Jack Dempseys All time Standing
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Boilermaker
- Light Heavyweight
- Posts: 419
- Joined: 14 Dec 2011, 11:36
Jack Dempseys All time Standing
Where does this board sit on the topic of Jack Dempsey.
For mine he is one of the hardest fighters of all time to rate. Sometimes i feel as if he is vastly underated and capable of beating anyone and others i go with the overating of Jack Dempsey.
At the moment I am leaning towards placing him somewhere around 10th or so. Maybe even a touch lower. More than any other fighter, i find that he climbs up and down my all time ratings depending on the mood. How does the board currently see his legacy?
For mine he is one of the hardest fighters of all time to rate. Sometimes i feel as if he is vastly underated and capable of beating anyone and others i go with the overating of Jack Dempsey.
At the moment I am leaning towards placing him somewhere around 10th or so. Maybe even a touch lower. More than any other fighter, i find that he climbs up and down my all time ratings depending on the mood. How does the board currently see his legacy?
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SaadOffTheDeck
- Heavyweight

- Posts: 19602
- Joined: 04 Jun 2009, 07:38
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
I'd rate him in the top 100, and just outside the top 10 at heavyweight.
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Vano-irons
- Light Heavyweight
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- Joined: 28 Dec 2011, 16:35
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
I'm completely the same as the OP on this one. For a long time he was outside my top 10, but after some revision I feel he deserves to be rated 10th or so. He has a fabulous resume, awesome power, and a good chin.
He helped revolutionise the sport in America also.
I now have him scraping my top 10
He helped revolutionise the sport in America also.
I now have him scraping my top 10
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Alan Partridge
- Light Heavyweight
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Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
#8 HEAVYWEIGHT (post Johnson) and around #35 p4p
He was truly great and Imagine if he was around in the modern days as a CW he would go down as the greatest CW ever. I think he would've destroyed Holyfield with ease.
He was truly great and Imagine if he was around in the modern days as a CW he would go down as the greatest CW ever. I think he would've destroyed Holyfield with ease.
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
I would tend to agree with the above statements about Dempsey being difficult to place.
The biggest criticsm of Dempsey that I mostly hear was the fact that he only had seven World Title defences in seven years. And so, he could have been much more active.
Regarding his standard of opposition, I would not describe it as "fabulous", but it is of a good standard.
Betaing: J Sharkey, Gibbons, Firpo, Carpentier, Miske (X2), Willard and Gunboat Smith (X2) (and Smith was as game as they come).
Ultimately the fact that he never fought Harry Wills will always put a big ??? over his career, and critics will certainly jump on this and accuse him of running from Wills.
For my part, I think he would have beaten Wills - so I don't rate the fact they never fought as significant as his critics will.
And the other thing I would add in "The Long Count" - when he had Tuuney down for 13 seconds, that, for me, confirmed him as a great Heavyweight because this was a Dempsey past his prime and he was still able to hurt Tunney - on eof the greatest Light Heavys of all time.
I always tend to rate mt top 10 on who-would beat-who, and in that measurement there aren't many Haveyweights who could have beaten Dempsey, so I ranks him somehwere between 5-7 (alongside Frazier & Johnson)

The biggest criticsm of Dempsey that I mostly hear was the fact that he only had seven World Title defences in seven years. And so, he could have been much more active.
Regarding his standard of opposition, I would not describe it as "fabulous", but it is of a good standard.
Betaing: J Sharkey, Gibbons, Firpo, Carpentier, Miske (X2), Willard and Gunboat Smith (X2) (and Smith was as game as they come).
Ultimately the fact that he never fought Harry Wills will always put a big ??? over his career, and critics will certainly jump on this and accuse him of running from Wills.
For my part, I think he would have beaten Wills - so I don't rate the fact they never fought as significant as his critics will.
And the other thing I would add in "The Long Count" - when he had Tuuney down for 13 seconds, that, for me, confirmed him as a great Heavyweight because this was a Dempsey past his prime and he was still able to hurt Tunney - on eof the greatest Light Heavys of all time.
I always tend to rate mt top 10 on who-would beat-who, and in that measurement there aren't many Haveyweights who could have beaten Dempsey, so I ranks him somehwere between 5-7 (alongside Frazier & Johnson)
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Goodnight, Irene
- Heavyweight

