Papke-Carpentier footage.

Never saw Holman Williams on flim. Would love to see if he was as fast as they said.

 

"Dempsey hits people only slightly harder than a bus" Tommy Gibbons.

 

There is one very brief clip of Holman Williams in action, but it has the quality of a home movie. As I recall, the clip shows Williams in a bout which took place on a card featuring Joe Louis in the main event. I got the impression that the movie camera was being during Williams' bout in order to film Louis' bout later on.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Cheif Curley put his war bonnet on Gibbons, not Dempsey.

Afterward, Gibbons said Dempsey was big, strong and rough, and the only time he was buzzed was in the first. He said it was the mauling and rough stuff that was wearing him out. Sure, Dempsey hit other people harder than a bus, but not Gibbons... or Tunney... or Meehan... at least not enough to stop them.

 

Gibbons felt Dempsey hit him the hardest.

 

S, two points:
1- Tommy Gibbons said that after the fight" every bone in my body hurt ".
Exactly what the prime Jack Sharkey said of the 32 year old Dempsey...Sharkey said "anywhere he hit you he could dislocate a bone".
2- No major heavyweight who ever lived knocked out every opponent they fought. So why pick on only Jack Dempsey. Truly is that fair ?
3-a relative fact is when Dempsey fought Tommy Gibbons in 1923, his last fight was TWO years before...You can criticize Dempsey for not fighting Harry Wills, [though they signed for a bout], but he was a freakin handful to contain in the ring...At 190 pounds he was a lean, mean tiger in the ring at his best....

 

Gibbons said Dempsey hit him the hardest? Was that perhaps because Dempsey, Miske and Tunney were the only decent HEAVYWEIGHTS he fought and that he for the great part of his career toiled at middle and lightheavy? Or am I to believe the old Classic mantra that size does not matter in regards to punching power?

And by the way, here is a direct quote from Gibbons a couple days after the fights...

"Dempsey is easy to feint, and easy to hit. He isn't the man killer you've heard about. Billy Miske hits just as hard."

This does not sound like a man who thought he had faced a phenomenally effective puncher... as Dempsey was against slow dirigibles and guys who sought to mix it up. But give Dempsey a shifty, schooled opponent and he is just a tough guy in the mauling department, which is still a legitimate and laudable practice.

 

Dempsey was the most highly skilled swarmer in hwt boxing history. Far superior than Marciano or Frazier. Again...Gibbons felt that Dempsey hit him yhe hardest. Dempseys punching power is not debatable.

 

It is debatable H to a bias against Jack Dempsey that knows no bounds...There is no fighter on ESB that gets a quarter of the flack that Dempsey gets by a few who distort and disregard the high esteem that Jack Dempsey was held in by the VAST majority of his times who saw him and FOUGHT HIM....Sickening....

 

He doesn't look nearly skilled on film as Frazier. He has many lapses, is consistently open for the right hand, loses the script and resorts to brawling, and has suspect footwork at times, too. Can any fighter be nitpicked? Sure. Is Dempsey still a great? Absolutely. But let's not blow his abilities out of proportion. He was a strong, tough guy who could punch and take a punch. He was not Sugar Ray Robinson.

Frazier is also more proven on the resume side with better wins. Again, Dempsey was best against larger, slower opponents, which is one reason I would actually pick him to beat Wills. However, Gibbons also said he hit no harder than Miske, who could hit, so that's still a compliment.

 

Papke training looks terrible but he looks fine in the fight. Gives one hope for greb.