Harry Wills - Ring Great or Overrated Heavyweight?

[Cap]

Harry Wills aka The Black Panther was and still is a controversial figure in boxing. Some historians point to his wins over aging greats like Langford, Jeannette, Clarke and McVea as proof of his superior ability. The same folk observe that Wills went unbeaten from March of 1916 until October of 1926 during the reigns of Willard and Dempsey (aside from a technical loss due to a broken wrist against Battling Jim Johnson). Almost ten years during what must have been the prime of his life. That's some 58 wins (if you count newspaper decisions) 2 losses and 3 draws, an impressive record by any standard.

The other camp points to his failure to stop or even seriously hurt Luis Firpo and others of a similar calibre. The majority of his wins over good opponents came by decision, many of these newspaper victories. His best wins were probably KOs of Fred Fulton, Charlie Weinert, Kid Norfolk, and Floyd Johnson. It's his apparent lack of punching power or his willingness to use it that his critics say prove he would have stood no chance against Jack Dempsey. They say Wills was just too slow and deliberate to pose a threat to the tigerish Dempsey.

What say you?

Cap

[pilight]

Wills fighting style was similar to Gene Tunney, except Wills was bigger and had and even longer reach. Tunney, of course, gave Dempsey all kind of problems in the ring.

However, Dempsey in 1920, fresh off the Willard KO, was a very different animal than the 1926 version that fought Tunney after a three year layoff. I'd expect Dempsey to win by knockout.

[DamPenguin]

I still think it would’ve been a interesting matchup… From what I’ve read, nobody gave Tunney a chance against Dempsey, especially before their first fight…
Mike Tyson was such a talented and explosive fighter. He is legendary… but I personally believe he never beat a great during his time besides an older, overweight Larry Holmes… But in the end that’s why they fight, maybe somebody has the fight of their life, maybe they have a bad night, you just never know sometimes.

[Cap]

July 26, 1920 Harry Wills took apart Fred Fulton knocking him out in the third round. Fulton had gone 18-0 after his KO loss to Dempsey, beating a number of established names: Willie Meehan, Sam Langford, Frank Moran, Tom Cowler, Porky Flynn, Bartley Madden, John Lester Johnson, etc. He also stopped Jack Thompson in six after Thompson had gone 15 with Wills. The kayo of Fulton should've earned a match with Dempsey.

After beating Willard, Jack Dempsey didn't fight again until he stopped Billy Miske in September of 1920 in what many considered a gift to a "fading" Miske who much later died of Bright's Disease, an inflammation of the kidneys. That same month Wills had two fights that barely made the papers and he and his manager Paddy Mullins began to doubt Dempsey and his people would ever agree to meet Wills in the ring.

Interestingly, Dempsey's next fight December 14 of that same year was against Bill Brennan, and for 11 or 12 rounds it looked like Brennan would outbox Dempsey. Now Brennan was a pretty fair fighter but he was no where near as good a boxer as Harry Wills.

So the question remains, would Harry Wills, after polishing off Fred Fulton, have been good enough to outbox Jack Dempsey over 10 or 15 rounds? Jack whipped some big men like Willard, Carl Morris, Fred Fulton, etc but none of them had the ring skills of Harry Wills. So sadly, we'll never know.

Cap

[IceTea]

I think Wills is adequately rated in the game. He's an exception heavyweight in an era with numerous exceptional or better heavyweights. Plus, he was inducted into the IBHOF in 1992.