Tyson and Dempsey switch opponents

Tyson by KO in round 1

 

Good joke. Tyson obliterates them all.

 

A lot depends on how the timelines mesh up.

Tyson would be very dominant against Dempsey's opposition, until he stops taking his training seriously, and then he brings himself down to their level.

Dempsey was a bit more consistent, after he reached the summit of the mountain, so his latter success likely depends on who he runs into.

 

I find it very unlikely that he would have been a middleweight, anywhere close to his prime.

 

This bothers me as a fan of Dempsey but any one of those guys could replace Jack's best win...

 

Having more than 3.3 fights a year over the course of a decade and having the dedication not to have ever larded up to 270lbs before the biggest fight of his life in the first place would probably not have made him significantly worse.

I agree that losing a lot of weight would affect him badly. But only because he got that fat - and stayed that fat - to begin with. The fact he is, he is performing in the upper echelons of a high intensity sport and is carrying a gross amount of surplus weight. That just can't be good and yet still he beat the so-called best of the generation.

Just because he would be weak at 210-220 now doesn't mean that wouldn't have been a better weight for him to have maintained throughout his career. I am up for debate and am open-minded but I will struggle to be convinced that anyone's athletic endeavours are improved for carrying that level of surplus blubber.

 

In 4 round fights, and if i remember correctly, at least 1 of them was a bad decision that went against him.

Tubbs size's works against him; he is too hittable. Tubbs gets stopped in 5-6 rounds.

 

Some good picks here Franklin but I can't agree with what you said about Bruno. Frank took his lumps and apart from a brief slip in the first round of the first fight, never tasted the canvas in 15 rounds with prime versions of Tyson and Lewis. I think you're confusing him with Michael Spinks or Bruce Seldon.

Frank wasn't the greatest but he gave his all. Give any of his American heavyweight contemporaries from the 80s his heart and determination to do his best and there isn't one who would not be better for it.

 

I recently saw a good interview with Bruno, and I tend to agree with you about him. Had a real hard upbringing, and he overcame a lot, including mental issues. Over here we remember him for appearing to be scared put of his wits vs Tyson, I forget which one. You guys remember his panto, which I think is really funny stuff. He had some good wins.

In the interview he said something to the effect that Tyson Fury couldn't compete in his (Bruno's) era, that he'd be KO'd easily. All the old guys say the same thing, but he may have something here that is close to the truth.

 

Prime Tubbs was a work of art, an elusive big man with blinding hand speed and impeccable fundamentals.

Anyways, I've swam these waters too many times. I grow fatigued. Believe what you wish.

 

Reading between the lines, I think that guys like Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey, were malnourished in the early parts of their careers.

They effectively have no modern equivalent at that point.

Also they had no amateur pedigree worth speaking of, so you are looking at a stage of their professional career, that many modern fighters simply don't have.

Usky managed to shoehorn himself into some fairly low weights during his amateur career, to give but one example.

I think that I am right in saying, that Dempsey did come in over 200, for some of his more lightly regarded opponents.

Looking at Dempsey's tale of the tape, he does not come across as being a small man.

It seems sensible to start with the premise, that Dempsey falls into the same general size bracket as Marciano, and probably carries the weight up a bit better.

 

Whole lot of hyperbole with a sprinkle of sense you'd know that Jan!