A prime Dempsey was a force, revolutionized the sport his all out two fist power with granite chin forced opponents to use their legs like never before. Had he fought Wills, which is a blemish on his record, I believe he would of annihilated him and would be remembered as a top 3-5 heavyweight today. As it is he is still top10 and in 1950 when America polled the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century, Dempsey came in #1. Time and the diminishing popularity of the sport in America, lend people to forget how popular Dempsey was, not to mention how good.
mr. b, take heart for who cares what the dempsey haters have to say , anyway. the jury has been in on dempsey for many years by people who actually know very much what they are talking about. from langford to louis and walker to arcel, and many,many more knew dempsey was the most able heavyweight ever.
Very few boxing posters have read Max Schmelings autobiography in which he raved about Dempsey's prowess after boxing Dempsey in Germany when Dempsey was still champ. After mentioning all the great fighters he fought and saw, Schmeling proclaimed Dempsey in a special category ahead of Louis, Ali, Marciano etc....What did Der Mox have to gain by choosing the tigerish Manassa Mauler over all the other heavyweights including the great Brown Bomber who destroyed Schmeling ? Truly, zilch. :good...
Well we'll never know for sure and that is why it will always be a blemish on Dempsey's legacy. However being that boxing is a matchup of styles I feel Dempsey is all wrong for Wills. I can see the sarcasm in your post and that is fine. It's an opinion and everyone is entitled to theirs.
Very nice insight Burt, I always wanted to read Schmeling's biography. The man lived a fascinating life. How many could have had dinner with FDR, Adolph Hitler and a Pope. Not to mention fight the great Joe Louis, fight as a para trooper in WW2, become a millionaire through Coca Cola and live to be 99 years old and be a mentor to the current HW champ. Not to mention be married to a film star, be loyal to his Jewish manager and save several children from a nazi capture fate. Truly incredible 99 yrs.
Are you suggesting Dempsey couldn't hold the extra weight or he wouldn't NEED the extra weight? I was going to start a thread on whether fighters like Sharkey, Dempsey, Walcott etc would be effective in this era weighing 210lbs. That's what they would be if they fought today; would they lose efficiency at a higher weight? Holyfield succeeded from a similar base, after all.
We're dancing around the original point, which is that we need a heavyweight champion who is charismatic and exciting. I'm not holding my breath, looking around at what we have right now.
And back on point, I agree. We could do with a fighter who puts it all on the line, who hits like a ******* and has healthy toes!
I dont think he would need it but these days they start muscling you up in school with weights so he may be a bit thicker, Jack was about 6"1 1/2 and shredded so 30 lbs and he's still cut ...just the trainers today like the extra weight years a go they like to keep Heavyweights at a weight even though the division was limitless
That's true, except in Shelby, Montana, where he and Tommy Gibbons drew less than 8,000 paid fans in a 40,000 seat stadium. They let people in for free just to fill up some of the seats.