- Posts: 9463
- Joined: 24 Sep 2007, 04:43
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
My #8 all-time Heavy.
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SaadOffTheDeck
- Heavyweight

- Posts: 19602
- Joined: 04 Jun 2009, 07:38
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
We aren't far off after all of our battles. I think I have him 12.
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
To which Jack Dempsey do you refer? The middleweight or heavyweight? (Boilermaker does like the old, old timers, after all.) One assumes the heavyweight Dempsey, but . . .Boilermaker wrote:Where does this board sit on the topic of Jack Dempsey.
For mine he is one of the hardest fighters of all time to rate. Sometimes i feel as if he is vastly underated and capable of beating anyone and others i go with the overating of Jack Dempsey.
At the moment I am leaning towards placing him somewhere around 10th or so. Maybe even a touch lower. More than any other fighter, i find that he climbs up and down my all time ratings depending on the mood. How does the board currently see his legacy?
Also, head-to-head ranking or historical significance? Or a combination?
Last edited by raylawpc on 30 Dec 2011, 13:06, edited 2 times in total.
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dempseyfire
- Heavyweight

- Posts: 5534
- Joined: 29 Oct 2003, 22:56
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
Top #5 all time for me. But I can certainly see arguments for him being somewhere in the #6-10 range.
Dempsey is hurt by the poor quality film of the era and that people under-rate the fighters he beat pre-Willard.
Dempsey is hurt by the poor quality film of the era and that people under-rate the fighters he beat pre-Willard.
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The Great John L
- Heavyweight

