Six degrees of separation is a theory that everyone in the world is separated by no more than six social connections.
In other words, you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows Queen Elizabeth. Or so the concept goes.
We’re borrowing the six degrees concept – well, sort of loosely – to connect fighters from the past to their more contemporary counterparts in our new occasional feature, “Degrees of Separation.”
Example: Let’s connect Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Super easy; we did it in two steps. Senior fought Grover Wiley, who fought Junior.
In this installment of the Boxing Junkie feature, we decided to link Mike Tyson — whose comeback fight against Roy Jones Jr. is set for Sept. 12. — to a heavyweight legend he has long admired, Jack Dempsey.
Tyson and Dempsey had a great deal in common in the ring. They were both ferocious, powerful knockout machines who captured the imagination of the fans. They had a similar number of fights and, believe it or not, the exact same number of stoppages.
How powerful were they? Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) had 22 first-round knockouts, Dempsey (54-6-8, 44 KOs) 21.
So how many steps did it take to link the heavyweight Hall of Famers? Only seven even though Dempsey last fought in 1927, 93 years ago.
Check it out:
Jack Dempsey fought …
Jack Sharkey, who fought …
Joe Louis, who fought …
Rock Marciano, who fought …
Archie Moore, who fought …
Muhammad Ali, who fought …
Larry Holmes, who fought …
Mike Tyson
Could you do it in fewer steps? Let us know via Twitter or Facebook. Or you can contact me on Twitter. And please follow us!
Read more:
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