack Dempsey vs. Jess Willard

As for the fight itself, once you're past the initial shock factor of the beating, my actual favourite part is the first half of the first round.

Dempsey shows really good patience and range, and if it weren't for the fact his first heavy punch landed flush and rocked Wilder, the fight might have looked completely different.

I don't buy any criticism for this fight, Dempsey destroyed the HW champ, its literally the stuff dreams are made of.

 

You can't criticize Dempsey for the fact that Willard trained like a geriatric at the local YMCA pool. Dempsey beat who he had to beat and did it in emphatic fashion. I often mention Fighting Spirit when discussing fighters. If you need a definition for that term, look no further.

 

It's all a good thing mate. Boxing history is very much peaks and troughs. So ride those peaks and learn what you can, because when it's trough time you'll go months without being arsed about something that happened years ago.

 

I think a good insight that Dempsey gave boxing a big shot in the arm with his aggressive style. The comparison with Johnson-Jeffries is striking.

It is a matter of fact though that Willard was old, had laid off three years, and probably wasn't in quite the condition he should have been in.

Willard was also fighting in an old style which was now out of style, sort of like generals fighting the last war, or old time gridiron coaches hanging on to four yards and a cloud of dust offenses long after passing took over the game.