Willie Meehan W 4 Jack Dempaey

Yes, Meehan beat Dempsey twice. What's the point with the thread?

 

I know this looks horrific but I struggle to hold a 4 round decision against anyone.

 

Wasn't these fights some kind of war relief semi exhibition at an army base where Meehan was the boxing instructor?

 

The weird thing about these fights is Dempsey was a terrific starter so in theory the 4rds distance should have favoured him :huh Langford also dropped a 4 rd dec to Willie who may have looked like a cream puff but certainly wasn't.

 

Some people have compared Willie Meehan to Butterbean, also known as Eric Esch. Despite being pudgy for at least part of his career, Meehan was a legitimate club fighter or journeyman who faced far better competition than Butterbean. Also unlike Butterbean, Meehan fought in quite a number of bouts scheduled for ten or twenty rounds with some success.

- Chuck Johnston

 

I don't know I haven't watched the fight, but it seems he got out boxed for 4 rounds.

 

I have always wondered about this - never seen the fight - how the hell does a fast-starting, explosive champ like Dempsey lose two short fights to essentially a non-entity? Was Meehan severely under-rated, or was his style just poison for Dempsey?

 

Curiously the more pedestrian Harry Wills beat Meehan over 4 rounds in 1914.:huh

 

Didn't Dempsey floor Meehan pretty hard in this fight ?

Yeah, it sounds one-sided, but these days they usually give a 10-8 round for that.

 

I know Wills floored Meehan.

 

This is one of the reasons that Dempsey-Flynn isnt the fixed fight people make it out to be. Dempsey wasnt Dempsey in 1917 yet. In late 1916 he barely beat human punching bag Terry Keller, two fights later Flynn knocks him out, he the draws with journeyman Al Norton, gets beaten easily against Meehan, draws with Norton again and then two fights later draws twice with Meehan again. It would be a year before Dempsey started to show signs of the guy he would become later.

 

Sweet. klompton is one of the guys who, when he speaks, I shaddup and put on my listening ears. Thanks.

 

That's a very valid point:good