Who beat better competition..Harry Wills or Jack Dempsey?

I don't consider any decision fight less than ten rounds as relevant.

 

You are right about it being misleading because of styles. But still, the two real differences do show a better result for Dempsey. Despite being knocked down, Dempsey clearly knocked out Firpo. Wills couldnt knock down Firpo. And it was a No Decision fight so technically, he couldnt beat Firpo. And it is not as if Wills was some type of powder puff puncher. dempsey performed better. And also the sharkey fight was definitely a better result for Dempsey.

I agree it isnt the be all and end all but in a comparison of oppoosition Dempsey has a clear advantage in common opposition.

 

I am not in any way suggesting that Flynn was anywhere near as good as Langford, he wasnt. And yes there was a class difference. But, to put this into a modern context, Ruddock, Biggs, Tillis, Smith, and even Witherspoon were about as close in class to Tyson as Flynn was to Langford. Of for that matter, so was Douglas. In fact Douglas is not a bad example. ON his very best night on off day, he beat Tyson. I doubt it happens on Tysons best night or on anything but Douglas' best. Same goes with Flynn and Langford. If Flynn has his very best night and Langford a poor night then Flynn probably wins. Actually when you think about it, that same could be said of Flynn and Dempsey.

Wills' dominance over Langford only became clear as Langford aged. He still has some great wins over Langford and definitely respectable losses for that matter. Langford (as i said) is definitely the better result for Wills, just not be as far as many always suggest.

The older Langford was not a better opponent than say the Fulton who destroyed the older Langford. obviously prime Langford was probably better than fulton.

 

I don't see that Fulton proves much, however, as he was crushed by Wills. There is no reason to consider him in Wills' class.

The two fights you pick as proving Dempsey's superiority came with Wills 35 and 37 years old, while Dempsey was 28 fighting Firpo. He never fought to 35.

Would the Dempsey of 1932 have beaten the Sharkey of 1926?

Would the Wills of 1921 have lost to the Sharkey of 1926?

*Wills did knockdown Firpo in the second round off what I have read, but you are correct that he did not stop him in a 12 round ND fight. I wonder though if Wills had fought Firpo as Dempsey did, would he have simply been DQ'd in the first round as he was against Tate.

**A bit off topic, but much is made of Dempsey signing to fight Wills in 1925, but I think that fight would have been a 10 round ND fight. If Dempsey could simply last, as he did in the first Tunney fight, he would have automatically kept his title. Wills would have had to ko Dempsey within ten rounds to become champion.