James Bonecrusher Smith v Jack Dempsey

actually i agree with him in this part of the post

 

This fight would never happen. Jack Dempsey was a racist who would never share the ring with a black fighter.

 

this **** is getting repetitive.

th closest thing that Smith fought to Dempsey, was Tyson, where was Smitha superior boxing skills?
maybe its because he never had any

 

How could you compare Dempsey to Tyson? That's like comparing a World Series winning MLB team to a recreational softball team. Two completely different animals who shouldn't be brought up in the same sentence. Dempsey's best win came against Willard who was a fat, crude lummox who hadn't fought in four years. Dempsey by the standards of Smith's time would be a boorish, mediocre undersized cruiserweight.

 

That probably is not fair.

Given the era that Dempsey lived in, his views about issues of race, were probably complicated.

Harry Wills was the top black contender of his title reign, and he seems to have been pro active in some ways, in trying to get a title fight made for Wills. He once advertised for a promoter to make the fight.

He admired Sam Langford, and gave money to him later in life, when he became blind. He definitely called it like he saw it, if he thought that a black fighter was genuinely good.

 

Probably the least informed post I've read on this forum.

 

Agreed,

Smith's resume and head to head abilities are built largely on a victory from a fight that may very well have been fixed or at the very least "thrown." Had Don King and Tim Witherspoon saw better eye to eye with one another, Bonecrusher's name would likely have been omitted from many future boxing discussions. That said, he was probably better than Luis Firpo and the faded version of Jess Willard who fought Dempsey. So hanging around for a while and even giving Jack a taste of his powerful right hand is certainly possible.

 

The bottom line is we don’t know!

We are presented with a set of historical events, that could be interpreted two ways.

The most we can say, is that it might have been one way on the balance of probability.

 

Jack Kearns made the fights, he made Dempsey a lot of money, (made lot for himself too) and he saw less money being made fighting a coloured fighter than fighting a white fighter.

The public had no wish for a black fighter to get his hands on the heavyweight title, after a certain Jack Johnsons 'uppity' behaviour.
Society had the racial issues rather than Dempsey himself.

Dempsey, Kearns and Rickard had one motivator, the Dollar, if the best money to be made was fighting Harry Wills then that is who Dempsey would have fought.

 

Tyson was much more dangerous than any version of Dempsey. I suspect that Smith would look at Dempsey and think "what the hell is this runt doing in the ring with me?" He would be braver than he was against Tyson. Without the advantages of tiny gloves and being able to stand over his opponent, Dempsey would be reduced to what he was - a crude, smallish cruiserweight. As the Tunney fight illustrated, Dempsey was extremely limited. It wasn't that he was physically incapable, he just didn't know what to do against a boxer. Dempsey in those fights was very low volume and wasted a lot of energy bobbing and weaving instead of throwing punches. Tunney also bullied him in the clinches. Bottom line, I don't see anything on film that indicates that Dempsey was a good boxer. He could punch and was fairly athletic in his prime, but that's about it.

 

It could appear so because often Jack would just throw, but he knew boxing and how to box very well. He knew feinting, slipping, and combo's viewers missed because they were often done so short and in close. A highly skilled infighter who knew how to make every punch ko hard.

 

I know exactly why Jack didn't show more in the Tunney bouts and so did he, which is why he said no to a third go. Jack was kept at the end of Gene's jab as he had lost the spring in his legs to get beyond it. Yes he was physically incabable of doing what he once could at that point. Jack was a highly skilled infighter and had the feinting, footwork, and speed to get there in his prime.