Jack Dempsey vs Lennox Lewis in their prime

[Mugwump]

Dempsey with his aggression and power would be a threat. No doubt about it. But Lewis was always at his best when he felt threatened by a fighter. I'm sure he'd box very cautiously for the first three or four rounds, looking to keep Dempsey out of range with the jab and then tie him up and lean all over him if he did get inside.

Dempsey would be in a frustrating position. Lewis jab (whilst underused during his career) was pretty effective and heavy. Far too heavy for Dempsey to keep taking round after round. And when he closes the distance he's forced into a wrestling match with a guy maybe fourty pounds heavier. That would sap the strength of any fighter.

Around the fourth or the fifth Lewis has got his aim and away go the big bombs. Dempsey would do well to last more than two rounds.

[RightCross94]

Tyson, Holyfield,

Umm, both those guys weighed over 200 lbs, Dempsey was barely 185. Plus, they had good skills. Not saying Dempsey had no skills, but he was definitely lacking compared to most other great HW's.

[RightCross94]

Tyson was not the same size as Dempsey and Holyfield never dominated the division.

Ermm, he beat 6 contenders, won the undisputed title, and defended it for 2 years....how is that not domination.

Plus he won it back.

[RightCross94]

2" taller and about 25lbs of muscle lighter. Holyfield's run from 90-92 encompassed wins over Douglas, Cooper, Foreman and Holmes, who were hardly terrors of the division. He was dominant at cruiser but not heavy, where he was always hot and cold. His record against the best superheavies he faced, Bowe and Lewis, is 1-3-1. Not exactly inspiring.

He was well, well past his best when he fought Lewis, plus he was still competitive with him. He fought stupid vs Bowe the first time, then followed the gameplan better and beat him in the 2nd fight. The 3rd fight he had no legs, was past prime and suffering from Hepatitis.

Ok, who were the terrors of the division then?

[sonnyboyx2]

Blah Blah Blah, by your theory Carl Froch would be able to beat Lewis lmao

Yes Lewis was a big man, but he was a big man with Skill.

where was these skills when he fought from 92-02 did he show them against Bruno, McCall, Butler, Fortune, Grant, Botha, Jackson, Tua, Morrison who was all on the downside of their career`s... Lennox Lewis needed 8rds to get rid of a "Heavily-Sedated"Mike Tyson.. Lennox Lewis was `nothing special` he was a British/Canadian thing`and will be remembered as the only heavyweight champion who took a belt out of the garbage can and refused to fight the No1 contenders so was stripped of the belt.

Lewis fans go on about this "Great-Jab" of Lewis, when and against who did he show us this imaginary great jab? Frank Bruno easily out-jabbed Lewis.

Lewis was poleaxed by 2 journeymen who was no better than sparring-partner material, yet Lewis fans claim their man could beat Legendary fighters like Frazier, Foreman, Ali, Dempsey, Marciano & Joe Louis.. these Lewis huggers are exactly the kind of people who know nothing about this great sport, they are still in "playground mode" my dad is bigger than your dad, my brother is 14yrs and yours is only 12yrs blah blah blah

[sonnyboyx2]

Dempsey with his aggression and power would be a threat. No doubt about it. But Lewis was always at his best when he felt threatened by a fighter. I'm sure he'd box very cautiously for the first three or four rounds, looking to keep Dempsey out of range with the jab and then tie him up and lean all over him if he did get inside.

Dempsey would be in a frustrating position. Lewis jab (whilst underused during his career) was pretty effective and heavy. Far too heavy for Dempsey to keep taking round after round. And when he closes the distance he's forced into a wrestling match with a guy maybe fourty pounds heavier. That would sap the strength of any fighter.

Around the fourth or the fifth Lewis has got his aim and away go the big bombs. Dempsey would do well to last more than two rounds.

which fight of Lennox Lewis can i watch so as to see this mythical Great Jab that will keep the most ferocious champion in history Jack Dempsey at bay... i look forward to your reply

[Equilibrium]

There are plenty of people who make the current crop of fighters sound like invincible gods. Why is that ok?



While a case can be made regarding technique and the turn of the century fighters even then a blanket statement is inaccurate. The truth is there hasn't been any huge breakthrough in boxing technique in decades. You can see fighters from the 40s fighting exactly the same way people do in this era. Some (Jersey Joe Walcott comes to mind) were more technichally proficient than anyone from today.

There is kind of a cult of "progress" around today that assumes that everyting improves exponentially with each generation. They've been misled by technological advancement and mistakenly extend it to every aspect of life. The truth is not everything improves with the passing years. Some things (boxing included) came to their fullest extent of significant knowledge long ago and there isn't anything major to discover left. Others have had knowledge regress as those fields became less and less important to mankind over the passing years (combat with swords for example is irrelivant in the modern world). Also bear in mind that just because people do something differently today doesn't mean they do it better ie. Wlad's way of fighting may be different from Ali's but that doesn't make it a better way of fighting.



Mike Tyson patterned his own style of fighting after Dempsey's. Are you one of those that think Lennox "mops the floor" with a prime Tyson? I certainly don't. I think it's a competive matchup and the idea that Lewis steamrolls Tyson is absurd.



The past is part of the real world ie. it's different from fiction/fantasy. The past actually happened and had real human beings participating in it. You may say you live in the "now" but if that's the case how does that differentiate you from the lower species? Animals live in the "now" having no concept of the past and lacking the ability to conceive of the future. Aren't you limiting yourself? Unless man lives in the past, present, AND future he isn't fulfilling his intellectual potential and can't be said to be any different from the wild beasts.

Poet

First i do agree that some people give current fighters too much praise and act like fighters from years past too little. But the opposite is also true, if you don't beleive me just look at sonnyboyx2's posts.

On the technique part, you simply cannot tell me that the way Dempsey fought would work for any fighter nowadays. I am aware that Tyson inspired his style on some of the things Dempsey did, but you have to admit that Tyson and Cus D'Amato made it much better. I need to put emphasis on the word "inspired". Because i think Tyson had his own style. For the record, no. I don't beleive Lewis would beat a prime Tyson, i actually think Lewis would get knocked out by a prime Tyson.

As far as the "i live in the present" line. It was just my way of saying that i am realistic. Jack Dempsey was a great champion for his time and i have nothing but respect for the man. However saying that he would still be the best against some of the greatest modern heavyweights is just living in the past and refusing to admit boxing is not the same sport it was 80 or even 40 years ago.

[RightCross94]

well documented post with excellent and accurate points made throughout

You are right in saying it was a good post, it was.

But what annoys me is these matchups always turn into a ****fight of "old vs new"....can't it just be a simple head to head matchup ?

Truth is, Lennox kills Dempsey. But it's also extremely likely that Ray Robinson would have schooled Carl Froch and Ko'd Jermain Taylor.

[Kid McCoy]

Ermm, he beat 6 contenders, won the undisputed title, and defended it for 2 years....how is that not domination.

Plus he won it back.

So three title defences over two years against moderate opposition equates to dominance? Sure he won the belt back a few times, although he only held part of the title thereafter and had to keep winning it back because he kept losing it.

Btw, I wasn't accusing Holyfield of ducking anyone from 90-92. He fought what was there, the opposition just wasn't that great. It wasn't really what I had in mind when I asked for the last time a Dempsey-sized heavyweight dominated the division for Sonnyboy to be so sure of him picking him over Lewis.

[Dynamite Kid]

sonnyboyx2 + Lewis thread =throffing at the mouth.

I love your passion sonnyboyx2