Jack Dempsey Vs Joe Louis

I would not care to bet a lot of money on this fight. We are matching the two best finishers in heavyweight history bar none and both of them are going to be operating right in the danger zone.

I lean towards Louis simply because he will probably be able to force Dempsey onto the front foot and make him walk into the firzone first.

A well placed combination from Dempsey could turn the tide at any point however.

 

I agree with McGrain. Louis chops him down with those short counters to body and head. Although Louis could get caught, and for that matter against Dempsey, could get hurt, I see Dempsey bobbing or moving right smack into something. After taking a short count in round two, Louis lands a three-bomb combination that is the beginning of the end of Dempsey. Dempsey is up, but Louis finishes him in five. (I had a vision)

 

Most of Joes opponents knew exactly what power he carried in his gloves and fought accordingly ,Dempsey wouldnt allow Louis to dictate things he would be on Joe throwing bombs ,I see Dempsey taking Louis out in 2 rds ,though Louis was probably the more complete fighter.

 

Dempsey Ko's the slower moveing Louis.

 

If Louis survives Jacks intial violent assault ,louis would then pick him apart and stop him anywhere between the 6 and 10th

 

Joseph Louis Barrow TKO6

 

Joe Louis wins this fight. Dempsey is tough and his speed would bother Louis. But Louis punches so hard and his punches are so accurate that he would catch Dempsey sooner or later. Dempsey was a good defensive fighter, but not good enough to avoid Louis for long.

 

Nat Fleischer was a skilled experienced observer of world class boxers for well over a decade by the time of Dempsey/Willard, and he was also at ringside for Joe Louis's peak performance against Max Baer, as well as all the title fights with both champions. Interestingly, Fleischer rated Dempsey's handspeed in Toledo as slightly superior to Louis's against Maxie, an opinion he held to when reviewing films of these events.

This is a critical contention, because it's been generally assumed that Louis had the superior handspeed, when in actuality, it was Joe's trait of usually pitching shorter punches with greater economy of motion which gave him the illusion of superior handspeed.

Dempsey showed against Carpentier that opponents with superior handspeed didn't particularly trouble Jack during his prime. The same was not true for Louis, as anybody who's viewed the complete footage of Louis/Conn I can attest.

By Joe's own admission, he didn't like to be crowded. Dempsey was far more active with his upper body movement than Godoy was. Boxers who had been hit hard by both usually gave Dempsey the clear edge in firepower. In private, Jack Blackburn confided that Jack Johnson would have beaten Louis, "because Johnson was a mover." Peak Dempsey kept his knees bent, while bouncing laterally on the balls of his feet, or darting quickly, in and out. At his peak, there was nothing wrong with Jack's accuracy either. It's something of a myth, that he always threw punches at random, never aiming for a specific target. His hands could certainly withstand the stress of striking an opponent anywhere on his body though.

When Tommy Gibbons was asked shortly after losing his title challenge if Dempsey hit hard, Tommy didn't say a word. He simply took off the hat he was wearing, so the questioner could see all the lumps, bumps, and bruises, all over the top of Tommy's head. 17 years later, when Joe was preparing for his rematch with Godoy, Blackburn was describing the strategy of slowly retreating and sliding left and right to hammer away at the sides of Arturo's head and body that Louis would execute in their rematch, but, "Not to the top of the head, because that's too hard." Not for Dempsey, it wasn't, as Gibbons painfully discovered.

Toledo Jack had the edge in handspeed, punching power, footspeed, mobility, balance (continually shifting his weight from foot to foot), and ring intelligence and adaptability as well. While Louis and Blackburn couldn't figure out Godoy during their first match, Dempsey adjusted to the reality of an unexpectedly difficult title challenge from Brennan, and easily shifted from killer mode to distance decision gear when Gibbons stood up to Jack's Sunday Punch early on.

If Louis entered into the sort of slugfest with Dempsey that Max Baer initiated in the first round of his match with Joe, Jack would not freak out if Louis took his best shot, nor would he back down as Maxie did. If hurt, Jack was far more dangerous than Joe was. (It might bear mentioning that Dempsey was Baer's chief second against Louis. After escorting Maxie back to his corner from ring center after the bell rang, to "save" Baer from a kayo after he waved to the crowd from the ring floor, he told Jack he didn't want to go out again. Dempsey snarled at Max, "Do you want him to knock you out, or do you want ME to do it? I think it's very telling that, in the middle of Louis's peak physical performance, Baer was more afraid of Dempsey than he was of Joe.)

Technically, Louis may have been the most fundamentally sound of all the heavyweight champions, but in Dempsey, Joe wouldn't be facing a textbook, but one of the sport's innovators. While Joe was part Cherokee, and Jack part Choctaw, Dempsey was the one who fought more like a savage.

Finally, in the third bout after Louis's peak performance, a past prime Max Schmeling dropped 22 year old Joe for the count, and then some, a situation that never happened to Dempsey in competition. (The first Flynn encounter has been documented as a staged performance with a pre-planned outcome, not a competitive match.) Regardless of how poorly Louis prepared for the first Schmeling fight, the fact remains that Joe was 22 years old, and at the peak of his athletic ability, yet still went down and out.

In recent decades, some boxing experts have suggested that Alexis Arguello was the closest performer to Joe Louis that boxing has produced since the Bomber's heyday. Some of these same astute observers have earmarked Roberto Duran as the closest fighter to Jack Dempsey that the sport was seen in recent decades.

On another thread a while back, I picked Duran over Arguello (as did most of the others who responded to that thread). Remaining consistent, I will also pick Dempsey over Louis, even if the match goes to a 15 round distance. I just don't see Louis avoiding at least one trip, and maybe more to the ring surface. Galento came off the deck to floor Louis with a smashing hook, and Dempsey had a far more lethal hook than Two-Ton did. In setting up the Long Count knockdown, a shot version of Dempsey stunned Tunney with a counter right over Gene's jab, which presaged the rights Schmeling pummeled Louis with nine years later. Max Baer proved that the faster, braver, and tougher predatory Dempsey of Toledo wouldn't have great difficulty landing his hooks and crosses on the peak version of Louis. Jimmy Braddock demonstrated in flooring Joe, that the monstrous uppercut off the ropes which Dempsey dispatched Firpo with would have also flattened Louis. Manassa Mauler over Brown Bomber.

Dempsey KO 14 Louis

 

Duodenum: i like the insight. Also I can see the fight going that way as well- Louis' chin didn't hold up that well, so anyone that can crack has a chance.