I Think Ali Beats Tunney But In Late Rounds Or Dec.i Think Tyson Vs Demp Could Go Either Way Until 6 Rounds Then Its All Dempsey Although A Very Small Chance Dempsey Getting Ko,d At All In His True --short Prime And Dempsey Smokes Frazier Like A Pack Of Camels
1. Ali beats Tunney by UD with superior reflexes and speed but prob close fight.Maybe Tunney catches him with a flash knockdown but thats about it. 2. Dempsey beats Tyson cause Tyson can't knock Dempsey out (anyone who saw the Firpo fight can attest to this) and if the fight drags into the later rounds Dempsey seems to stay in it while Tyson breaks down. 3. Depsey vs. Frazier for me is a toss up. Both had terrific left hooks and great bob and weave . Because they are so similar I say Dempsey cause I think he was a bit more powerful, slightly better chin and the dirty tactics would take their toll on Frazier in a long fight
Dempsey took a lot of big shots from Firpo, even being knocked out of the ring by the guy and still fought on by instinct and won. Firpo was a pretty big guy with great power in a time where the gloves were much smaller. Also people seem to forget when Tyson got to the top of the heap he didn't knockout everyone with ease. Not to mention Dempsey had a body attack that Tyson probbally hadn't encountered before
Comparing Firpo to Tyson is very far from fair, and I'm absolutely no Tyson fan. Firpo was little more than a bar room brawler and Tyson was argubly in his short prime the greatest KO-artist the division has seen. Dempsey and Tyson are very alike with the exception of Tyson being more technically sound (boxing did evolve in the 65-70 years that separated the two) and 30 odd pounds heavier. Dempsey had more stamina and a higher work rate, but I think Tyson ends it pretty quickly, so that won't matter much. Tunney was one tough SOB, so he might last against Ali, but it won't be close by any means.
You're insane to say that Frazier didn't punch enough, the Manilla fight set a record for most punches thrown in a heavyweight bout. You're also insane to pick Tunney over Ali. They had similar styles, but Ali had all the physical advantages.
Time for some serious dissection. Are you serious? Tunney's resume at HW is EXTREMELY thin. He doesn't even have quality over Ali...nobody does. His best wins at heavyweight were over a post-prime Dempsey who, while still dangerous, was not of the calibre of 1971 Frazier, 1974 Foreman, etc. Don't even get me started on Harry Greb being "better" than everybody on Ali's resume. Ali-Frazier III set the record for the most punches thrown in a heavyweight title fight. Fireman Jim Flynn? Dropped by Tunney (who you already said was a weak puncher)? Whoever said Dempsey would be knocking out somebody late, anyways? He only stopped one guy past round six - Brennan, who was not exceptionally durable. Throw in the low-blow + suckerpunch combo he landed on Sharkey and you have a KO in 7, but the point still stands. Frazier's win over Ali in 1971 is greater than anything those two ever did, especially Dempsey. Have you even watched prime footage of Frazier?
I disagree that Brennan wasn't "exceptionally durable". He was only knocked out 4 times in a 102 fight career, twice in his last two fights and twice by Dempsey. He was never off his feet until he met Dempsey. I think Brennan was a very durable fighter.
Even if we do call him durable, though, does anyone here think he's as good as Tyson? He was the only guy that Dempsey knocked out late.
Do you think he carried people the distance? Either way, the record shows that if you could make it past round 6 with Dempsey, you probably weren't going to get knocked out. Do you think Dempsey could finish Tyson inside of six?
It would be completly outside of Jack Dempsey's nature to carry an opponent at all. The "record" shows a prime or near prime Jack Dempsey only going past 6 rounds three times, once against Billy Miske, once against Tommy Gibbons and once against Bill Brennan. He knocked out Bill Brennan. The other two were small, quick, defensive minded boxers. Whether the Sharkey punch was a sucker punch or not is beside the point, he still put Sharkey away with one shot, that counts for something. Another thing, he knocked down Tunney for a ten count in the eighth round of their second fight. Dempsey did carry his power late. It's definitely possible.
