Rank Dempsey’s filmed performances

IMO,
1. Willard
2. Carpentier
3. Gibbons
4. Firpo
.
.
.
5. Brennan 2
6. Sharkey
7. Tunney 2
8. Tunney 1

Incidentally, it appears the Miske performance exists on film as well, but likely only some stubborn & selfish collector(s) out there can say how it would rank.

 

I thought the reason Dempsey was dropping bombs on Willard was because he placed a large bet that he would win in the first round

 

Although the huge energy he expended in round 1 was a factor, I like Dempsey’s calmer, more measured work in rounds 2 and 3 against Willard. Very methodical and still extremely damaging.

Brennan 2 is a very good fight. A reportedly somewhat underprepared Dempsey up against a stiff challenge but remaining focused, consistently grinding away and carrying his punch through to the later rounds for the KO.

 

Yeah that stuck out to me as well.

 

It helps that in the Gibbons footage you can't readily see all the low blows.

 

either he or Kearns, depending on sources.

 

Here's something crazy to say:

I find Dempsey to have a greater range of skillset out of himself, Tyson and Frazier, yet unsure about how impressive his actual deployment of it is.

The whole standing above fighters and waiting for them to get up so you can drop more bombs doesn't sit well with me - how much more impressive would Tyson or Frazier have been had they been able to do the same against Buster and Ali, for example?

 

Interesting thread. With Dempsey it really depends on what you’re looking for, each filmed fight shows different strengths and weaknesses of him. For my taste I like the Firpo bout. Sure Jack is over aggressive and gets tagged more than he should, but that only shows how good his chin was, and the fact he drops Firpo at least 9 times in under two full rounds is impressive. Plus unlike the Willard bout Jack has to back off after each knockdown with a more modern application of rules. Each time Firpo gets up he doesn’t seem to be out on his feet and defenseless Jack just finds the holes in the poor defensive fighter. Jack also wrestles Firpo to the ground a couple of times which giving away around 25 pounds to the bigger man shows how strong he was and how much better his balance was, keep in mind Firpo would go on to do 12 rounds with Wills after this fight and was only dropped on an illegal punch on the break. It’s an underrated Dempsey performance mainly because Firpo is held in such poor esteem.
The Carpenetier fight is a mismatch and you can tell as Jack just walks him down with little urgency. After Carpentier stuns Jack with the big right cross, Dempsey makes short work of him. I think he Carried the Orchard man for the live gate crowd or the cameras.
The Gibbons fights is a great testament to Jack’s in fighting ability and ability to sustain a rigorous pace for a long fight. Gibbons is an great opponent and Jack makes him fight for survival the entire second half I can see why people choose this fight.
Also for the record, whether it’s the Sharkey bout, Firpo, carpentier, gibbons or Brennan was there ever a better body punching champion than Dempsey. The man is a fantastic body puncher and is clearly hell bent on attacking the body.

 

Dont see how Willard nad Carpentier arent everyone no 1 and 2.

 

Shame the Miske fight hasnt been made public yet…After reading Pollacks Dempsey series one writers report really stuck out with him describing the violence on show,He was sickened at way Dempsey closed the show