Jack Dempsey was the greatest boxer that ever entered the ring. He paved the road to fighters like Liston, And Tyson. He was the first boxer to fully utilize the bobbing and weaving tactic and was destroying people that weighted 80 pounds more. The only boxers i can see beating Dempsey is Ali and maybe a prime Tyson.

Dempsey is not the greatest boxer to step foot in the ring, he is ONE of the greatest. He is one of the first of the "modern" boxers who bob and weaved held there gloves like fighters nowdays do.

That said he's too small for alot of the great Heavyweights I think he'd beat the likes of Jack Johnson, Marciano and possibly Louis the rest of the Heavyweights are just too big Dempsey weighed as low as 180 lbs sometimes. I think Lewis, Foreman, Frazier, Ali, Tyson, Liston, Holmes are just too big even Louis is stretching it. P4P I think he beats a most of them but he's just too small by modern standard Heavyweights

Agreed but the rules change with the times.

Jack Dempsey was the greatest boxer that ever entered the ring. He paved the road to fighters like Liston, And Tyson. He was the first boxer to fully utilize the bobbing and weaving tactic and was destroying people that weighted 80 pounds more. The only boxers i can see beating Dempsey is Ali and maybe a prime Tyson.

Maybe you ought to read a book.

Maybe you ought to read a book.

Buy me one and i'll read it.

Jack Dempsey was the greatest boxer that ever entered the ring. He paved the road to fighters like Liston, And Tyson. He was the first boxer to fully utilize the bobbing and weaving tactic and was destroying people that weighted 80 pounds more. The only boxers i can see beating Dempsey is Ali and maybe a prime Tyson.

I don't doubt Dempsey as a great fighter. But I think Johnson would have beat him. Louis may have killed him. Ali. Lennox Lewis. Sonny Liston. Tyson. Frazier. All would beat him. Marciano, Holyfield, Holmes would all have an excellent chance and would be on the fence in my opinion. Beating guys bigger doesn't always mean you beat guys who were better. Jmo.

Dempsey was ahead of his time but he was very flawed defensively, he was really good on offense with his smothering attack as well as his combinations both to the body and head but I have trouble seeing Dempsey beating the best of the best at heavyweight.

Nobody can doubt someones perception of Dempsey as an all-time great heavyweight, but he was not THE greatest.

If there was no colour line, i'm not so sure Dempsey would have ever been a champion at Heavyweight. He admittedly ducked Wills, and with the likes of Langford, Jeanette and Mcvey around, he would have struggled for a title win if the black men had shots at the title.

I still credit Dempsey as a top 10 heavyweight of all-time, but with so many could-haves, should haves, it is easy to pick many fighters faults. Not to mention coming off second best with someone of a similar size and arguably better skilled in Gene Tunney.

Nobody can doubt someones perception of Dempsey as an all-time great heavyweight, but he was not THE greatest.

If there was no colour line, i'm not so sure Dempsey would have ever been a champion at Heavyweight. He admittedly ducked Wills, and with the likes of Langford, Jeanette and Mcvey around, he would have struggled for a title win if the black men had shots at the title.

I still credit Dempsey as a top 10 heavyweight of all-time, but with so many could-haves, should haves, it is easy to pick many fighters faults. Not to mention coming off second best with someone of a similar size and arguably better skilled in Gene Tunney.

Dempsey never ducked Wills. He signed twice to fight him, only to be vetoed by the powers that be. Buit still, their is no denying his reign as champ would have been much harder had he been forced to fight Will and others.

Dempsey never ducked Wills. He signed twice to fight him, only to be vetoed by the powers that be. Buit still, their is no denying his reign as champ would have been much harder had he been forced to fight Will and others.

** Wills was the only relevant heavy that Dempsey didn't defend against for the reasons you mentioned.

Greb is the only other significant name in this period, but nobody but Greb seems to have been proposing the fight. Other names are floated, but any anyalysis of the era indicates that they either past their shelf life, too green, or never put themselves in position long enough to really contend for his title. That and boxing politics played a major role in him ending up in Hollywood.

Dempsey also comprehensively beat every possible style save his own. From the tall slugger/monster types, a big brawler/slugger, to clever boxer/punchers. No other fighter could have done to Willard what Dempsey did until Foreman or Tyson comes along.

I'd give Jack a great chance against any heavy that ever lived save prime Tyson/Frazier because of such versatility in the ring. And even against them in his 6 oz gloves, I wouldn't rule him out.

dempsey was a great fighter

but yeah he wouldnt beat ali, frazier, foreman, lewis, holyfield IMO

he is definitely a top ten heavy of all time

dempsey was a great fighter

but yeah he wouldnt beat ali, frazier, foreman, lewis, holyfield IMO

he is definitely a top ten heavy of all time

he wouldd beat frazier IMO

frazier starts Way to Slaw and is Way to Vaulnerable in the early reounds and Dempseys Speed and Power combination would have Frazier in massive trouble

Nobody can doubt someones perception of Dempsey as an all-time great heavyweight, but he was not THE greatest.

If there was no colour line, i'm not so sure Dempsey would have ever been a champion at Heavyweight. He admittedly ducked Wills, and with the likes of Langford, Jeanette and Mcvey around, he would have struggled for a title win if the black men had shots at the title..

like mentioned he had signed to fight Wills

and Langford, Jeanette, and Mcvey were all way past it man I mean Come on do wish that had been Killed in the ring by Dempsey?

