I am pretty sure of this. Can I prove it? Of course not, but I feel its impossible for any man to dish out that sort of beating to one so much bigger than him, with just fists, in a short period of time. Shattered jaw, teeth missing, partial hearing-loss? In a round? His gloves were loaded.
According to some sources Willard's injuries were greatly exaggerated afterwards to build up Dempsey's reputation. If this is the case, then the bout doesn't seem so weird anymore: a guy with revolutionary skills whups a totally skilless guy, belting him every time he tries to get up from the floor. If Willard actually had all the injuries reported, then I do agree with your suspicion, but I think it is more likely that he didn't get beaten that bad. No way would he have fought two more rounds being that damaged
There WEREN'T Any Boxing Commissions Back Then, so ANY Fighter from that Era Can Be Accused of LOADING their Gloves...Speaking of Gloves, There was about as Much PADDING in the 1's Dempsey Wore, as there is in Gloves Worn Today by MMAists...If an ACCOMPLISHED Fighter Hits a Man Enough Times, w/BARELY Padded Gloves, he's Gonna Do a TON of Damage...Most MMAists AREN'T Terribly Adept w/their Hands, yet U See ALOT of Damage Done w/MINIMAL Shots.... Gene Tunney, who was 10x the Fighter Jess Willard Ever was, was All but KO'ed by Jack Dempsey...Dempsey could BANG, Plain & Simple...Dempsey Threw & More Importantly LANDED a TON of Shots in the Willard Fight...Hell, in his 70's, Dempsey Still hit Hard Enough to DEFEND himself from Being Double Teamed in an Attempted MUGGING.... REED:fightme:
Ugo has a good theory, maybe the injuries weren't that bad. @ Reed: yes, I've seen MMA fights.......and guys are bludgeoned from punches from average "strikers". Its possibly both...he got bashed up...but not that badly Then again, when you consider that a stadium was built especially for one of his fights {a 60,000 seater, all wooden} it's not hard to see how it was all basically "laid on" for Dempsey.
Honestly, I don't think he loaded them any more than what was common practice at the time... I also think Willard's injuries have likely been exaggerated over the years Let's also not forget that Willard was a lousy, lazy lug of a man who was hit about 9 million times in the fight... Dempsey could have hit like Juan Diaz and he would have inflicted some damage with all of those shots
Three actually, reports disagree on whether or not the bell sounded for fourth round but Willard didn't get up for it.
I never said it went one round, the reports were that he quit as a result of the injuries he picked up in the first round.
yeah but you can't know for sure if all injuries occured in round one. Plus it's not hard to believe that someone with a defense that bad could get badly injured quickly by a good and accurate puncher that Dempsey was for the time. If he really loaded up good enough Willard woulda stayed down instead of getting up a bazillion times.
Dempsey did hit him a fuckload of times..and it wasnt just one round that whole 'hit someone before they get up' thing was so stupid :scratcher: i always feel like Jack Dempsey's hair should be talked about more...goat? :dunno:
His hair is not even close to being as thick, shiny, varnished and exuberant as the majestic Duran barnet.
The best Jack Dempsey story is when, at age 72, he decked two would-be muggers near his old restaurant
when i first got online at the old 'boxtalk' forum the dempsey hype was unbelievable. i understand the guy could hit and was a different type of fighter than the rest of the stiffs around back then, but damn some of these tales were just fantasy. i think i read that dempsey and duran walked around the paddock at churchill downs and KOd the entire field for the kentucky derby one year.
Sounds PLAUSIBLE to REED... Curtis Cokes in WELL Into his 70's, yet it's NOT Hard to Imagine Him Fighting Off 1 or 2 "Regular" Guys in a BRIEF Skirmish...He's in Very Good Shape, Moves Around like he's in his 40's or 50's and Has his WITS about him Still... A Couple Years Ago, REED All but DARED Mr. Cokes to Show that he Still Had it on the Speed Bag...He Finished his Adult Beverage, Walked Down the Steps to his Gym & Went to Work on the Bag like he was Training for a World Title Fight...No, it Wasn't Some Over the Top, Look-into-the-Camera, Mayweather Type of Shit, but it was VERY Impressive for a 70 Year Old Man...& it was BETTER than Anything REED Could Replicate (& REED Can Hold his Own on Most Boxing Apparatus)... w/Jack Dempsey being a BIGGER, More Naturally AGGRESSIVE Man than Curtis Cokes, it's EASY for REED to Believe that he Fought Off Some Muggers.... REED:fist:
:: thats true...the gloves are obviously designed for giving guys handjobs in the change room after the fight
same... I don't see any reason to doubt its authenticity. Seems plausible enough, well dressed elderly man looks like an easy mark for some young thieves, they take a shot at him, probably not on guard at all, expecting it to be easy and the old man's instincts, obviously well honed from his old career, kick in and he drops them. I'm sure there is a newspaper story somewhere from the time it happened, if anyone was bothered enough to spend all day combing through microfiche at the NY public library, Great Cokes story, BTW:hammert:
