Who was faster Jack Dempsey or Joe Louis?

Holy Toledo. The one thing I have never seen or heard was that Jack Dempsey was slow, average or had mediocre speed. Quite the opposite in fact, because everything shows or indicates Jack was a speed demon, especially for a Heavyweight.

Watch the film of Dempsey/Sharkey. That was a lightning left hook. Or Firpo/Dempsey, a blur of flashing hooks. Jack’s favorite combo,right hook to the body then left hook to the head was very, very fast. Watch Jack/”Big Bill Tate sparring footage, and then tell me Jack couldn’t move. Shows great movement/footwork, bouncing and shifting off his toes. AND does a Ali shuffle, Way before Ali himself. Also watch the Dempsey/Jess willard bout, All of the footage, not just the clips, it shows Jack stalking Jess with some great footwork and SPEED. Jacks footwork was better than Joe’s shuffling movement.

And hand speed ? Joe was no slouch here, but Jack’s, consider –

Sam Langford’s quote, when he was asked and replying to a match up and outcome to a Jack Dempsey Harry Wills match up, first he believed Jack would quickly dispose of the SLOWER Wills, ” Dempsey is the greatest fighter I have ever seen. He hits twice as hard as Jim Jeffries and is as fast in the ring as Jim Corbett” ( Corbett was known by all as very, very fast. Was called ” jack rabbit quick” ) Hard to take lightly someone of Langfords caliber, he had been around.

Boxing historian Bert Sugar quote “Dempsey was the perfect picture of the ring warrior…His amazing hand speed and…” (AMAZING HAND SPEED)

William Detloff quote “Dempsey threw so many punches in rapid succession that it was often difficult to identify the knockout blow”

Jersey Jones quote ” At his peak Jack was the most dynamic Heavyweight… Manassa Jack had speed…”

The great Ray Arcel, who’s seen them all fromm Benny Leonard to today, and was in over a dozen corners opposite Joe Louis, believed the three greatest Heavyweights in history were Dempsey, Ali, and Joe Louis. Arcel quote on Jack “He should’ve been the only Heavyweight anybody ever thought of when they thought about the greatest Heavyweight Champion…I mean he had everything…” (including speed) Be hard to say a boxer has ‘everything’, when he has only average speed.

This only touches the surface when speaking of Jacks speed, also the many boxers who faced him who were surprised by his speed, and said as much, etc. In fact I cannot recall anything ever mentioned, or quoted or read about concerning Jack having just ordinary speed, just the opposite. So often described as having ‘Middleweight speed’, as, many, many times, being ‘explosive’ (explosive=speed)

For me, Jack’s hand speed was also faster than Joe’s. But man was Joe ever so accurate with those bombs, and so well timed, with no wasted motions. All textbook and economy.

You are correct. Neither Dempsey, nor Louis would ever fall into the “speed demon” category. However, footwork remains one of Louis’ few weaknesses. His was almost nonexistent.

Had Louis had better foot work, he might well have knocked out every man he ever faced. Despite Louis’ slow feet, his hands were rather quick and he threw combinations very well. Dempsey may equal Louis’ power but Louis made much better use of his power, than Dempsey or any other heavyweight -including more powerful ones.

Louis’ hands were faster. Dempsey’s feet, while not very fast, were still faster than those of Louis.

Jack Dempsey is the faster heavyweight boxer of all time and the second most athletic in history after Jim Jeffries.

In foot-work they both lack, but I’d say Dempsey was faster in foot-work because he moved at a faster pace, especially in the Willard fight.

BUT, Louis has faster hand-speed, he has better accuracy and can punch faster.