Dempsey never ducked anyone. When he lost to Gene Tunney he was a shadow of what he once was. Dempsey would of destroyed Lennox Louis. I can see it happening easily. People were accusing him of plastering his gloves! Thats how hard he hit, he would open up on Louis's body and within round 4-5 Lennox would be done.

Dempsey was extremely powerful with underrated skill. He was beatable but I'd only pick a select few in history to do it, and even then Dempsey still has a puncher's chance at the least.

On another note, to help clarify things, here is what Dempsey himself had stated:

"The Hell I feared no man. There was one man, he was even smaller than I, and I wouldn’t fight because I knew he would flatten me. I was afraid of Sam Langford.”

Dempsey never ducked anyone. When he lost to Gene Tunney he was a shadow of what he once was. Dempsey would of destroyed Lennox Louis. I can see it happening easily. People were accusing him of plastering his gloves! Thats how hard he hit, he would open up on Louis's body and within round 4-5 Lennox would be done.
Not true.

Like every other white champion in that time period, he ducked all the black fighters. I'm not dissing Dempsey, but that's the way it was.

Not true.

Like every other white champion in that time period, he ducked all the black fighters. I'm not dissing Dempsey, but that's the way it was.
He didn't duck them, it was hard to set up a fight with Black fighters being that Johnson was such a hated figure the people that "owned" Dempsey didn't want to lose there fighter to a black champ. It's not Dempseys fault. He signed to fight Wills twice his Handlers wouldn't let him carry the deal through.

He didn't duck them, it was hard to set up a fight with Black fighters being that Johnson was such a hated figure the people that "owned" Dempsey didn't want to lose there fighter to a black champ. It's not Dempseys fault. He signed to fight Wills twice his Handlers wouldn't let him carry the deal through.

^^^ What he said.

Not true.

Like every other white champion in that time period, he ducked all the black fighters. I'm not dissing Dempsey, but that's the way it was.

I've read quotes where Dempsey said he'd "pay no attention to colored fighters", but he must've had a change of heart since he signed to fight Wills later on before Tex Rickard cancelled it. Wills still got $50,000, so it wasn't all bad for him.

I wouldn't rank Dempsey over some of the great non-HWs of that era, and maybe not Wills himself.

Wills's resume was terrific and did the heavy lifting and fighting the tough contenders countless times while Dempsey was champ.

Dempsey never ducked anyone. When he lost to Gene Tunney he was a shadow of what he once was. Dempsey would of destroyed Lennox Louis. I can see it happening easily. People were accusing him of plastering his gloves! Thats how hard he hit, he would open up on Louis's body and within round 4-5 Lennox would be done.

Unless their skin happened to be a little dark...

Unless their skin happened to be a little dark...

http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/image.php?u=54861&dateline=1212766826

Jack Dempsey is a all time great heavyweight and a great fighter, One of the most popular fighters that ever lived due to his non stop remorseless swarming attack and his KO power, Jack Dempsey was one of the most famoust people of his era if the most famous, he created the first millon doller gate for boxing and was a huge draw. But i don't think he was the best fighter of all time, when he won the world title against Jesse Wilard he was belived to have dipped his bandagers in cament, and due to this nearly every punch wilard was hit with he went down with and wilard also suffered server injures breaking willards jaw, ribs cheekbone and also he was coughing up blood, he stopped wilard in 3 Rounds. And also Harry Greb was belived to have had the better of him in sparring. But besides that Dempsey was a great fighter and if you wanna call him the greasest that your view, and will be remembered as one of the best to ever lace them up and paved the way for such fighters like Liston,Tyson Frazier and so on .

Dempsey was ahead of his time but he was very flawed defensively, he was really good on offense with his smothering attack as well as his combinations both to the body and head but I have trouble seeing Dempsey beating the best of the best at heavyweight.

Dempsey bad defense? In what world? Have you seen Dempsey's full fights and not just knockout clips. If all you have ever seen were is swarming knockouts then I can see how you would think that Dempsey had flawed defense. But someone who has watched his fights in full would be amazed at the exposition of the bob and weave.

Unless their skin happened to be a little dark...

To be fair to Dempsey, he signed to fight Harry Wills twice. But Tex Rickard, the big promoter of the day was determined not to promote another black vs white title fight, after the race riots which followed Johnson vs Jeffries.

Before becoming champ he did fight John Lester Johnson, who was black.

Dempsey was ahead of his time but he was very flawed defensively, he was really good on offense with his smothering attack as well as his combinations both to the body and head but I have trouble seeing Dempsey beating the best of the best at heavyweight.


he perfected the Bob and Weav that both Dempsey and tyson used

Dempsey bad defense? In what world? Have you seen Dempsey's full fights and not just knockout clips. If all you have ever seen were is swarming knockouts then I can see how you would think that Dempsey had flawed defense. But someone who has watched his fights in full would be amazed at the exposition of the bob and weave.

I've seen full fights of Dempsey, he sometimes also leans too far forward when he threw right hands, changing stances when he didn't want to, he was also open to right hands when because of how low he kept his left.

His bobbing and weaving was great but he could get tagged when he wasn't doing that because of his low hands and sometimes he would just rush forward without head movement.

In reply to Kid McCoy, yes he did face a black contender in John Lester Johnson, but the match was a draw, which a few paper decisions at the time had Johnson winning. Johnson also broke 3 of Dempseys ribs, and made his name in the Light Heavyweight division. John Lester Johnson is also the only man Dempsey never gave a rematch to after no clear winner, whereas he was given rematches in the losses he was recieving to the likes of Jack Downey and Johnny Sudenberg.