- Posts: 4351
- Joined: 26 Jul 2005, 19:37
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
#5 is where I have him as well, but bottom half of the top 10 seems reasonable as well. When it comes to ATG HWs, it's basically Ali/Louis and then everybody else.dempseyfire wrote:Top #5 all time for me. But I can certainly see arguments for him being somewhere in the #6-10 range.
Dempsey is hurt by the poor quality film of the era and that people under-rate the fighters he beat pre-Willard.
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
He's one of the best 5 HWs of all timeBoilermaker wrote:Where does this board sit on the topic of Jack Dempsey.
For mine he is one of the hardest fighters of all time to rate. Sometimes i feel as if he is vastly underated and capable of beating anyone and others i go with the overating of Jack Dempsey.
At the moment I am leaning towards placing him somewhere around 10th or so. Maybe even a touch lower. More than any other fighter, i find that he climbs up and down my all time ratings depending on the mood. How does the board currently see his legacy?
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Boilermaker
- Light Heavyweight
- Posts: 419
- Joined: 14 Dec 2011, 11:36
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
raylawpc wrote:To which Jack Dempsey do you refer? The middleweight or heavyweight? (Boilermaker does like the old, old timers, after all.) One assumes the heavyweight Dempsey, but . . .Boilermaker wrote:Where does this board sit on the topic of Jack Dempsey.
For mine he is one of the hardest fighters of all time to rate. Sometimes i feel as if he is vastly underated and capable of beating anyone and others i go with the overating of Jack Dempsey.
At the moment I am leaning towards placing him somewhere around 10th or so. Maybe even a touch lower. More than any other fighter, i find that he climbs up and down my all time ratings depending on the mood. How does the board currently see his legacy?
Also, head-to-head ranking or historical significance? Or a combination?
Maybe I should clarify. I was talking about the World champion Jack Dempsey who lost to the fighting Marine
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Boilermaker
- Light Heavyweight
- Posts: 419
- Joined: 14 Dec 2011, 11:36
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
I agree that i think he would have beaten Wills as well. But it isnt just wills he managed to avoid. Many people will claim he also avoided Greb as well. And ultimately lost to Tunney. Looking back at it I think that Jack Johnson should have been a lot closer than people realise to getting a shot, and you would think that this would have been a huge money fight. Between Wills and Johnson, there is two of the biggest drawing fights you can think of (Wills was the second highest paid and drawing fighter of the era). He did miss quite a few.Crease wrote:I would tend to agree with the above statements about Dempsey being difficult to place.
The biggest criticsm of Dempsey that I mostly hear was the fact that he only had seven World Title defences in seven years. And so, he could have been much more active.
Regarding his standard of opposition, I would not describe it as "fabulous", but it is of a good standard.
Betaing: J Sharkey, Gibbons, Firpo, Carpentier, Miske (X2), Willard and Gunboat Smith (X2) (and Smith was as game as they come).
Ultimately the fact that he never fought Harry Wills will always put a big ??? over his career, and critics will certainly jump on this and accuse him of running from Wills.
For my part, I think he would have beaten Wills - so I don't rate the fact they never fought as significant as his critics will.
And the other thing I would add in "The Long Count" - when he had Tuuney down for 13 seconds, that, for me, confirmed him as a great Heavyweight because this was a Dempsey past his prime and he was still able to hurt Tunney - on eof the greatest Light Heavys of all time.
I always tend to rate mt top 10 on who-would beat-who, and in that measurement there aren't many Haveyweights who could have beaten Dempsey, so I ranks him somehwere between 5-7 (alongside Frazier & Johnson)
On the other hand, he did agree to fight Wills once, Johnson fight may have resulted in the banning of boxing, he was so hated politically, and does anyone really give Greb a serious chance against Johnson?
On the one hand he ripped through his challengers, decimating the two superheavys he faced, showing great chin and boxing ability. ON the other hand, he was Kod in a round by Flynn (some say, i think wrongly) it was a dive.
His punching looks crisp and powerful in Mike tyson type manner sometimes and couldnt be more impressive, yet other times you watch and it looks like he is a wild swinger with no science.
His reign was 7 years with not many defences against fighters who are not the best available and who gave him serious troubles at times, when you look sometimes, yet other times it is a 7 year strong reign against some pretty good opponents who all came to fight and were all comprehensively beaten.
When past his best he KOd Sharkey and had Tunney down for a long count. Yet by the same token he lost all but one round against Tunney, and was losing against Sharkey until landing the KO shot that some say (again, wrongly i think) that he KOd him with a punch to the balls/hook combination.
There is such a wide interpretation on how good or not so good Jack Dempsey really was. In losing 19 out of 20 rounds to Tunney he was comprehensively beaten, yet many people see the fights as evidence that Prime Dempsey beats Tunney. Just so difficult to rank fairly, imo.
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
What the h--- are you talking about?Boilermaker wrote:It is good to see everyone agrees that Fitz beat a Fringe all time top 10 heavyweight contender whilst weighing less than 154 pounds
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Boilermaker
- Light Heavyweight
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- Joined: 14 Dec 2011, 11:36
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
I was talking about Fitzy's victory over the non Pareil and the Non Pareil's subsequent loss to the fighting Marine George Leblanche. What were you taking about?raylawpc wrote:What the h--- are you talking about?Boilermaker wrote:It is good to see everyone agrees that Fitz beat a Fringe all time top 10 heavyweight contender whilst weighing less than 154 pounds
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pound per pound
- Heavyweight

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Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
Welcome to the board Boilermaker. I too would place Dempsey around 10th.Boilermaker wrote:Where does this board sit on the topic of Jack Dempsey.
For mine he is one of the hardest fighters of all time to rate. Sometimes i feel as if he is vastly underated and capable of beating anyone and others i go with the overating of Jack Dempsey.
At the moment I am leaning towards placing him somewhere around 10th or so. Maybe even a touch lower. More than any other fighter, i find that he climbs up and down my all time ratings depending on the mood. How does the board currently see his legacy?
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
So . . . the Nonpariel was a fringe all-time top 10 heavyweight contender . . . what drugs are you on?Boilermaker wrote:I was talking about Fitzy's victory over the non Pareil and the Non Pareil's subsequent loss to the fighting Marine George Leblanche. What were you taking about?raylawpc wrote:What the h--- are you talking about?Boilermaker wrote:It is good to see everyone agrees that Fitz beat a Fringe all time top 10 heavyweight contender whilst weighing less than 154 pounds
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Boilermaker
- Light Heavyweight
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- Joined: 14 Dec 2011, 11:36
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
I think you missed this oneraylawpc wrote:So . . . the Nonpariel was a fringe all-time top 10 heavyweight contender . . . what drugs are you on?Boilermaker wrote:I was talking about Fitzy's victory over the non Pareil and the Non Pareil's subsequent loss to the fighting Marine George Leblanche. What were you taking about?raylawpc wrote: What the h--- are you talking about?
Suppose I better spell it out to avoid confusion. No I dont think the Non Pareil is a top 10 heavyweight. It was a joke based on both Jack Dempseys losing to the Fighting Marine.
In case you are wondering, I also have a little difficulty seeing Joe Walcott last the distance with Joe Louis. How about you?
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
I would put him right behind Gene Tunney.....the guy that beat him twice.
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
Jokes are supposed to be funny . . .Boilermaker wrote:I think you missed this oneraylawpc wrote:So . . . the Nonpariel was a fringe all-time top 10 heavyweight contender . . . what drugs are you on?Boilermaker wrote: I was talking about Fitzy's victory over the non Pareil and the Non Pareil's subsequent loss to the fighting Marine George Leblanche. What were you taking about?or was it his one
or this
DD or
or
:( :??
Suppose I better spell it out to avoid confusion. No I dont think the Non Pareil is a top 10 heavyweight. It was a joke based on both Jack Dempseys losing to the Fighting Marine.
In case you are wondering, I also have a little difficulty seeing Joe Walcott last the distance with Joe Louis. How about you?
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thunderfromdownunder
- Heavyweight

