On This Day In Boxing History

1983: Jack Dempsey Passes!

Jack Dempsey  

Born: June 24th, 1895

Birth Name: William Harrison Dempsey

Birth Place: Manassa, Colorado

Residence: Salt Lake City, Utah

Pro-Debut: August 18th, 1914

Alias: Manassa Mauler

Division: Heavyweight

Stance: Orthodox

Height: 6′ 1″  

Reach: 77″              

Bouts: 69

Rounds: 283

Ko’s: 64%

Record: 54-6-9, 44Ko’s

Died: Age 87, May 31st, 1983

Jack "Manassa Mauler" Dempsey, was born William Harrison Dempsey June 24, 1895 in Manassa, Colorado held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and his punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records. He is listed #7 on Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest boxers of all time.
 

Dempsey, he grew up in a poor family of mixed ancestry. According to a January 11, 1955 Sports Illustrated article, his father, Hiram Dempsey, was Irish. Dempsey's mother, Mary Celia (née Smoot), was of Irish and Cherokee descent. Both parents became Mormon converts. Because his father had difficulty finding work, the family traveled often. He dropped out of grade school to work. Dempsey left home at the age of 16, eager to start a better life for himself. Due to lack of money, he frequently had to travel underneath trains and sleep in hobo camps. However, Dempsey was a strong, powerful youth who soon discovered a talent for fighting. With the help of his older brother Bernie, he commenced training as a professional boxer. In 1927, tragedy befell Dempsey's family when his other brother, John, shot his own wife, then killed himself in a murder-suicide.

Desperate for money, Dempsey would occasionally visit saloons and challenge for fights saying "I can't sing and I can't dance, but I can lick any SOB in the house." If anyone accepted the challenge, bets would be wagered. According to Dempsey's autobiography, he rarely lost these barroom brawls.

A little-known fact about Dempsey is that for a short time, he was a part-time bodyguard for Thomas F. Kearns, president of The Salt Lake Tribune and son of Utah's U.S. Senator Thomas Kearns. The two men remained friends for years afterward.

Dempsey's exact boxing record is not known because he occasionally boxed under the pseudonym, "Kid Blackie". His use of the pseudonym continued until 1916. Meanwhile, he first appeared as "Jack Dempsey" in 1914, after an earlier middleweight boxer Jack "Nonpareil" Dempsey, drawing with Young Herman in six rounds. After that fight, he won six bouts in a row by knockout (as Jack Dempsey), before losing for the first time, on a disqualification in four rounds to Jack Downey. During this early part of his career, Dempsey campaigned in Utah, frequently entering fights in towns up and down the Wasatch Mountain range and keeping in shape with such sparring partners as Frank VanSickle.

He followed his loss against Downey with a knockout win and two draws versus Johnny Sudenberg in Nevada. Three more wins and a draw followed when he met Downey again, this time resulting in a four-round draw.

Ten wins in a row followed—a streak during which he beat Sudenberg and was finally able to avenge his defeat at the hands of Downey, knocking him out in two rounds. Three more non-decisions ensued. At this point in the history of boxing, there were no judges to score a fight, so if a fight lasted the full distance, it was called a draw or non-decision, depending on the state or county where the fight was held.

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Dempsey worked in a shipyard while continuing to box. After the war, he was accused by some boxing fans of being a draft dodger. It was not until 1920 that he was able to clear his name on that account, when evidence was produced showing he had attempted to enlist in the U.S. Army but had been turned down. After the war, Dempsey spent two years in Salt Lake City, Utah-- "bumming around" as he called it, before returning to the ring.

Among his opponents were Fireman Jim Flynn, the only boxer ever to beat Dempsey by a knockout when Dempsey lost to him in the first round (although many boxing historians, including Monte Cox, believe the fight was a "fix") and Gunboat Smith, formerly a highly ranked contender who had beaten both World Champion Jess Willard and Hall of Famer Sam Langford. Dempsey beat Smith for the third time on a second-round KO.

