Who should Jack Dempsey have given title matches to after beating Willard in 1919?

Well actually Siki hit him low, and for some reason it was decided Carpentier faked it, and it should be a KO, even though you can see he was fouled in the video. Utterly bizzaire.

Worth noting too Carpentier was a Flyweight when he was a 15 year old kid, and he was up to Light Heavyweight by the time he was 20.

 

Truth is, between 1919 and 1924, Dempsey avoided his two best contenders, Wills and Greb. The division was otherwise very shallow, built mostly around old men who had for a long time been contenders in the lighter divisions. Of those he defended against, Brennan was okay, but he was on the downgrade (IMO, the Dempsey-Brennan film is the most informative about Dempsey's abillity at his peak), Carpentier was a light heavyweight who won his title from an out-of-shape, disinterested Levinsky and lost it in his first defense against a real light heavyweight Battling Siki, Billy Miske was an over-blown light heavyweight who was already seriously ill with the disease that eventually killed him, Tommy Gibbons wasn't even an overblown light heavyweight, he was a true light heavy, and Luis Firpo was a ham and egger who had been fed setups and washed-up former top contenders by Tex Rickard and thus ballyhooed into contention.

To me it is a true shame that Dempsey allowed himself to be guided into avoiding Greb and Wills by Kearns and Rickard. I think he likely would have defeated them both.

I am sorry if this already has been hashed over in prior threads, but this is the first thread that I have come across pertaining to the topic since I have been a follower.

 

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/joe-jeannette-vs-georges-carpentier.459221

This seems relevant to Carpentier's credibility.

 

This quote all on its own tells me all I would ever need to know about the extremely low level of study and research this girl has done before posting her threads. UNFORGIVABLE!!

 

Sharkey had the skills to be ranked in the Top-10 today, but I don't think he had the physique. I have trouble putting anyone else Dempsey beat in the Top 10. I don't know about Dempsey. I admit I have only seen about four or five of the top heavyweights who are fighting today. I tend to shy away in comparing fighters across eras. Given the changes in diets and weights, it hardly seems fair. P4P is pretty hypothetical, too. I don't think there is that much difference in technique since the 1920s, at least not enough to prevent the earlier fighters from adapting pretty quickly. Just my take right now. I don't know how consistent I am in my thinking, however!! I reserve the right to contradict myself on another thread!!

I'm not sure Sharkey would have won if it went a full 10. I think he was fading. Dempsey was landing a lot of legitimate body punches, and they were taking their toll. I thought Sharkey looked very good in the first five rounds though.