Quote Originally Posted by Beanflicker View Post
Quote Originally Posted by greynotsoold View Post
My personal opinion on that is the difference in styles. Louis was very measured and methodical, while Dempsey was very violent in his approach.
Yeah that sounds about right. If they were old enough to watch both, chances are (coming from that time) they weren't too keen on rating a black champion over a white champion either.

I always thought Dempsey was over-rated, and after reading "A Flame of Pure Fire" I get the feeling that Kearns protected him well (especially against strong/slick black fighters). His skills are archiac and a true ring general like Louis would have smashed him. Tunney exposed him as a brawler in my eyes.
He was certainly protected; he was the meal ticket for a whole boatload of people, and he kept them fed very well for a very long time. On his way up, he fought and beat every contender. Even when he was champ, I don't believe Dempsey would have protected himself, because he was a fighter, but he was also a professional fighter and it is a money game.
I have a standard answer for anybody that says Dempsey's skills are archaic, over-rated, non-existent, etc...Go read up on the "Dempsey Triples", learn what they are and how to do those moves. Then walk into any gym in this world, and start busting out the Dempsey Triples on the heavy bag- not sparring, not in the ring, just on the bag- and I guarantee you that every eye in that place will be on you. If you were to pull a "Triple" off in sparring, there would be people throwing money at you.