was Dempsey's self imposed semi retirement the worst in hw history?

well...allot of them took years off?

 

Another Dump on Dempsey thread.

 

I think it was part being sued by Harry Wills

Willard's was as bad but not as long. Patterson and Johnson freezing out the top contenders wasn't much better. Bowe/Holyfield/Moorer/Foreman freezing out Lewis was pretty bad

 

I know he's the beloved Cinderella Man, and I really admire JJ Braddock, but his two year freeze of the title was beneath contempt. He froze out and basically screwed the most deserving guy in the world,...Max Schmeling a shot at the title that he so richly deserved after upsetting Joe Louis.

 

You do ocasionaly find newspaper aricles that talk about Dempsey being "retired", but I have never been able to flesh out the details.

 

I'll chime in with a yes!

Sullivan was actually on the record as being retired. Corbett gives Dempsey a run for his money. Willard was bad but could use the First World War as a cover.

On a tangent, its funny how often a return match with Willard was mentioned in old newspapers but nothing came of it. It seems the writers considered Willard over confident and undertrained for the initial match.

 

I think Dempsey might have come back sooner but he was feuding when Kearns and knew that if he fought Kearns would get a payday. So he waited until their contract expired.

 

I think Mayweather's is the worst.

Dempsey can at least say he "ran" from a HOFer like Wills.

Mayweather ran from Margarito and Paul Williams.

 

Mayweather signed to fight Marg as long as he could fight Oscar after, Bob said no.

 

That's right, IMO too. Braddock and his people just weighed the balance..not only was Schmeling just plain awesome in knocking out Louis, but if the fight were to be held in Nazi Germany,..you know what kind of virulent, hyper-partisan situation that would be...I'm sure that Braddock and his manager Joe Gould, who was Jewish and probably didn't want to experience the **** that he would probably have to endure over there in the lion's den (and i don't blame him there) and the propaganda coup that would result..that they decided that if braddock had to lose to anyone, better for all kinds of reasons that it should be Louis. Having said all that, it's still a damned shame that Schmeling didn't get the crack at the heavyweight title that he so richly deserved. yes, I believe that Max would have beaten Braddock...and probably by a stoppage.

 

lol