Lennox Lewis vs Jack Dempsey

Willard tried to handel Dempsey in the clinches with verry little sucess. Now he is probably the equal of Lewis in terms of raw strength if nothing else.

Clinching Dempsey was a bit like trying to clinch a rattlesnake. You had to put yourself in harms way to do it and he didnt need much room to load up on you.

If Lewis's strategy is to clinch at every turn then I hope he likes being rabbit punched.

 

So where's the recent slew of 188lbers who want to take on 250Ib giants? Where's the evidence in the era of 'good, skilled' big men' that cruisers stay at a weight of 190 or around there to compete with a good 220+ fighter on a regualr basis? It's not just a power thing is the utilisation of their weight that counts, Ernie Terrell for example basically 'leaned' his way to victory over Bob Foster. 6ft 6ft fighters of 80 years ago were barely a notch up from circus acts. They had no movement whatsoever.

 

Yes, and that's why I dont use the argument. I'm just saying it's funny how you guys think it's acceptable to then compare Jack Dempsey with EVERY sub-200 pound fighter of the last 50 years.

 

We don't. We think he was a dynamite cruiserweight who came along in an incredibly weak era.

 

Ok.
So what's the point of the "why isn't there a 188 pound fighter ripping through the heavyweight division ?" question ?

Comparing Dempsey to all the 188 pound fighters who aren't doing it seems to be implicit in the question.

 

But my point is, why can't it happen again? Why won't another 188Ibers tear their way through the division and when all the talk is about them fighting bigger men, they neglect putting on any weight in order to be at their best- of 188. You think that could ever happen again?


ps. The big men of those eras were the equivalent of someone like Jack O'Halloran NOT Lennox lewis. This is clear.

 

Because the big men in the days of yore were much much more scarce, and on a whole massively less co-ordinated and athletic.

 

Dempsey definitely had the handspeed, power and right combinations to hurt or even KO Lewis, but I see Lewis size, combinated with his power and skills (especially the jab) would be too much for the "Manassa Mauler", Lewis TKO 6 Dempsey

 

Well a Dempsey's type has had 45 odd years more to appear than an Ali type, so ask again in 45 years.

 

Post here more often mate

:good

 

It wont happen because terrific 188 pound fighters (none of whom I'd necessarily compare with Dempsey) have discovered that putting on added weight can make them even BETTER, and will not often make them worse.

In the old days, putting on fat OR muscle (through weight training) was avoided like the plague. The old-timers were generally WRONG about this.

Modern fighters have found that weight-trained extra muscle mass does NOT make you "muscle-bound" (unless you were to go to an absolute extreme with it).

Therefore, if a 6'1 188 pound fighter was good enough to compete with the best heavyweights he'd also gather he'd probably be even better with extra muscle (or even some FAT weight, depending on his style). And no weight limit is preventing him.

But it's a LOGICAL MISTAKE to assume that he was totally incapable of competing while weighing 188.

 

Yeah, i've got a lot harder to find fights than Lewis vs Mason

 

You have to weigh at leas 193 lbs today to even step into the ring with a heavyweight.

Chris Byrd is who fought at 210 lbs talking about steping down to light heavyweight for goodness sake.

 

i see, Strike does not have a clue as to Dempsey-Meehan decisions and calling him a pub fighter is beyond silly. I mean we could all use examples of strugglign with light-heavies (Louis-Conn, Marciano- Charles, etc), that hardly means they were not capable