Dempsey's first manager was John J. Reisler. Dempsey later hooked up with Jack Kearns, an experienced, clever fight manager who carefully and skillfully guided Dempsey to the top.
In 1918, Dempsey boxed 17 times, going 15–1 with one no-decision. He avenged his defeat against Flynn by returning the favor, knocking him out in the first round. Among others he beat were light heavyweight champion Battling Levinsky (who had never been knocked out before Dempsey did so), Bill Brennan, Fred Fulton, Carl Morris, Billy Miske ("newspaper decision"), heavy weight Lefty Jim McGettigan and Homer Smith.

In 1919, he began winning five bouts in a row by knockout in the first round. Then on July 4, he and world heavyweight champion Jess Willard met at Toledo, Ohio, for the world title. Few gave Dempsey a chance against the larger champion and many called this fight a modern David and Goliath. Minutes before the fight started, Kearns informed Dempsey that he had wagered Dempsey's share of the purse on Dempsey winning with a first-round knockout. Consequently, the first round of the fight was among the most brutal in boxing history. Dempsey dealt Willard a terrible beating and knocked him down seven times in the first round. Willard suffered a broken cheekbone, broken jaw, several lost teeth, partial hearing loss in one ear, and broken ribs. Kearns' own recollection of the event was the source of what became known as the "loaded gloves theory"; the January 20, 1964 Sports Illustrated published an article interviewing Dempsey and Willard, on their recollections of the fight and of "Doc" Kearns. Kearns claimed he had applied plaster of paris to the customary wrappings under Dempsey's gloves, and that Dempsey did not seem to notice even when these reinforcements were removed after the match. This incident has been refuted by several people, including Nat Fleischer, later founder of The Ring Magazine, who was there when Dempsey’s hands were wrapped: “Jack Dempsey had no loaded gloves, and no plaster of paris over his bandages. I watched the proceedings and the only person who had anything to do with the taping of Jacks’ hands was Deforest. Kearns had nothing to do with it, so his plaster of paris story is simply not true. Deforest himself said that he regarded the stories of Dempsey’s gloves being loaded as libel, calling them ‘trash’ and said he did not apply any foreign substance to them, which I can verify since I watched the taping.” Historian J.J. Johnston ended all discussion when he pointed out that “the films show Willard upon entering the ring walking over to Dempsey and examining his hands. That should end any possibility of plaster of paris or any other substance on his hands.”

Under the rules at the time, a fighter was allowed to stand almost over a knocked-down opponent, and hit him again as soon as both knees had left the canvas. Several times Willard was knocked back down as he was trying to rise. Also, modern referees would step in to stop a fight if one of them was clearly defenseless, but the referee of this fight had the attitude that the only ending for a fight is an actual knockout. At the end of the third round the champion's handlers would not let him answer the bell for the fourth round. Although Dempsey had captured the Heavyweight Title, he never collected any money for the fight.

After beating Jess Willard and winning the title, Jack Dempsey traveled around the country, making publicity appearances with circuses, staging exhibitions, and even starring in a low-budget Hollywood movie. Dempsey did not defend his title until September 1920. This was against Billy Miske in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Miske was a good fighter but past his prime when he challenged Jack for the title, and was knocked out in three rounds.

Dempsey's second title defense was much tougher, against Bill Brennan in December 1920 at Madison Square Garden, New York City. Brennan had given Dempsey a tough match two years earlier. After ten rounds, Brennan was actually ahead on points, and Dempsey's left ear was bleeding profusely. Dempsey rebounded to stop Brennan in the 12th round.

The next fight for "The Manassa Mauler" was against Frenchman Georges Carpentier, who had been a war hero during WWI and was extremely popular on both sides of the Atlantic.[8] The bout was shrewdly promoted by Tex Rickard, emphasizing the differences between the two men, and George Bernard Shaw, who claimed that Carpentier was "the greatest boxer in the world" and stacked the odds 50 to 1 against Dempsey.[9] The anticipation for this bout was tremendous.

