British heavyweights are now a force, but 100 years ago, there was no rival for Jack Dempsey

WITH Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Dillian Whyte, Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce all currently ranked in the top 12 in the world, the UK dominates the heavyweight division like never before. The US fields only one candidate in this group, Deontay Wilder.

This is a far cry from the 20th century, when there were many US heavyweights and very few from overseas. Most of the great American heavyweight champions defended their world title against the Brit at the same time, with Tommy Farr's match against Joe Louis, light-heavyweight Don Cockell's destruction of Rocky Marciano and Henry Cooper putting the great Ali in his hands. back (see the photo of the fight below) still evokes comments among fans of the fight to this day. One of the few true greats who never fought a Brit was Jack Dempsey.

Dempsey reigned supreme from 1919 until 1926 and, although he didn't defend his title as often as he should have, there was no one active on this side of the pond who could keep up with him in the ring.

In early 1919, our champion was Joe Beckett, who was defeated by the French champion, Georges Carpentier in less than one minute in December 1919. Carpentier did it again in 1923, this time beating Beckett in just 15 seconds. Frank Goddard then won the British title in 1923, beating Jack Bloomfield in a fierce contest at the Royal Albert Hall. Goddard's only fight against the top American saw him KO'd in two rounds by Frank Moran in 1920.

Goddard did not defend his title until 1926, when Phil Scott defeated him in three rounds. Scott was our best heavyweight in the 1920s but, when he made his US debut in 1927, he was knocked out by Knute Hansen, a tough Danish heavyweight, in one round. He managed to regain form there but quick losses to Jack Sharkey and Young Stribling in 1930 saw his end.

Throughout the decade, Phil Scott was the only British heavyweight to qualify for the Top 10 in the world and it wasn't until the mid-1930s, when Jack Petersen, Larry Gains and Tommy Farr returned minor honors, that we could participate ours. heads up a little. Many of our 'big' ones at the time came from the lower weight classes.

Jack Dempsey loved the UK and visited more than once. He made his first visit in April 1922 there, after leaving Aqutainia, was greeted in Southampton by Ted “Kid” Lewis and Boy McCormick. When he met Joe Beckett, Jack advised the Briton to go to countries where he could make more money. Sadly, Beckett did not heed this advice and did not fight there.

Dempsey returned in July 1925 as part of a European tour and was managed by Sir Harry Preston, the boxing impresario who rubbed shoulders with royalty. At the time, Preston was running occasional big time shows at the Dome in Brighton. After picking up Dempsey from the ferry at Victoria Station, where Dempsey made out, as usual, with a British policeman, he whisked the world champion down to the South Coast, where he planned to box a series of shows. of his shows.

Dempsey boxed four times that night, with Phil Scott and Harry Drake of Windsor his main opponents. He handled both of them freely again BN editor, John Murray, noted that, “Dempsey swept newspaper critics and the public off their feet. Few have seen such a display of combined power, strength, speed and skill. Many of these critics are delighted to be praised, finding incredible genius in everything Jack does.”

Murray knew his boxing and it's a shame we never had someone good enough to match Dempsey at his peak in a title fight.