The current Heavyweight top 10 according to Ring Magazine: C: Usyk 1. Fury 2. Parker 3. Kabayel 4. Dubois 5. Hrgovic 6. Wardley 7. Zhang 8. Bakole 9. Itauma 10. Ajagba Who do you see Jack beating?
Who could possibly extrapolate that far. He might beat none. He might beat half. It's an insane guess.
I wouldn't favor him against any of these though I haven't seen much of Wardley. Most crush him within 6. Ask yourself this, which of Jack's opponents would sniff that Top 10? If you don't answer None, you are being delusional.
Dempsey would be an ATG 175lber - 190lber A big LHW come retro Cruiser. With the right match making he could beat HW’s of today, consistent career at what is essentially “SHW”? NO. I think for example Artur Beterbiev could beat say Bakole but could he consistently win at that weight? It’d take a toll very quickly. I think despite your reservations on JD’s chances at HW you’d agree mostly with this.
I could see Artur beating some of the slower come forward heavies but Bakole on form is deceptively fast handed and accurate from bizarre angles. I don’t think Beterbiev would do well against him in particular but I see your point. However I think Dempsey’s speed makes him a more formidable heavy than Artur as well.
I also agree, Dempsey is described and only seen vs Willard on film (post Willard is not JD…) as a force of nature he had the power to crack SHW’s chins Willard was one thing and that was incredibly durable, there isn’t a question mark next to JD’s power vs big men but he’d not be able to have a career there… 175-190lbs (maybe 200lbs modern cruiser) with the occasional HW super fight / freak show vs a Bakole type.
I m pretty certain none of them sorry. Remember Johnny Weissmuller Olympic champion swimmer who became Tarzan in the movies? He couldn’t make the girls Olympic team now. We know because the measure is definite based on the stop watch. The great Jesse Owen’s wouldn’t make the Olympic team now. You could say oh nonsense if he was taking PEDa and swam in a better pool ran with better sneakers etc they would beat everyone today but your just projecting what you want. Maybe they would be a little better but the hard evidence is athletes have progressed greatly over time. It’s true of boxers also. So the best we can say is pick the 1920 Dempsey out of time and any top 10 heavyweight fighter today and drop them in a ring and who wins. That’s the best we can do and Dempsey is not beating any of them. The if he trained today he would be this much heavier faster etc is way too much conjecture and just projecting your idol into who you want them to be.
Nonsense on the Jesse Owens not making the Olympic team. Biomechanical analysis of his stride pattern and the fact that he dug his own start on a cinder track surface, along with his inferior footwear, with today's technology, he would've ran within a couple of strides of Usain. When it comes to athletics and especially the sprints, the biggest improvements in speed have predominantly come from technological and technical evolution rather than some mystical physical evolution. Many of the assumed physical improvements are predominantly nutrition orientated and chemical enhancements - this doesn't equal evolution, however - evolution comes from survival of the fittest playing out through passing of DNA over a much longer period of time than a few decades of separation. Fundamentally, boxing is quite the same now as it was 100 years ago, outside of rule changes and their impacts on fight and training approaches. Today's fighter has the benefit of optimised techniques, more available optimised nutrition (not necessarily more consumption of natural produce and clean protein sources) less wear and tear and better safety protocols - many also lack the hunger and need to win to eat mentality that harder times bred and they definitely lack the ring activity. Boxing is one of those rare vocations where sparring doesn't resemble the buzz, adrenaline and gravity of a prize fight other than belonging to the same sport. The more prize fights you have, the better you get at it. There are techniques and skills largely lost to the modern fighter due to rule changes, glove changes, lower quality trainers that are more physical conditioning trainers than developers of nuanced techniques.