Dempsey-Carpentier took place on July 2, 1921 at Boyle's Thirty Acres, Jersey City, New Jersey, generating the first million-dollar gate in boxing history. A crowd of 91,000 watched the fight. Though it was deemed "the Fight of the Century," and many people who didn't know much about boxing thought Carpentier had a chance to win, most experts anticipated a one-sided win for Dempsey, and they were right. RCA arranged for live coverage of the match making the event the first national radio broadcast reaching mostly homemade radio sets after first being telegraphed to KDKA for broadcast.
Carpentier got off to a fast start and reportedly even wobbled Dempsey with a hard right in the second round. A reporter at ringside, however, counted twenty-five punches from Dempsey in a single thirty-one second exchange soon after he was supposedly injured by the right. Carpentier also broke his thumb in that round, which crippled his chances. In the 3rd, the bigger, stronger Dempsey began to take charge and administered a brutal beating to Georges. The Frenchman was eventually stopped in the fourth round.

Dempsey did not defend his title again until July 1923 against Tommy Gibbons in Shelby, Montana. Gibbons was a skilled, clever boxer, but was not powerful enough against the bigger, stronger Dempsey, who won a 15-round decision.

The last successful title defense for Dempsey was in September 1923 at New York's Polo Grounds. His opponent in the fight was the huge, powerful, yet limited contender Luis Angel Firpo, from Argentina. Attendance was 85,000, with another 20,000 trying to get inside the arena. Dempsey won via a 2nd-round KO, but it was an exciting battle. Firpo was knocked down repeatedly yet continued to battle back, even knocking Dempsey down twice. The second time Dempsey was floored he went sailing head first through the ring ropes, landing on a reporter's typewriter, and taking several more seconds than the ten stipulated by the rules. This scene is one of the most memorable in sports history. (This fight was so important that it was transmitted live to Buenos Aires by radio, and people gathered in the streets to listen to it through primitive amplifiers. These fights, plus his many exhibitions, movies and endorsements, had made Dempsey one of the richest athletes in the world.

After the Firpo brawl, Dempsey did not defend his title for another 3 years. There was pressure from the public and the media for Dempsey to defend his title against black contender Harry Wills. Politics and racial fears prevented the Dempsey-Wills bout. There is disagreement among boxing historians as to whether Dempsey avoided Wills. Dempsey always claimed he was willing. Instead of defending his title, Dempsey continued to earn money by boxing exhibitions, making movies, and endorsing products. Dempsey also did a lot of traveling, spending and partying. During this time away from competitive fighting, Dempsey married actress Estelle Taylor, and broke up with his long-time trainer/manager Jack "Doc" Kearns. This break-up did not go smoothly, and Kearns repeatedly sued Dempsey for huge sums of money. He was also appointed to the executive of the Irish Worker League (IWL) in April 1924. The IWL was Moscow backed communist movement founded by Irish labor leader, Jim Larkin, in Dublin.

In September 1926, Dempsey fought Irish-American former U.S. Marine Gene Tunney in Philadelphia. Tunney was an excellent boxer who had lost only once in his career. Nevertheless, Tunney was still considered the underdog.

