Lennox Lewis vs Jack Dempsey

This is the bottom line.

I also find the attacks on Willard a little hypocritical.

The same people base their argument in favour of modern fighters, primarily around the difference in size and weight between the two fighters and their opponents, without any refference to the quality.....

Then when you point out that Jes Willard or Primo Carnera were big fighters too they look for a getout clause.

They don't count.

They were just big farmhands and cicus freaks, not real boxers, despite their world class standing.

Verry little if any justification of these positions is ever given.

I could just as easily adopt the argument that all the big fighters that Lewis beat were bums, ignoring their ring records and attributes on film, and I could do it with just as much integrity!

 

Must be a lot of people who dont know much about boxing...or sports for the matter than.

Lewis is Taller,heavier, stronger, better reach,hits harder, and is more skilled than Dempsey.

Dempsey is an all time great,but its ridiculous comparing fighters from eras that are THAT different. Its like saying Babe Ruth would still make it in modern baseball, or George Best would make it in modern soccer.

Sports evolve over time. Look at old timey footage of fighters from that era and they look like glorified tough men wailing away at each other.

Also Jck Dempsey is about the same size as someone like Bernard Hopkins.

 

So,Mr naysayer, to prove your point denigrating Dempsey,you say Babe Ruth "would not make it in modern baseball" ! If this is the logic of your
foolish argument about Dempsey being so "inferior" to Lewis or any other modern dreadnaught, remember Dempsey demolished men as big and as STRONG as Lewis,and just as TOUGH or tougher. You have never seen films of these big victims of Dempsey's,aside from Firpo so to assert that li'l ole Dempsey was too small for Lewis is silly. Jack loved to fight the big guys,and remember the old admonition in boxing "SPEED KILLS". And
Dempsey had it in spades when he was in his prime.....
P.S. Babe Ruth with today's tightly wound baseball,and whiplike bats, would have a picnic today. He ,even with the old baseball was reputed to hit longer home runs than anyone today.So please leave the Bambino alone...Cheers.

 

He never fought anyone as strong and athletic as Lewis .NO ONE. A big heavy lummox like Willard isnt even in the same stratosphere as Lewis when it comes to athleticism. They may have similiar weights,but thats it.

If you think the Bambino would do well in moern baseball then fine. Just like Jim Browne would be running over guys in modern NFL?

Anyone who thinks that Dempsey could compete with a top class moern heavyweight,needs their head examined.

 

There's one poster on here who is having trouble understanding the difference and is using a UFC fighter to illustrate his point.

 

Some great "athletes" have taken up boxing and were found wanting. Boxing is a UNIQUE sport in that were a Jimmy Brown to have tried boxing
he most likely would have not been successful. Boxing is about certain qualities and natural styles that make champions. In boxing history there are certain fighters that fought much bigger men than themselves Fitz,Langford,Greb, Walker, Armstrong, all who took on the big boys did well, thank you. And at 190 lbs, Jack Dempsey,a !98 lb Joe Louis, did very well indeed, tackling the much heavier men.What you gain in size and strength, you lose in speed and dexterity,history has proven. How do you know how a Fred Fulton, big, strong and a hard puncher would fare today ?
You don't know for certain ,but Dempsey flattened Fulton in less than one minute in 1918.The spectators were in awe,of his tremendous speed and power...Of course Lewis could hurt and ko any heavyweight he could hit.
But to say Dempsey was too small for Lewis is sheer poppycock,as
boxing history proves. I'll still take a Dempsey and Joe Louis as the best HWs in history H2H in spite of their under 200lb size. The law of
diminishing returns applies here I think...
Yes Willard was much slower and less skillful than Lewis, but I am CERTAIN that Big Jess ,who was NEVER floored beore he met Dempsey,was easily as STRONG and DURABLE as Lewis.
One other thing you so intelligently stated,"Anyone who thinks Dempsey could compete with today's modern heavyweights,should have their heads examined", defy's the lessons of history and the hundreds of writers, trainers and boxers, who I suspect might know just a "little" bit more of
Boxing history than you. After all, they SAW it...Cheers...

