Jack Johnson on Dempsey, Langford, Fitz

I think the point is that point is that Fitzsimmons Langford knocked them out cold by taking away their equilibrium, when they did KO him. I envision their power to be very similar to that of the prime Tyson where you can see him on film cleanly koing guys like Holmes and Berbick. Where as Dempsey leans more towards the pure power KO of a George Foreman which doesnt have the same pin point timing and one punch type KO but still can be extremely effective.

Very few fighters have ever had this Tysonesque finishing ability. I would suggest Sullivan, Fitzsimmons and Tyson off hand. I am undecided on Langford and Louis, and i think that is about it probably. It is a very rare quality.

I wonder though, if most people can get their head around the strange concept that Langford and Fitzsimmons had the same or better KO ability than Tyson (who himself wasnt really overly huge) whether it would dramatically effect their head to head rating by most nowadays.

 

I don't know. I'm not interested in researching that. I'm simply showing that what Jack Johnson implied is untrue. A myth. Hyperbole.

Perhaps so. He had hundreds of fights. I'm sure he scored several stoppages where the opponent was up and down like a yo-yo too.

Are you disregarding the NY Times report ?

I'm not denying that Fitzsimmons finished the job with a beautiful punch or two, or took Sharkey out with a perfectly set-up punch.
But I'd say Jack Dempsey did that with Firpo and Brennan and Carpentier etc. .... and that Joe Louis did it all the time.

Not my criteria. It's Jack Johnson and others who have mythologised the one-shot uniqueness of Fitz and Langford, "when they put a man down he didn't get up" etc.
Reports and details of the fights tend to evaporate that myth.

I'm working off the criteria set out for me.
I don't see how the Ruhlin KO is any different from a number of Jack Dempsey's wins.

 

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