In a big upset, Dempsey lost his title on points in ten rounds. No longer displaying his legendary punching power or hand speed, Dempsey was easily outboxed by the slick Tunney who would dodge, use excellent pad level, and then let loose with a salvo of punches of his own. The attendance for this fight was a record 120,557, the largest attendance ever for a sporting event outside motor racing and Soccer. (The 1950 Football World Cup (soccer) final between Brazil and Uruguay had 150,000+ spectators and several other Football matches played in the 1920s and 1930s at Hampden Park, Glasgow, and Wembley Stadium, London, attracted official gates of between 125,000 and 138,000). When the battered Dempsey returned to his dressing room, he explained the defeat to his film actress wife Estelle Taylor by saying, "Honey, I forgot to duck." This phrase was later used by President Ronald Reagan to his wife after Reagan was shot during a failed attempt on his life in 1981.
Dempsey contemplated retiring, but after a few months of rest decided to try a comeback. In July 1927, at Yankee Stadium, he knocked out future heavyweight champion Jack Sharkey in the seventh round of an elimination bout for a title shot against Tunney. Sharkey was beating Dempsey until the end, when the fight ended controversially. Sharkey claimed that Dempsy had been hitting him below the belt and when Sharkey turned to the referee to complain, he left himself unprotected. Dempsey crashed a left hook onto Sharkey's chin, knocking him out cold. The referee then counted out Sharkey.

The Tunney rematch took place in Chicago, Illinois, on September 22, 364 days after losing his title to Tunney in their first bout. This fight generated even more interest than the Carpentier and Firpo bouts, generating an amazing 2-million-dollar gate, a record that stood for many years. It is said that Al Capone offered Dempsey that he could fix the rematch, but he would not hear of it. Millions of people around the country listened to the bout on the radio, and hundreds of reporters covered the event. Tunney was paid a record one million dollars for the Dempsey rematch. Dempsey earned about half that.

Dempsey was losing the fight on points when he knocked Tunney down with a left hook to the chin in the seventh round, and landed several more punches. A new rule for boxing at the time mandated that when a fighter knocked down an opponent, he must immediately go to a neutral corner. But Dempsey seemed to have forgotten that rule and refused to immediately move to the neutral corner when instructed by the referee. The referee started his count, and Tunney got up at the referee's count of nine. Dempsey tried to finish Tunney off before the round ended, but he failed to do so.

Most people, for whatever reason, don’t know or choose to overlook in the very next round, the eighth, Tunney returned the favor by knocking Dempsey down going onto easily win the final two rounds of the fight and retained the title on a unanimous decision. Ironically, the new rule which was not yet universal was requested during negotiations by members of the Dempsey camp.

Another discrepancy was the fact that when Tunney knocked Dempsey down, the referee started the count immediately, not waiting for Tunney to move to a neutral corner. Because of the controversial nature of the fight, it remains known in history as the fight of "The Long Count." 

Million Dollar Gates

Dempsey participated in boxing's first five $1,000,000 gates.

07/02/1921 Jack Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier $1,789,238

09/14/1923 Jack Dempsey vs. Luis Angel Firpo $1,188,603

09/23/1926 Jack Dempsey vs. Gene Tunney (1st meeting) $1,895,733

07/21/1927 Jack Dempsey vs. Jack Sharkey $1,083,530

09/22/1927 Gene Tunney vs. Jack Dempsey (2nd meeting) $2,658,660

The Jack Dempsey Revue

After Dempsey defeated Gunboat Smith on December 30, 1918, he was ready to challenge Jess Willard for the World Heavyweight Championship. However, in the interim, Dempsey toured with a show called the "Jack Dempsey Revue," in which he offered $1,000 to any man who could last four rounds with him. The following bouts were part of that tour and were previously listed on BoxRec as part of Dempsey's professional record, but they have since been removed:

Jan. 15, 1919 - Curley McGuire KO 1 - Grand Theatre: Trenton, NJ

Jan. 20, 1919 - Big Jack Hickey KO 1 - Orpheum Theatre: Harrisburg, PA

Jan. 22, 1919 - Kid Harris KO 1 - Rajah Theatre: Reading, PA

Jan. 29, 1919 - Joe Allison (Kid Henry) KO 1 - Easton, PA

Feb. 14, 1919 - Eddie Cherry KO 1 - Mishler Theatre: Altoona, PA

April 2, 1919 - Tony Drake KO 1 - New Haven, CT (Dempsey weighed 197 to 257 for Drake and the fight lasted just 11 seconds)

Cyber Boxing Zone says the McGuire fight took place on January 16, the Kid Harris fight on January 23, and the Eddie Smith fight (not Eddie Cherry) on February 14. They also list all six fights as part of Dempsey's professional record.

