Who was the better fighter, Jack Dempsey or George Foreman?

Not even remotely the same size or style. Neither were Ledoux, stewart, rodrigues, Cooney, Briggs, or Moore. This is a classic ignorant anti foreman talking point to claim he has no good wins and all bums and even the few good wins he has are "tailor made" for him, a back handed compliment.

 

Imo...

Dempsey was more skilled.
Foreman's physical gifts made him better.
H2h Foreman would annihilate Dempsey due to size and style matchup issues.

Pound for pound is where it gets interesting.


Assuming same day weigh in, how would a 6'1", 185 lb Foreman fare against Bivol and Beterbiev? How would a 6'4", 215 lb Dempsey fare against Fury, Wilder, and Joshua?

 

Well, you're a Heck of a Guy if Joe Frazier is 'made for you'.

 

I love Dempsey (see my avatar) but Foreman would have wrecked him had they fought. Too much natural size, power and the type of style that would give Dempsey fits (those uppercuts ripping into a bobbing and weaving Dempsey... ouch!).

Dempsey's a better fighter H2H against modern day light heavyweights and cruiserweights I feel. Matching him against any ATG heavyweight from the 70s onwards is asking too much of him.

 

I disagree.

 

Listen, no offense but I've long stopped debating here for the sake of it. Let someone else extend their bandwidth explaining the loopholes in your argument.

 

He was one of these glass cannons. He had a big punch but was terribly chinny. His quality in the W column is very thin but he certainly packed a punch. He did drop Holmes in the ams and ko Weaver. He also stopped Weaver in the pro's prior to Weaver getting real serious about boxing. His KO ratio is over 80%.

You could argue he wasn't a big puncher but you could certainly argue he was too as there are numerous articles describing him as such. He was just too chinny to take much advantage of it vs good opposition.

He actually packed enough of a punch for Futch to think he'd beat the very guy we were talking about, Ken Norton.

Occasionally, even the astute Futch could get it wrong. In 1977, he steered Duane

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, much-touted great white hope, to the brink of a world title fight with Holmes, only to watch his protégé knocked cold inside a minute by a supposedly washed-up Norton, in a painfully one-sided final eliminator. "I thought it was a fight Bobick could win," a perplexed Futch admitted ruefully, "and Norton wasn't a big puncher, except with the uppercut."

 

Tyson was a super Dempsey.

 

You are the 4th wise man

 

Who wouldn't struggle with Willie Meehan TBH?

 

Power Dempsey had it. He had the power.

 

Only way you could pick Dempsey to beat or out last Foreman is if you consider Firpo & Lyle.
Willard was way out of practice & shape & was more of a boxer that a swarmer had a good shot at.
Now if Dempsey was not pushed back into the ring I believe he would have lost.
But he also could have been more cautious & potentially avoided that.

Foreman struggles against Lyle, though had been inactive & ultimately won.
Lyle & Firpo were pretty much straight ahead buisers, right?

So it is a stretch, but IF you consider Firpo was as good & dangerous as Lyle-who was only slightly bigger...
Then Dempsey would have a case to be made for him.
Even though Foreman had ~ 3" & even his dehydrated peak fight condition had 30 lbs. on Dempsey.

I do not think that Firpo was as good as, or would have beaten directly, that Lyle.
Whaddya all think?

 

How'd that work out ?

Bobick was a solid amateur but a professional flop. He defeated a weight drained Holmes in the amateurs which ultimately was his career highlight. He fought handpicked opponents as a pro before being exposed by Norton in :58 seconds. He was a solid puncher and ok mechanic and decently conditioned but also sloppy and of course lacked a chin. His big wins as a pro like over a LeDoux or a Bunny Johnson or Weaver ( 6-5 as a pro at the time and picking up fights on day's notices ) tending to be wearing out guys like this over rounds .. If your point is to counter my claim that Norton never fought or defeated big punchers by claiming he did against Bobick I"ll hold my ground here. Bobick did not have one KO victory in his professional career of top contender let alone championship caliber status .. You can make the argument that Tex Cobb was another with this logic.

 

I don't think that Lyle and Firpo were in the same hemisphere in regards to skill and physical talent.

 

The funny thing is that Firpo has become ridiculously under rated .. of course he was wild and unpolished ... however he was very strong, he had terrific natural strength, he was a murderous right hand puncher , awkward as hell, had under rated speed, he had a ton of heart , took a much better shot and was overall much tougher than tough guy Lyle who I can never forgive for folding like he did against Ali .. Lyle was far more polished and a murderous puncher himself ... two naturally strong, very dangerous guys ..