Wlad v Dempsey

So the poll has ended up favouring Wladimir...

In all earnestness, forgetting rose-tinted spectacles and blood-sugar meltdowns, Dempsey must be the worst possible match-up one could make for our towering Ukrainian.

The manner in which Dempsey went about his work, plus his record against bigger men, nicely matches up with Dr. Steel Hammer's weaknesses.

Surely one does not have to be bias to recognize this?

Fred Fulton, of whom there were many parallels with Wladimir, did not last 30 seconds.

If you're Wladimir's manager, you never make the fight.

 

Wlad's record against guys who weigh 60 pounds less than himself is pretty sterling, too... or it would be if anyone were allowed to sanction such a slaughter.

 

Ted Spoon,

You are an extremely smart gentleman. But I would question this sentence. Fulton has nowhere near the boxing skill, defense, two fisted punching power, left jab, footwork, speed, athleticism, strength, and ring intelligence of Wladimir Klitschko.

Dempsey is definitely the king of beating the crap out of big uncoordinated bandy legged giants with pot bellies and chest hair. However, when has he faced a giant who possessed all of these attributes: two fisted knockout power, a left jab, hand speed, footwork, coordination, athleticism, boxing skills, defense, ring intelligence, sense of range?

 

You said it. People that do these fantasy matchups, do they understand what the impact is going to be when a 6'6 250lb Wladimir Klitschko right hands hits Dempsey flush in the face?

 

How? He never came in near that weight when he was in his prime. There is nothing magical about putting on weight. Or are you saying that the old timey trainers didn't know how to prepare heavyweights?

 

why do people keep comparing fulton to wlad. im not a big klitchko fan and i prefer the oldtimers by far but fulton was 20 to 30 pounds lighter than wlad and fought in a very robotic, antiquated style. not a fluid athletic boxer/puncher at all. anyone who thinks that dempseys success against an old fat inactive willard or fulton is any measuring stick for how he would fair against a prime wlad is barking up the wrong tree.

 

Dempsey is one of my favourite old time boxers but can anyone see him beating a physical specimen like Wlad?

Dempsey would hope to get him out early but realistically what he is meeting is a guy who hits harder,is a lot stronger,has better footwork, better defense and is 4/5inches taller and has at least 55/60 pounds on him.

Wlad would survive Dempseys initial rush and stop Dempsey in 4.

 

Wladimir is probably a more complete fighter than Fulton was, though they share key similarities; tall, rangy, hard hitters, breakable chins, and liable to err when pressed. Fulton isn't a bad yardstick. There are no Dempsey references for Wladimir.

Lennox Lewis would have a much better chance against Dempsey because he was more assertive and ripped in that 'swarmers beware' uppercut. Muhammad Ali could get Dempsey to overreach and pop him with lead rights.

Wladimir is more cautious, predictable, especially with his punch selection, and only turns up the heat if the opponent has nothing. It would probably be in his best interests to try and bully the Mauler (by Dempsey's own admission his styles' weakness was the absence of a reverse gear), but we all know that is against Wladimir's nature. Clinching Dempsey, his fail-safe, would result in red blotches around the gut. Jack's body punching-sweeping hook combos are ideal to fluster and then demolish. Here was a guy who could slip and fire while going forward.

In no way do I think this scores brownie points for Jack; it just strikes me as a nightmare scenario for our heavyweight champ.

 

When exactly did Wlad get caught using PED's? He's been a pro for 18 years, had hundreds of fighters, trainer, hangers-on in and out of his camp, where are even the accusations?

And by this logic am I to suppose that Jess Willard would be 7 foot 9 inches and 350 pounds?

Again, reality is a hard taskmaster. Let us remind ourselves of one of it's less profound lessons. Dempsey was 6-1 and 185 at his prime, Wlad is 6-6 and 245.

 

The also share key dissimilarities. Wlad has controlled the division for 8 years; Fulton never sniffed such dominance, not even for minute.

Fulton is more a poor man's Gerry Cooney, a tall and rangy guy who had a couple wins over has beens… Except Cooney did a hell of a lot better in his shot at the crown.

 

About Fulton--I think he was about 6' 5" or a bit shorter, and weighed 208 for the Dempsey fight.

Therefore, in weight he is closer to Dempsey than to Wlad. I don't see how Fulton can really be considered a comp for Wlad.