Jack Dempsey vs George Godfrey: who would of won?
jona...@my-deja.com
Black heavyweight George Godfrey is hired as a sparing partner.
Dempsey's manager Kearns dismisses Godfrey from his job and starts a
rumour that Dempsey has cracked Two of his ribs. Of course, in reality,
an entirely different story emerges in that Godfrey gives Dempsey such
a hard time in the ring that there is a danger that he might injure the
champ. Dempsey is around 28 years of age and Godfrey 26. At this time
in history Dempsey's main rival is Harry Wills but giving the fact that
Wills was nearly 35 at the time and past his best would Godfrey have
stood a better chance of beating Dempsey?
Godfrey was 6ft 3in and weighed around 220lb when at his peak. Check
out this web page www.antekprizering.com/godfreydempseysignedpc.html
and you will see the two sparing together.
It is interesting that giving Godfrey's size (concidering that he would
compare well with todays heavyweight giants) you would thing that he
would make Dempsey (a cruiserweight by todays standards)look small. But
he don't.
So all you historians out there what is your oppinions?
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Larry Roberts
getting on track.There were likly other fights before 1920,
but the record I have shows knockout losses to the
great Sam Langford in 1920 and 1921. In 1923 he was a
green kid still learning the trade when he ran into "The
Pride of Montreal" Jack Renault (Mar.9) and got put
away in the first round.
In 1924 and 1925 he kayoed several familiar names before
getting a rematch in San Francisco with Renault. Jack
was distracted by the California sun and fun and under-
estimated the big fella he'd handled so easily before.
Godfrey used his reach and his extra thirty pounds to
maul out a ten round decision.
Godfrey won a couple more in California, then went on
a tour of the US: ko'd Fred Fulton in Minneapolis; Martin
Burke in New York; won on a foul from Sully Montgomery
in L.A.; fought a handful of no-names. Then he went
to Boston for a crack at Jack Sharkey. Now, Sharkey
has had a reputation over the years for shady dealing,
and some say the judges were fixed, making it nearly
impossible for Godfrey to win short of knocking the
hometown boy out. He just couldn't get that one over.
(Sharkey went on to beat Harry Wills and a couple of
other good boys before losing in an eliminator to Dempsey)
Godfrey won a few more, including a tremendous 6th
round knockout over Toronto's Larry Gains (Gains had
ko'd young Max Schmeling the previous year). Then, in
1927, probably at, or near the top of his game, he won
a string of 15 kayo victories over some good heavies.
Among his victims were Jack Roper (twice), Jim Maloney,
ex-footballer Monte Munn, and old pal Larry Gains.
1928 Godfrey decisioned the "Battling Basque" Paolino
Uzcudun before losing an important verdict to Johnny
Risko at the Garden. Risko was a tough guy to get a
handle on for a lot of fighters. Sharkey had already lost
a high-profile 15 round nod to him in the same building.
A month later, Gene Tunney announced his retirement
and the scramble was on for his vacated title with Big
George in the thick of it, finishing the year off with 6
straight knockouts.
In 1929 however, the offers suddenly dried up. While
Max Schmeling was beating Risko and Uzcudun, and
Sharkey was fighting most of the other prominent
contenders, Godfrey was relegated to taking the second
and third raters in boxing's backwaters.
In June of 1930 Schmeling and Sharkey fought for the
Big One. A week later, Godfrey got his big chance, a
match with the Italian phenom Primo Carnera. Godfrey
intended to chop Carnera in two, but in the 5th round
after a slow start, he hurt the Ambling Alp with a shot
that may have strayed below the belt, and was imme-
diately disqualified on a foul. Perhaps because of a
reluctance to take it easy with Carnera, Godfrey was
virtually banished to the boondocks. He spent the rest
of his career battling other black fighters and has-been
white heavies in places like Cleveland, Mexico City,
Canton, Sandusky, etc.
In 1932 he took apart a quality heavyweight named Ace
Clark in what was billed as a fight for the "Negro Heavy-
weight Championship of the World". The following year
he copped the decision over a young cruiser named
Tiger Jack Fox, but that was the last hurrah. The sport
had passed him by.
George Godfrey the "Leiperville Shadow" lost his last
fight in 1937, knocked out by sometime contender Hank
Hankinson, his first such loss since 1923.
He finished with a record of 109 total bouts, 76 kayos
and 13 decisions. He lost 5 decisions, was stopped
only 4 times, and was disqualified on fouls 6 times.
<jona...@my-deja.com> wrote in message news:93sadq$bqg$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
KuramaYou
looks more thickly built in the chest.
It's not the size of the dog in the fight...
It's the size of the fight in the dog!
((Uness...it's a big dog with a lot of fight. Than you're screwed))
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