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The Willard mention was worth noting, as is the Dempsey VS Firpo bout.
Personally think all the totally unproven talk about Dempsey's gloves in the Willard fight is bull
- watch the bout, that's the only explanation you need.
Absolutely savage stuff.
Dempsey much smaller than todays heavyweights but an incredible puncher, & extremely good at getting inside bigger mens reach.
Both Willard & Firpo were of a size with the big men of today, & Dempsey annihilated them (ignoring the fact that neither was much of a boxer, they were still both experienced pro's).
Personally, I'd go for Gene Tunney, one of the most under-rated fighters of all time.
Although Tunney came up from Light-Heavy, he was quite possibly the most complete fighter up to that point in history, & set the road-map for those that came later.
He could brawl when necessary (the later fights with Greb), punch, and was among the most advanced strategic boxers of all time (think that only Sugar Ray Leonard was on the same level as a strategic fighter).
He got put down at the time for way he fought Dempsey, but here was a guy who studied Dempsey, worked out the perfect fight plan, & did exactly what was needed in training (running hundreds of miles backwards, & working out how to throw effective punches while doing it), then executed it perfectly, & did similar stuff in many of his bouts.
The second Dempsey bout controversy ignores that by the last few rounds Tunney recovered completely, & gave Dempsey a pasting, dropping him in the process.
If we are talking about the quality of the fighter, you can't go past Tunney.
Personally think all the totally unproven talk about Dempsey's gloves in the Willard fight is bull
- watch the bout, that's the only explanation you need.
Absolutely savage stuff.
Dempsey much smaller than todays heavyweights but an incredible puncher, & extremely good at getting inside bigger mens reach.
Both Willard & Firpo were of a size with the big men of today, & Dempsey annihilated them (ignoring the fact that neither was much of a boxer, they were still both experienced pro's).
Personally, I'd go for Gene Tunney, one of the most under-rated fighters of all time.
Although Tunney came up from Light-Heavy, he was quite possibly the most complete fighter up to that point in history, & set the road-map for those that came later.
He could brawl when necessary (the later fights with Greb), punch, and was among the most advanced strategic boxers of all time (think that only Sugar Ray Leonard was on the same level as a strategic fighter).
He got put down at the time for way he fought Dempsey, but here was a guy who studied Dempsey, worked out the perfect fight plan, & did exactly what was needed in training (running hundreds of miles backwards, & working out how to throw effective punches while doing it), then executed it perfectly, & did similar stuff in many of his bouts.
The second Dempsey bout controversy ignores that by the last few rounds Tunney recovered completely, & gave Dempsey a pasting, dropping him in the process.
If we are talking about the quality of the fighter, you can't go past Tunney.
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