Wills Firpo Report States Wills Has No Chance With Dempsey

Wills was shafted.
There's not that much more to say.
Denied a title shot he had clearly earned.
It happened sometimes.

 

Yeah, these days maybe with guys like Mayweather, Klitschkos, Haye promoting their own careers.

But you only have to go back to the days of Don King to see a load of fighters doing whatever Don thinks best.

 

And we are CREATURES of OUR times...!

 

As in all negotiations, one party had everything to gain, one had much less to gain. Wills needed Dempsey much more than the other way around. He was always going to be dealing from a disadvantage, and given the times, that imbalance was exaggerated.

 

For 7 years.

I know people bring up 1925 of when the fight fail though and all that, but what about the years 1919, 1920, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, ?

I mean Dempsey was not fighting any one for 4 of the 7 years. Wills should have gotting a chance at the title. We cant really say for sure who would win, but Wills was a danger, and I dont agree with the no chance thing.

 

And it has happened time and again before Dempsey, and since Dempsey, including today...Tell me would today's thought police feel better if Dempsey's body was exhumed and tarred and feathered ? Yes Dempsey was an evil man, but today's idol Ali, could call people ugly, Uncle Tom, gorilla, washwomen, and taunt his hapless victims under the guise of
showmanship....But he is a hero to today's ESB posters, whilst a Dempsey
is villified for not fighting a Harry Wills, though they did sign for a bout...
In my heart I know I'm closer to reality than Dempsey's haters...
McGrain, what an Ali did to one of my hero's Joe Frazier, was a hell of a lot worse than Dempsey did...A hell of a lot worse.....I remember those terrible aspersions to a decent Joe Frazer a heck of a lot more vividly than you. But of course some posters pick a more vulnerable target to target their anger...

 

Burt, there has not been one other heavyweight champion in history who ducked his number one contender for his entire reign. Dempsey was champ for seven years and did not give Wills a bout. It was and remains inexplicable. When you consider that Wills was a bigger and stronger man who fought much better competition than Dempsey ever did you have an extremely well promoted legend with a huge asterisk ...

 

Honestly, in light of the race riots sparked by johnson v jeffries, i'm not surprised rickard refused to make the fight.

Jack did his bit by signing to fight wills. When the fight was on the table he took it.

I wouldn't classify this as a duck at all. A tragedy yes, an unfortunate byproduct of very bad times in american history.

I don't think anyone would seriously doubt that jack would have gone through with the fight he signed, nor that he'd have gone through with the fight had ted made it in the early 20's.

It isn't like bowe throwing his belt in the trash to avoid his number 1 contender.

We can rightly bemoan the fact that the fight didn't happen, but unless i've missed something, there's no blame to be laid at the feet of jack.

 

Yes Mc ,generations learn from mistakes of the past. Dempsey was the fighter, Jack Kearns and Tex Rickard were the financial brains, picking the bouts for Dempsey. Dempsey who struggled mightily in his hobo youth, and finally hit the bigtime was not concerned by what today's ESB posters thought of his career 85 years later. He WAS a product of his time. He had many black sparring partners as Big Bill Tate and George Godfrey... He helped his old foe, John Lester Johnson years later by paying his expenses
in the nursing home JL Johnson was in before he died...Dempsey served in the second WW, in his forties during the invasion, that he insisted he be with his troops...In his retirement, nary a bad word was ever said about him. He was along with Joe Louis, my hero in spite of the B.S. tossed his way...When a man dies we look at a man's life in totality. And Dempsey passed the test.....Regardless of biased ESB naysayers...

 

Luf, thank you for a little sanity...Until I learned the computer and joined this forum, the name Dempsey conjured a picture of a great fighter, who
never met Harry Wills in a ring though they signed...In all those years
this non fight was never brought up to besmirch the reputation of Jack Dempsey, as it is on this PC forum. The oldtime writers I read who saw Dempsey and Wills knew the circumstances of those times a hell of a lot better than today's, flame throwers who were they to have been in Dempsey's shoes, {if they survived his hobo days], would have done no different...Is it wonderful to feel so noble 85 years later after the fact ? Cheers Luf.