“At his very best Sullivan would have given Dempsey a hard fight, but Dempsey would’ve knocked him out. It would have been a short and sweet fight, I’ll tell you that, but Dempsey would’ve beaten Sullivan to the right cross. It might have come in the first round or the third or the fourth, but the minute that Sullivan tried his, Dempsey would have beaten him to it.” The Washington Times, January 22, 1922. I love these interviews of Jack McAuliffe in his latter years, pretty unbiased when it comes to comparing generations. I recall him picking Tunney to beat Corbett and saying that Joe Louis was one of the greatest talents of all time. Does anyone else have any opinion pieces or interviews from McAuliffe from his retirement until his passing?
McAuliffe seems to have gone back and forth on Dempsey and Sullivan. In one paper shortly following the toppling of Willard, I recall seeing McAuliffe call Dempsey the greatest heavyweight he'd ever seen. In another: "We asked Jack who was the greatest fighter he'd ever seen?" 'John L. when he was right. On the nights he was in shape nobody living or dead could have licked him. Not even Dempsey, and he was the second best fighter I ever laid eyes on.'" Imperial Valley Press, 5 May 1933 https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=IVP1933...xt-txIN-jack+mcauliffe+john+l+sullivan-------
@janitor I've seen you use McAuliffe as a reference on a few threads, would you happen to still have any of those interviews?