- Posts: 1789
- Joined: 15 May 2005, 06:55
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
[quote="Alan PartridgeHe was truly great and Imagine if he was around in the modern days as a CW he would go down as the greatest CW ever. I think he would've destroyed Holyfield with ease.[/quote]
Great fantasy match up!
Great fantasy match up!
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Boilermaker
- Light Heavyweight
- Posts: 419
- Joined: 14 Dec 2011, 11:36
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
raylawpc wrote:To which Jack Dempsey do you refer? The middleweight or heavyweight? (Boilermaker does like the old, old timers, after all.) One assumes the heavyweight Dempsey, but . . .Boilermaker wrote:Where does this board sit on the topic of Jack Dempsey.
For mine he is one of the hardest fighters of all time to rate. Sometimes i feel as if he is vastly underated and capable of beating anyone and others i go with the overating of Jack Dempsey.
At the moment I am leaning towards placing him somewhere around 10th or so. Maybe even a touch lower. More than any other fighter, i find that he climbs up and down my all time ratings depending on the mood. How does the board currently see his legacy?
Also, head-to-head ranking or historical significance? Or a combination?
I Thought it started as your joke
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
Well, the guy has to be up there as an ATG. After all, he is the only boxer that I know of that they names a species of fish after. (The Jack Dempsey, a cichlid type of fight that is known to be agressive)
![[icon_notworthy.gif] :bow:](./images/smilies/icon_notworthy.gif)
Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
No, I was serious given your stated goal of getting "the board" to accept Fitz as greatest All-Time fighter P4P. That and given your affinity for old time fighters, it seemed reasonable you might be talking about the middleweight Dempsey, especially since Fitz beat that Dempsey for the middleweight title.Boilermaker wrote:raylawpc wrote:To which Jack Dempsey do you refer? The middleweight or heavyweight? (Boilermaker does like the old, old timers, after all.) One assumes the heavyweight Dempsey, but . . .Boilermaker wrote:Where does this board sit on the topic of Jack Dempsey.
For mine he is one of the hardest fighters of all time to rate. Sometimes i feel as if he is vastly underated and capable of beating anyone and others i go with the overating of Jack Dempsey.
At the moment I am leaning towards placing him somewhere around 10th or so. Maybe even a touch lower. More than any other fighter, i find that he climbs up and down my all time ratings depending on the mood. How does the board currently see his legacy?
Also, head-to-head ranking or historical significance? Or a combination?
I Thought it started as your joke![]()
Saying someone is the greatest head-to-head is not the same as saying one is the greatest, based on other factors such as historical significance, level of opposition, etc. So I always seek clarification when one asks for these "ATG" rankings.
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Goodnight, Irene
- Heavyweight

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Re: Jack Dempseys All time Standing
In the same family, theres also the equally-aggressive, 'Oscar.'Badhusker wrote:Well, the guy has to be up there as an ATG. After all, he is the only boxer that I know of that they names a species of fish after. (The Jack Dempsey, a cichlid type of fight that is known to be agressive)