Who was Jack Dempsey's third most deserving title opponent who never got a title shot?

"When I hear guys defend such tripe as "well boxing is a business", why do you think it's called PROFESSIONAL BOXING? Maybe you would be happier in the amateurs, just a thought. Boxing in the pro's is put together with Money, no money, no fight, thats the way it is, it's that simple.

 

True.
There was certainly no "golden age" where professional boxing wasn't business. Perhaps we'd like to construct such a past, a pristine garden of eden where professional boxing was all about pride, honour and pure competition, but there never was.

 

A question when were these bonafide offers made for the Greb - Firpo fight and how much was offered? Let us decide if they were in reality bonafide offers.

 

We now wait to be enlightened.

 

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/l...+greb&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

This poll is probably available in full, but it is interesting that in 1922, one of these polls, which seems to be reasonably far reaching and at least partially representative of the thinking at the time lists Dempseys main opponents as
1. Wills
2. Brennan
3. Al Roberts
4. Greb
5. Firpo
6. Carpentier
7. La Pierre
8. Johnson
9. Tracey
10. Tunney

It is interesting to note that Jack johnson was still considered top 10, despite having been retired for two years. I imagine that when he strung together his next 3 or 4 decent wins he would have still been in top 10 calculations.

 

Very intresting. Al Roberts seems a bit high. Young Bob Fitzsimmons (who beat Roberts) was as fair a contender as any yet being the son of a champion did not seem to open so many doors in those days!

 

I am not sure why Al Roberts was ranked so high. He seems to have some KOs around this time, so obviously wasnt as good as some thought. Does anyone know anything about Andre La Pierre? I presume that he was European based. Maybe there was a decent french based following in the usa because of Carpentier?

Young Bob Fitzsimmons is an interesting sidenote. He looks like he was never stopped, has some reasonable wins, the son of a champ, as you point out, yet not really in the title picture. Was he the Fitzsimmons who Fitz predicted would be a world Champion but who didnt have the desire to train?

 

I assume Al Roberts got a boost for being a New York fighter in a New York poll. Andre La Pierre is a mystery - I've never heard of him, he seems to have no record on boxrec and I can't find any reference to him anywhere outside this article!

 

Roberts was a journeyman.

 

Its a tough question in all honesty. The HW division was ridiculously weak at the time. Id have to take a closer look none of the names that have been thrown out really jump out at me. Probably because the guys I would list that should have gotten shots AFTER Greb and Wills did in fact get shots which would mean you are really asking not who the third most deserving challenger was but more like fifth or so. Like I said, the talent pool was really weak at HW.