Razor Ruddock vs Jack Dempsey

Both men are prone to getting wild and brawling, but if Dempsey keeps his defense tight and punches short and crisp I like his chances.

 

It would probably look similar to Dempsey versus Willard, but Ruddock would not be able to take such a prolonged beating.

 

As predictable as Luis Firpo vs Lennox Lewis.

 

For me, I'm far more familiar with Ruddock than I am with Dempsey. Ruddock came along at a time when I followed the sport closely. I saw most of Ruddock's fights, I was familiar with most of his opponents, as well as the opponents of his opponents and so on, from seeing a lot of their fights on TV. Can't really say I have the same familiarity with Dempsey and his opponents.

Ruddock was one dimensional almost to the extreme, but he was a big athletic guy with legit one-punch power. He was also durable enough at one point to stand in with Tyson for 12 rounds, and that was without running, or going into complete survival mode. He seemed far more dangerous than, say, Firpo or Willard, or any other opponent of that I've seen Dempsey in the ring with. Just not seeing the 6'1" 190ish pound Dempsey steamrolling Ruddock. At all. Also, Dempsey doesn't appear to be some defensive wizard. This is a guy who was stopped in one by Flynn. Are we sure Ruddock can't repeat what Flynn did? I guess I'm not terribly in awe of Dempsey or the competition I've seen him in against, but I haven't seen a ton of footage of him or his opponents. Maybe I'm missing something.

Years back, I saw somebody doing a studio interview with Ali. At one point, they were watching a clip of Dempsey-Willard, and the interviewer asked Ali if he thought he would be able to handle that onslaught from Dempsey. Ali didn't seem impressed at all, and was pointing out how wild Dempsey's technique was. I have been trying to find that clip, but cannot. If somebody can refresh my memory on this, or post the clip, it would be much appreciated.

 

Ali also said Louis, “wouldn’t stand a chance with me. Tell ’em, Joe,” with Louis in the interview with him. He was prone to that, not exactly known for humility. I realise you’re not as familiar with Dempsey as Ruddock, but I’m surprised you don’t know the story behind the Flynn knockout. That’s well-known.

 

Ruddcok would knock Dempsey out of the arena. Dempsey's power would also be less spectacular with modern gloves.

 

Agreed. The guy who went the distance with Tyson isn’t as durable as Jess ****ing Willard

 

There isn't just one story behind this. There are several accounts of what happened, and I have read all this before. I came away from the story feeling he was legitimately knocked out, but I wish I could have seen actual video of what happened. Sounds to me that he was simply caught cold.

Either way, what do you think happens if Dempsey takes Ruddock's left hand on the chin? With Dempsey's style, he damn sure would be there to be hit. Looked to me like he was rocked pretty badly by Firpo, who seemed rather crude. Do we have Firpo hitting as hard as Ruddock? We've seen Ruddock stand up to Tyson's shots for 12 rounds. When did we ever see Dempsey take shots from a 6'4", 230 pound puncher like Ruddock? 'Course, Ruddock was stopped by Dave Jaco, so there's that...and yes, I know the story behind that as well.

Based on what I've seen and know of each guy, I just can't see a Dempsey blowout win here. Ruddock would probably get that left hand home at some point, and I think that would be serious trouble for Dempsey.

 

That's not an unreasonable position, but I think Dempsey just gets home first. Dempsey had good hand speed

 

You wouldn’t call Ruddock crude? I certainly would. Both he & Firpo were limited, but both could bang. Of course Dempsey would be vulnerable to Ruddock’s power - you’d have to find a real die hard old-schooler to resist that logic, but in the vast majority of areas, Dempsey is simply the better fighter. That doesn’t always translate to favouritism I realise, but I don’t see any more reason to favour Ruddock than I do Firpo over Lewis, to imagine a sort of reversal here to your proposal. I mean what would happen if Firpo landed clean on Lewis, for instance?

 

I dont think Ruddock was as tough as Willard actually. Jess took one of the worst beating in history against Dempsey plus he went over 20 rounds in the blazing heat against Jack Johnson. Think what you will of him as a fighter but he was a tough man.

 

Agreed. Ruddock showed genuine grit & heart…for his time. Different worlds. Willard certainly has better showings for durability.

 

Dempsey - Rd. 1

 

The Tyson that Fought Ruddock was nowhere near the prime Dempsey, his work rate had gone way down, he was willing to just clinch and rest a lot instead of working on the inside, whereas Dempsey would be in their throwing vicious punches the whole time.

Dempsey by crushing KO.