Quotes

"A champion is someone who gets up when he can't."

"A champion owes everybody something. He can never pay back for all the help he got, for making him an idol."

"Nobody owes anybody a living, but everybody is entitled to a chance."

"By forgetting the past and by throwing myself into other interests, I forget to worry."

"Tall men come down to my height when I hit 'em in the body."

"I was a pretty good fighter. But it was the writers who made me great."

Newspaperman and author Damon Runyan nicknamed Dempsey the Manassa Mauler in 1916.

Newspapers of October 18, 1924, reported that Dempsey's first manager, Norman (Buck) Weaver, 42, was accidentally shot dead while duck hunting 19 miles southwest of Pueblo, Colorado. He and a companion, Howard Walker, 22, were sitting in separate boats when Walker laid down his shotgun to pick up the oars to row and the gun discharged. Weaver was hit in the face and died several hours later.

On July 3, 1927, John Dempsey, Jack's younger brother, murdered his estranged wife and then killed himself.

On December 8, 1938, the Boxing Writers Association of America awarded Dempsey the first-ever Edward J. Neil Trophy for being the boxer who had meant the most during the current year. The award was named in honor of the Associated Press sports writer and war correspondent who had been killed the year before in Spain.

Dempsey and his second wife, Estelle Taylor, appeared in a 1928 Broadway play titled The Big Fight.

Dempsey made many attempts, some better than others, to follow Tex Rickard as a boxing promoter but was often frozen out by the entrenched insiders, particularly in New York, and finally quit.

Career

World Heavyweight Champion

July 4th, 1919 – September 23rd, 1926           

NBA World Heavyweight Champion

July 2nd, 1921 – September 23rd, 1926

NYSAC World Heavyweight Champion

July 24th, 1922 – September 23rd, 1926

International Boxing Hall of Fame – Class of 1990

May 31st

1920: Jack Britton W15 Johnny Griffiths

1924: Tommy Gibbons ND10 Georges Carpentier

1927: Mushy Callahan W10 Spug Myers

1938: Henry Armstrong W15 Barney Ross

1950: Vic Toweel W5 Manuel Ortiz

1966: Fighting Harada W15 Eder Jofre

1970: Manuel Ortiz passes.

1972: Tony Mundine TKO7 Denny Moyer

1975: Rodrigo Valdez KO8 Ramon Mendez

Alexis Arguello KO2 Rigoberto Riasco

Rodolfo Martinez KO8 Nestor Jimenez

1976: Wilfred Benitez W15 Emiliano Villa

1983: Jack Dempsey dies.

1987: Mike Tyson KO6 Pinklon Thomas

Tony Tucker KO10 James (Buster) Douglas

1997: Vince Phillips KO10 Kostya Tszyu

Saman Sor Jaturong KO4 Mzukisi Marall

2002: Leonard Dorin W12 Raul Balbi

2003: Edgar Carddenas KO10 Miguel Barrera

2005: Israel Vasquez W12 Armando Guerrero

2006: Cassius Baloyi KO11 Manuel Medina

2008: Anselmo Moreno W12 Wladimir Sidorenko

2013: Jelena Mrdjenovich WTD6 Melissa Hernandez

Daniela Bermudez TKO1 Neisi Torres

2014: Sam Soliman W12 Felix Sturm

Susi Kentikian TKO9 Dan Bi Kim

Nonito Donaire WTD5 Simpiwe Vetyeka        

Nicholas Walters KO5 Vic Darchinyan

Evgeny Gradovich W12 Alexander Miskirtchian

Carlos Cuadras WTD8 Wisaksil Wangek

Linda Laura Lecca W10 Simone Da Silva      

Carl Froch TKO8 George Groves

Jamie McDonnell TKO10 Tabtimdaeng Na Rachawat