Jack Dempsey vs Shannon Briggs

4 and half minutes of that is the paramedics trying in vain to revive him.

 

and what led you to believe this ? Dempsey getting KO’d in one round by the great Fireman Flynn ? Or was it when he was knocked out of the ring by Luis Firpo who looked like a bar brawler entering the ring for the first time ? Or maybe it was his impressive destruction of an ancient Jess Willard who had spent the previous three years working for a rodeo?

To be clear I give both men a chance and acknowledge Dempseys greatness. But you’re clearly on a one way track here.

 

Dempsey speed, greasy fast lighting speed, Briggs face gets mashed up but goes the distance.

 

This should be a one way track. I'm not going to tell you anything about Dempsey you don't already know.

But let's address your logic here. You are given Briggs a puncher's chance, which he frankly doesn't deserve. When has Briggs ever scored an early KO against a noteworthy opponent? I'm not even talking about rated contenders here, just anyone of note? Rob Calloway maybe his best scalp from that approach? That's how low down the totem pole we have to go. The few times Briggs tried jumping on a quality opponent, he was the one that ended up on his back before the mid rounds.

We aren't talking about Earnie Shavers here, this is Shannon Briggs. While he's quick to gobble up cans, an opponent that is any sort of threat typically sees Briggs go gun shy. In his signature "win" Briggs was outworked and outboxed by a 49 year old man, maybe the worst Foreman performance we've seen in his final fight. In his genuine best win, Briggs was once again timid against a very slow non-aggressive opponent in Sergei, pulling the trigger in the last round after surrendering most of the fight. In his only other noteworthy knock out win, it took him 7 rounds to take out a very washed up Ray Mercer.

So let's address your rationale behind Dempsey being vulnerable to an early knock out.

"Great" Fireman Flynn was a two time world title challenger who fought just about everyone and picked up some excellent wins along the way. He was cagey and knew his way around the ring. So while he won't go down as an all time great, he deserves more respect than a sarcastic slant. Assuming the fight was on the level as there's reason to doubt, it was Dempsey's only KO loss in 68 bouts. A rare abnormality from an otherwise durable fighter with excellent defense. Not sure this is enough to pick anyone who has scored a career knockout as having a puncher's chance against Jack.

I suppose you can poke fun at Firpo's mauling tactics but Briggs isn't exactly graceful himself when he's looking for the knockout. And while a right hand sending Dempsey to the floor sounds devastating, unlike the Flynn fight we actually have footage of what happened, and can see it was more of a push than a punch with Dempsey falling more off balance than hurt between very loose ropes that offered no support. Firpo could have done the same thing to someone as iron chinned and suave as Ali. Not very concerning.

37 is hardly ancient. Willard only took 1917 off from boxing. He fought some 16 exhibitions prior to the Dempsey challenge. This wasn't unusual for Champions of the time.

And here's one you forgot in your hit piece on one of the greatest fighters of all time..Fred Fulton was a prime quality big man Dempsey absolutely annihilated. Fulton was a leading contender and even stopped a past prime but still dangerous Sam Langford. He also made RING's 2003 100 best punchers list (which curiously didn't rank the Cannon).

 

We are taling about a 40lb weight discrepancy.
For the Briggs who never stopped fighting against Lennox Lewis, eating TONS of leather (hurt Lewis too; stopped after a slip...), I´ll give Dempsey very little chance to win this fight.

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Jack Dempsey UD.I remember Briggs being a sitting duck for Botha’s right hand, he should have lost that fight on points.

 

Briggs for all his limitations was a very big man with a very big punch. I think that’s worthy of a punchers chance especially against a man who was under 190 lbs and was KO’d by Jim Flynn and knocked out of the ring by Firpo.

 

You guys realize how different the gloves were the 20s, right? It's possible that Briggs might cut Dempsey to shreds with those gloves.

 

Lmao I don't ever want to hear him say Dempsey or really any great fighter loses because of a weight difference ever again. Can't believe this dude has talked all that **** for years just to suggest that a great middleweight could beat a top 10 heavyweight of all time.

 

Some of these guys must really think that Jack Dempsey was some kind of superhero! It's fascinating.

 

Briggs, in his prime,

• was stopped by Lewis, and Wilson
• drew with Botha
• got a gift over ancient Big George
• was shut out by Jameel McCline
• lost to Sedreck freaking Fields
• only beat Liakhovich with a literal last second KO

Say what you want about any of Dempsey's foibles or misadventures in the ring, or the size difference, there is still a huge gulf in class here, pitting one of the division's all time offensive juggernauts and ATG's against one of its easiest to hit paper titlists. This is some silliness.

 

...or, the Cannon is just a really big pile of mediocrity.

 

There are a ton of guys who might have looked like "one of the division's all time offensive juggernauts and ATGs" 100+ years ago though, against the caliber of men Dempsey fought, imo.

 

But we don't talk about any of those guys a century later. A young Mike Tyson, coming up with access to the Jacobs/Cayton tape library, didn't idolize and emulate any of those guys.

Putting him top 5 all time at heavyweight is wearing nostalgia goggles and overrating Dempsey. Saying he trounces a big dumb asthmatic lug like Briggs, isn't.

 

Dempsey uses him like a punching bag

Briggs is a cool dude but he never reached the elite level

Briggs might beat Wilder though