Joe Louis (1938) vs Jack Dempsey (1919)

Definitely Louis for me. At least, if he is well prepared (not just another "Bum of the Month Club" fight)

 

Dempsey lights him up. Louis has a better chance in a rematch.

 

If you put Louis back in Dempsey's era, I'd almost entirely rule out Dempsey winning. Sure, Dempsey would be at an advantage as he'd know the ruleset better and be more acquainted with the mauling, brawling style of infighting that was encouraged, but I don't think it'd come to that. If a referee was willing to let a massacre such as the Willard fight keep going, then I don't think Louis has to worry about being stopped. I just can't see Dempsey putting Louis down for a ten count, and there's no way he'll be taking a beating like Willard was. I feel like Louis will have all the time he needs to overcome any adversity he may face in the early goings. Some time after a hectic first four, Louis is going to start landing hard, flush combinations. At some point, Dempsey's going down, and his success will gradually reduce to nothing. Louis by decision in a great fight, or possibly a stoppage vs a tired Dempsey who isn't defending himself. In Louis' era, I still see a stoppage win for Louis, but I also see Dempsey winning early as much more plausible. I think Louis would still get up and go on to stop Dempsey sometime thereafter, but Dempsey finishing Louis in that situation is a real possibility.

During exchanges, Louis' shorter punching, quicker hands and bigger punch should absolutely get the better of 'em , I reckon. But that's not to say Dempsey can't land something huge and put Louis down, too. His left hook was plenty good enough to put Louis on his ass.

Also, Willard and Dempsey only fought once.

 

I see Louis lining up clean blows on Dempsey's head as he moves in with his hands low. . The blows will connect so clean and so fast Jack will feel like he got blasted by Thor's Hammer

 

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What, r u now Clint Eastwood in "The Outlaw Josie Wales"?

 

I'd pick Dempsey under any rules,I think he would tag Joe before he had a chance to get himself into the fight. The longer the fight went the greater Louis' chances ,imo.

 

Nope, I'm just British.

 

Exactly how this fight unfolds probably depends more than many others on how much each man knows beforehand about the other's offensive prowess and fighting style.

 

Would be a great fight.

Louis would win 8 out of 10 times, but it could possibly be one of those 2 times if they met. Most likely not. Louis was too fundamentally sound to be beaten unless the big shot landed.

 

What a barn burner of a fight this would be. Dempsey has every ability to stop Joe. Bob and weave defense, fighting out of a bit of a crouch, great right hand (every punch really??), tough chin, speed... Joe has some things that Dempsey lacked including almost always being in perfect balance, an atg jab, and versatility. Dempsey was there to knock you out every second for 3 minutes of every round. He wasn’t trying to win a decision and if he won a decision it was because he purely outfought his opponent. I don’t think Dempsey could get a decision against Joe.

I can’t really pick either fighter with absolute certainty. Being that it’s specifically a hungry 1919 Dempsey I’ll pick him because of his devastation of Jess Willard but after that I might edge it to Louis. This is not a clear cut fight.

 

Dear God, you are a mad man.

 

Arturo Godoy fought a primitive version of Dempsey's crouching style and had nowhere near the offensive prowess. He ended up giving Louis fits. You don't think that would be any indicator whatsoever of how a Dempsey fight would play out?

 

Hard to say, Louis' punch selection and defense were both good vs. Godoy but both nearly pure **** against Galento, who was far less skilled than Godoy was. Louis didn't know how to catch-block the left hook properly (Ezzard Charles did it right and Robinson did it right many times against Turpin the rematch) because he for whatever reason kept his glove/arm out too much; Dempsey wouldn't wait in place to throw the left hook as Galento did. Dempsey didn't crouch properly, sticking his head forward instead of to the side and back, which made him open to uppercuts, but given Louis' shoddy punch selection against the inferior Galento, one should not be confident of Louis throwing the uppercut consistently enough against the improperly crouched Dempsey. Both were relentless when they hurt their opponent however both have been hurt by smaller and/or less notable fighters. Dempsey didn't exactly maintain great technique when punching while moving, so I think Louis would get knocked down by a Dempsey left hook but then get back up as he did after getting knocked down in both the Max Baer fight and the first Buddy Baer fight, retreat and take Dempsey's sub-maximal-power punches while Dempsey would try to be punching while moving, then plant his feet and catch Dempsey with his power. Then Dempsey would falter in tasting Louis' power for the next one or two rounds before failing to answer the ten-count. Louis by (T)KO.