I understand your bias against the weight of Dempsey.
The old-time fighters were smaller men. They weighed less, and when we look at their pictures they look like scrawny riff-raff instead of athletes.
The fact is that many of the heavy-weights of yesteryear would be light heavyweights today.
Marciano is a case in point....he only weighed 185 pounds, and was short of height and reach.
So when you consider the well-muscled and larger man, Norton, is is easy to understand how it would appear that these earlier athletes could be outclassed. Further, modern records of Olympic athletes of all kinds demonstrate that technology of training, steroids, and improved diet have made modern athletes superior to their forefathers.
Interestingly, Angelo Dundee, Ali's trainer, asserted that these old-time fighters were stronger men. He said they had tougher lives (Dempsey was a hobo for awhile), and did hard manual labour.
They had no central heat, took cold showers, and were lucky when they ate.
Surprisingly, the slim Dempsey tall for his time.... 6'1" and he had a 77 inch reach.
So, he was not exactly tiny.
It gets more interesting still when we examine his record....He had 11 more knockouts in his career than Norton, won 10 more fights, and had 19 more fights overall.
Despite all the great heavyweights of history, Dempsey still makes number 10 on The Ring's list of all-time heavyweights. And, he is ranked at number 7 among its Top 100 Greatest Punchers. These accolades must be considered carefully, as a lot of time has gone by, and many people have no idea who Demspey was or who he fought.
Clearly, Dempsey was one of the all-time great heavyweights.
But today, many people feel that he and Marciano, being too light and old-school trained, would have no chance against a modern heavyweight.
So how can we know? Is there any way to determine if a Marciano or Dempsey would even have a chance against someone like Ali or Norton?
Well, actually there is! We can ask Ali himself.
Ali was asked in a TV interview who might beat him historically.
He was, as ever, brash in his answer of being "the greatest".
But Ali actually did have the opportunity of sparring with Marciano during their famous "computer fight". The rumour is that Ali was hurt by Marciano's body punches during the taping of this publicity fight.
So, when Marciano was mentioned to Ali in the interview, he became uncharacteristically humble, and said that he might or might not beat Marciano....it would depend.
Then, Ali made the assertion that Marciano was considerably better than Frazier, and since he had struggled with Frazier, that Marciano would be much harder.
If Ali felt that way about an old-timer who was 30 pounds lighter with no reach comparison, it shows just how tough alot of these old guys were.
Norton might beat Dempsey, but I would take odds the other way.
I would predict a fight similar to the one Norton fought with Foreman.
Dempsey by KO within three rounds.
How is this even a discussion? Dempsey would draw color line like he did with Harry Wills and a host of other black fighters and fight only white guys. He dominated a watered down era where blacks weren't allowed to fight him in title fights. Harry Wills would of killed him.
this question can be answered due to the fact Dempsey refused to fight Black fighters.. so we see where cherry picking may have started.. the fighters in Dempsey's era were tough cause of the gloves with no good padding..
I Slightly leans toward Dempsey by KO, somebody def. would get KO'd.
to be honest I don't see Jack Dempsey Knocking out Ken Norton nor does he have any power against Norton at all
Dempsey weight 189
Norton weight 212 see the difference I see
Norton by UD or late TKO over Dempsey
