Here's a write-up of the entire fight : [url]http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zJUfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QNQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1731,4619732&dq=luis+firpo+harry+wills&hl=en[/url] Wills easily beat him, but he also got hit quite a bit as far as this report says. Firpo was 224 pounds. He was 216 against Dempsey. Apparently he turned up for training camp in awful condition just three weeks before the fight. [url]http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wxJkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_3oNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4948,5032202&dq=luis+firpo+harry+wills+fat&hl=en[/url]
Yes, and Dempsey got critcized by the boxing afficianados for neglecting his skills against Firpo .... (he was only half forgiven because it made an exciting fight). Nevertheless, people here will use the worst parts of that one fight to try to prove that Dempsey was a bit of an "unskilled brawler" too. It smacks of double standards, but that's what makes this forum tick on I suppose. :good
No, I said firpo was an unskilled brawler, not dempsey. It is difficult to gauge how great dempsey was at infighting considering the best infighter he fought was firpo.
Wills easily beat Firpo. He dropped him in the second round and dominated him throughout. When Firpo tried to get inside and bang away and wrestle with his strength (the one asset he had) Wills tied him up and moved him around like he was a lightweight. All the while Wills banged away at his ribs slowing Firpo down perceptably. The few times Firpo managed to land a big punch it had no effect on Wills whatsoever. Wills got criticised because he didnt stop Wills like Dempsey did but he fought a different fight than Dempsey and didnt nearly get knocked out like Dempsey either. Finally, as big as Firpo was Wills was at least as big yet he could also box on the outside, or fight on the inside against a strong brawler, despite what some people think.
How can Firpo be the best infighter he fought when Firpo was 'completely unskilled' ? Firpo's best (only?) weapon seemed to be a heavy right hand thrown from way out.
Show me a fight of Wills or Greb. Very few Dempsey fights exist on film. And the fact that few fighters elected to fight him on the inside might suggest that he was too good there and they fought smart. rather than they were just lousy infighters.
I can't show you any of wills, which brings me back to the initial point the dempsey winning the inside battle against wills should not be a foregone conclusion :good
He doesnt know, because it is simply wrong. I find it hard to believe that Sam Langford wasnt a good infighteratsch I know there is some clearly some devils advocate being played here by a few, but i think poor old lufcrazy forgot to think before writing on this one.
It's a bit over the top criticising a dominating performance, KO or no KO. Wills was considered past his best against Firpo. Maybe it's a testiment to Firpo's toughness, power and strength, but I suspect Wills no longer had the same speed and stamina to finish him in '25, when he was around 35 I believe Langford was a world class in-fighter. Not sure who the best in-fighter Dempsey beat, Sharkey maybe? I'd go with that, although Price is talented and could go on to be champion. I think Vitali, Wlad, Haye, Chambers, Povetkin, Solis, Helanius, Arreola, Adamek, Chagaev, Chisora, Price, Fury all beat Prime Firpo and a few LHW's like Dawson probably could This is a different issue, when Dempsey fought both Firpo and Brennan defensive weaknesses were exposed as they were more dramatically against Tunney. Wills while he couldn't put Firpo away was in control of the action and didn't suffer any KDs. Maybe watching the match up would highlight weaknesses and maybe not. We don't know how good Wills was but if anything it smacks of bias when Dempsey fans they believe he had the style to beat Wills. When they don't really know anything about Wills style or overall ability. Imagine if Wills was like Bowe on the inside but as good as Holmes outside, he could have been that good for all we know. Or maybe he was of a similar level to John Ruiz who in turn has a good resume himself. Simply we don't know how good Wills was or who would have won if he fought Dempsey, we have no idea although reading fight transcripts enlighten us somewhat, the only thing we know is that both fighters were far and away the best of their era and they didn't meet