 

I ALSO find it stupid when someone says that fighters like Ali,Dempsey,Louis and Marciano could n't compete with modern day fighters like the Klitschkos or Nicolai Valuev (Yeah.....some have mentioned him as an example) All the above beat some of the toughest and strongest beasts to have ever stepped into the ring.

 

Disagree somewhat. Please review his first knockdown of Ruddock and tell me that wasn't a precision punch.

 

Not sure if I agree. He was good at controlling distance and using his size to his full advantage. he would often paw with the jab, but he could really use it as a weapon when he wanted to. I was watching the Lewis-Klitschko fight the other day and Lewis virtually stopped Vitali in his tracks a number of times with the jab. And Lewis pretty much put on a boxing clinic against Tua, and outboxed Holyfield in both their fights, but in particularly in their first fight. But Liston had a great jab and great boxing skills so no argument from me.

 

He was braver and gamer than Haye but not better.

 

Are you saying that Lewis was simply a big athletic guy?
Seriously?

The guy was a master boxer! He was an olympic champion in the his early 20s and went on to dominate the heavyweight division,unifying it,beating even BIGGER guys along the way.

Not only would he outweigh Dempsey by 60 pounds and have 7 inches on him, he'd also be more skilled and sharper.

People like Lennox Lewis simply didnt exist in Dempseys time. The advances in training since then are massive.

Its the same reason a 1950s NFL player wouldnt get anywehre near a modern team. And the same could be said for ecery sport.

Also if you knew as much about boxing history as you say you do,you'd know that the majority of fighters that Joe Louis fought were SMALLER that him.

Lewis would absolutely destroy Dempsey head to head.

That doesnt mean that Dempsey isnt an all time great.He is. Its just that its not fair comparing heavyweight fighters from different eras. Mightnt even be fair comparing any weight fighters from different eras head to head.

Rafael Nadal would destroy Rod Laver head to head.

Jesse Owen wouldnt even make the modern Olympics,let alone win it.
It doesnt mean that Owens and Laver arent ATGs in their own sports.

 

So you blame Joe Louis for the majority of his opponents were SMALLER than he was. So what, An Abe Simon, Primo Carnera, Max Baer, Buddy Baer was just as BIG as Lewis was,and he murdered these guys. Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey hit hard enough to FLATTEN Lewis if they hit him,as PROVEN by their record. You are obsessed by sheer weight, not realizing that speed combined with punching power, usually wins the day. And Dempsey and Joie Louis had an abundance of both in their fists. Do yourself a favor and rewatch Joe Louis flatten a Max Baer, Buddy Baer, Primo Carnera, Abe Simon,all as big and strong as Lewis. And remember Lennox, though big and strong was kod by opponents inferior to the "smaller" Manassa Mauler and Brown Bomber. These two loved the big boys,yessir.

 

My point was that you claimed Louis had become great and was able to beat bigger guys. My point was that for his era,he was huge.

Speed? Punching power?

Ask Andrew Golota about Lewis's punching power and speed.

I know you may find it hard to comprehend, but Lewis would be faster than either Louis or Dempsey. The athletes of today are miles ahead of the athletes of the 20s/30s, why do you think boxers are different?

Why is boxing different to every sport???

Louis and Dempsey may have been better overall fighters than McCall and Rahman, but bgger punchers, I HIGHLY doubt it.

These guys were far bigger and stronger than either Louis or Dempsey. Prince Naseem was a huge punching featherweight, but how many middleweights do you think he'd have knocked out.

Im not obsessed with weight and height, but the fact is that there are weight divisions for a reason. Taller, heavier,stronger fighters have a massive advantage over small fighters.

If weights and size werent an advantage,there wouldnt be weight divisions.

Floyd Mayweather is a better boxer than Tomasz Adamek, but who do you think would win,if they got in a ring together???

Stanley Ketchel is considered one of the ATG middleweights, but look what happened to him when he fough Jack Johnson. And the size difference between Ketchel and Johnson is smaller than the difference between Dempsey and Lewis...a lot smaller.

Tomasz Adamek was destructive at light heavy and even cruiserweight, yet he was found massively wanying when he fought true heavyweights.