Is Dempsey still a top 10 ATG Heavyweight in 2014?

[FilMor]

Is the Model T a top 10 car in 2014?
Will today's best car be a top 10 car in 3014?
Dempsey's career and accomplishments are to be viewed from the perspective of how he performed in his reality.. his era.
There's no point on discussing this type of threads.

[bklynboy]

Is the Model T a top 10 car in 2014?
Will today's best car be a top 10 car in 3014?
Dempsey's career and accomplishments are to be viewed from the perspective of how he performed in his reality.. his era.
There's no point on discussing this type of threads.

Human beings don't change as fast as technology. Do baseball pitchers throw harder than Walter Johnson? No. Mickey Mantle hit the longest home runs over 50 years ago. He holds the records for Yankee Stadium, old Comisky, old Tiger Stadium and Ted Williams holds the record in Fenway Park. If athletes are soooooo much better why would that be so?

(Furthermore human performance cannot be measured by the Olympics as the best athletes weren't competing 100 years ago.) Human genetics don't change in 4 generations.

[bklynboy]

Wladimir Klitschko has remained unbeaten for 10 years now, and is creeping on Larry Holmes, and Joe Louis's title defense record. My question is what did Dempsey accomplish in the 20s that could put him over Wlad at this point?

Dempsey lost against Tunney, and for various reasons never faced Wills, Langford, Greb, or Johnson. I personally like Dempsey better, I think hes more exciting, but Im hard pressed to say he dominated the 1920s the way Wlad has dominated the 2010s.

Dempsey did not have a noteworthy reign and does not (IMHO) deserve a spot on the TOP 10. I avoided putting WK in because he hasn't retired and I didn't want to set off a debate about his ATG ranking.

[KO'er]

I think he is still top 10. Something to be said for being undisputed champion all those years.

Thought he wasn't active in some of them. He even acted in movies between fights!!

[bklynboy]

Thought he wasn't active in some of them. He even acted in movies between fights!!

No he wasn't very active. Fought about once a year for the first 4 years and then went about 3 years without a fight before taking on Tunney.

[Pigeons]

I once watched some footage from a Dempsey fight. I noticed after knockdowns a fighter did not have to go to the neutral corner, he was allowed to start winging punches as soon as the opponent attempted to rise.

This was when I realized I knew very little about boxing.

[bklynboy]

I once watched some footage from a Dempsey fight. I noticed after knockdowns a fighter did not have to go to the neutral corner, he was allowed to start winging punches as soon as the opponent attempted to rise.

This was when I realized I knew very little about boxing.

Yeah. See my earlier posts in this thread. That's part of what makes it difficult comparing fighters from pre-1920 with the present.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Nope... Never fought black guys...

Great action fighter, but not an atg IMO

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Just with my own eyes in my lifetime.. Guys that beat him

Foreman
Evander
Bowe
Tyson
Lennox
Wlad
Vitali
Toney

Honestly, Dempsey would be hard pressed to beat Ray mercer, Tim Witherspoon, tony tucker, David tua, Ike ibeubuchi

[bklynboy]

Just with my own eyes in my lifetime.. Guys that beat him

Foreman
Evander
Bowe
Tyson
Lennox
Wlad
Vitali
Toney

Honestly, Dempsey would be hard pressed to beat Ray mercer, Tim Witherspoon, tony tucker, David tua, Ike ibeubuchi

That's the way I see it when I look at the film. But what do you take of guys (professionals - boxers, trainers, etc...) who saw him, Schmelling, Louis, Patterson, Liston fight and ranked Dempsey right up there as one of the best ever?

It's said that Cus D'Amato patterned Iron Mike Tyson around Dempsey (from the nickname Iron Mike, to the black shoes w/o socks, to the towel made into a poncho to the bob-and-weave style.