Jack Dempsey vs Lennox Lewis in their prime

[ShoulderRoll]

What's the over/under on how many of Lennox's ribs prime Jack Dempsey would break?

[Willow The Wisp]

I guess allot of those 2009 posters are long gone. So why respond to their opinions? If I did, I'd certainly challenge the idea that the fighters of Lewis' era fought differently than those of Dempsey's. Ray Arcel trained Benny Leonard and Roberto Duran and used to laugh out loud when people said those things.

[Willow The Wisp]

A well thought out reply! I certainly will agree that there are some posters who believe the old-timers are always better. The difference is that on the whole they tend to be a lot less obnoxious than most (not all) of the "present day blows away yesterday" crowd. That's why I respond most often to their posts. My personal view is that while the Heavyweight division has historically had it's ups and downs (unrelated to the passing of time), for boxing as a whole no era is inherently superior to another. Every era has produced it's share of greats and just because the Heavyweight division is threadbare at a given point in time doesn't mean the lower weight classes aren't producing great fighters. Case in point: In the 80s the Heavyweight division was pretty poor but look at what the Welters and Middleweights produced.

As far as Tyson and Dempsey, I think the connection runs a bit deeper than simply "inspired". I think "patterned" is a more accurate term. While Tyson's style of fighting was tweaked to better fit his own unique strengths and weaknesses I'm not so sure it was made "better". Dempsey was a better in-fighter than Tyson for example, while Mike preferred to fight at mid-range where he could get maximum leverage on his punches. Every fighter is a unique individual and I don't think there are any "exact matches". For the record I think Tyson Vs. Lewis is a terrific matchup and I'd favor Mike to win a 10 fight series 6 to 4. I don't see Tyson having it all his way any more than I see Lennox "mopping the floor" with Mike as some posters have made out.

Boxing may well not be the same sport it was 40 years ago but "not the same" doesn't equal "better". Watch Joe Walcott's fights for example: He did a lot of things that might be considered something of a "lost art" today. He had a lot of tricks of the trade that you only see Hopkins and Toney (both of whom watched Walcott heavily and took notes) doing which is the key to their success in recent years. There's quite a bit that current fighters could learn about technique from those old-timers.

PS. Keep posting in this section! You're a damn good poster and we need people like you with all the trolls we have running around. Green K given!

Poet

Starship Trooper, this is an excellent post.

[billeau2]

Jack is destroyed 1st round only trolls say jack would win

Youve been destroyed, discredited, laughed at... Sonny boy in his day was a decent troll as well, but had real knowledge unlike you.

[StarshipTrooper]

Starship Trooper, this is an excellent post.

Back before boxing analysis was beat out of me by trolls, nuthuggers, and azzholes.....

[StarshipTrooper]

Youve been destroyed, discredited, laughed at... Sonny boy in his day was a decent troll as well, but had real knowledge unlike you.

Odd thing, by the end of my first run here I actually got along with Sonny Boy

[billeau2]

Odd thing, by the end of first run I actually got along with Sonny Boy

Dude had some chops! Just a pathological hatred for Lennox Lewis. made Iron Dan look like a Ward fan as much as Sonny Boy despised Lewis lol. I actually miss his presence here, truth be told.

[billeau2]

Back before boxing analysis was beat out of me by trolls, nuthuggers, and azzholes.....

[StarshipTrooper]

Dude had some chops! Just a pathological hatred for Lennox Lewis. made Iron Dan look like a Ward fan as much as Sonny Boy despised Lewis lol. I actually miss his presence here, truth be told.

Yeah, where certain fighters were concerned Sonny was like sandpaper on a ******** Generally knew his shlt as long as you stayed away from his trigger fighters

[Willow The Wisp]

Back before boxing analysis was beat out of me by trolls, nuthuggers, and azzholes.....

I recognized a difference. I posted elsewhere from abt. 2002 - 2010 and found my contributions had largely become rude and dismissive; and I took a decade off. Lol.