This is the next in my blog series ‘Mythical Matchups’. The bout is between Larry Holmes and Jack Dempsey. My imaginary bouts all take place in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace Outdoor Arena, with the great Mills Lane as the referee.
Larry Holmes was born on November 3, 1949 in Cuthbert, Georgia. His family moved to Easton, Pennsylvania in 1954, then Larry dropped out of school in seventh grade to get a job to help his mother. He began boxing at 18, and had a fairly successful amateur career until turning pro in 1973. Larry worked as a sparring partner for Joe Frazier, Earnie Shavers, Jimmy Young and Muhammad Ali. He developed his skills and began moving up the rankings until he earned a title shot against the WBC champion Ken Norton on June 9, 1978. Larry won a split decision over Norton, to capture his first title. He would defend it a total of 20 times in his illustrious career, remaining the Heavyweight Champion for 7 and 1/2 years. After losing to Michael Spinks twice, Holmes retired for awhile, only to return a few years later. Amazing, he would fight until was 52 years old. Larry finished with a record of 69-6, with 44 knockouts.
Jack Dempsey was born on June 24, 1983 in Manassa, Colorado. His family was poor and he had a rough childhood, so he turned to boxing to make money. He won the heavyweight championship on July 4, 1919 with a third round destruction of Jess Willard. He was a very inactive champion who actually went 3 years without defending his title once. When he finally returning in 1926 to face Gene Tunney, he lost a 10 round decision, then lost a rematch a year later and retired.
When he was active, Dempsey was known for his toughness and punching power, born from a life of homelessness and hunger. He once said “When you haven’t eaten for 3 days, you have to win a fight.’
A fight with Holmes would have been no contest. Larry would have boxed Dempsey’s ears off, and easily won a lopsided decision. If Dempsey couldn’t beat Gene Tunney, imagine what the ‘Easton Assassin’ have done to him. Holmes wins an easy 12 round unanimous decision.
This blog series is imaginary and meant to be fun. If people disagree with my opinion, it’s fine with me, but I favor the modern fighter over those from the past. I don’t even think a Holmes-Dempsey fight would have been very entertaining, unless you like seeing one guy totally outclass another. To me, Larry Holmes is in the top 5 of all-time great heavyweights, and his record can’t be denied.
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