Jack Dempsey vs Joe Louis

Well it looks like you're the voice of reason and knowledge in all this that sits somewhere in between (almost always the right place of course) the two extremes. I'd best round a few of your posts up and learn a bit.

:good

 

I've always said that Dempsey's inactivity is a valid criticism on which to rate him down on a list.

If someone rates Dempsey at 11-15 all-time and cites inactivity as reason to keep him out of the top ten, I consider that a fine reason.

But to NOT acknowledge the degree of detrimental effect that those layoffs had on Dempsey's capabilities as a fighter, and to assess the mostly one-sided losses to Tunney as being somewhere near representative of his prime ability, is to do him a great disservice, IMO.

As for where you say he does or doesn't rate on a list, I've been over those subjects before. Personally, I DO rate him in the top 5. But that's just me. I have no problem with other ratings.

 

Sharkey had won his last 13 including wins over George Godfrey and Harry Wills.

Fulton had gone 17 fights with only a draw and a crooked DQ loss (that should have been a KO win?) as blemishes, including a stoppage win over Sam Langford.

Tommy Gibbons record is superb from start to finish. The worst thing you can say about his record going in to the Dempsey fight is that Harry Greb seemed to have a distinct upper-hand in the most recent fight of his series with Gibbons. But I think Greb and Gibbons had fought 4 times in all, with the series split and disputes over who won which.
Gibbons had an amazing record.

Firpo had won about 20 in a row, and scored some brutal KOs.

Yes, maybe Archie Moore's run surpasses all of them, but there must at least be an argument for Sharkey and Fulton, seeing as Langford, Wills and Godfrey are held up as outstanding black heavies at that time.

The point being, I think Dempsey's win column compares favourably with Marciano's.

 

The Marciano Valez thing is nothing compare to Dempsey Wills if any at all. Wills was setting at top for about Dempsey's entire 7 year rein. No title shot what so ever. Valez got in to the top rank, but only held it for a few months before Charles rebounded(And Valez poor showings) He got the rank back after the Marciano Charles fights, before loseing to Archie Moore. Valez was not the number 1 rank contender for very long before he got knock off. Wills on the other hand waited nearly 7 years and still didnt get his shot.