Won to remember! One hundredth Anniversary of Dempsey Vs Firpo 

By James Blears

Today September 14^th is the one hundredth anniversary of when Jack Dempsey and Luis Angel Firpo literally collided at the Polo Grounds in New York for the briefest heavyweight championship fight for many a year.

The boys exchanged eleven knockdowns in just two rounds amidst a slugfest thriller, which brought the eighty thousand crowd to their feet. While twenty thousand more, were furiously pounding on the gates with their raw fists, pleading and bleeding to gain access.

It was the beginning of the Roaring Twenties, and Jack’s fifth and final successful defence of his title, which he won off “Pottawatomie Giant” Jess Willard on the 4^th July 1919. On that day Jack had dropped Jess seven times to the canvass in round one. But… badly hammered, Jess withstood the onslaught until the beginning of round four. Similarly, when Jack fought the rugged Argentinian, he also dropped him seven times in round one. The key difference is that Luis Angel fought back like a demon and in so doing gave the “Manassa Mauler” the fright of his life! Fabled Promoter Tex Ricard dubbed Luis Angel: “The Wild Bull of the Pampas,” and he certainly put his stamp on this gaudy nickname. Guilty as charged!

Jack, was a ruthless big puncher, who knew how to take care of himself and all comers! Growing up as a teenager and skinny young man in lean, gaunt times, he’d rode the rods, often fighting for pennies in the saloons of mining towns, backwoods lumber yards and hobo camps. He gruffly introduced himself by politely declaring: “I can’t sing, I can’t dance…but I can lick any SOB!

Roll up and roll up your sleeves for rock and roll! Get your retaliation in first during the brawl! Hard times don’t last…hard people do!

Those were desolate years and they produced the proverbial hungry fighter. As Jack said of those early spit and sawdust encounters: “I had to collect two dollars for winning… or go hungry. I had to get up! I was one of those hungry fighters. You could have hit my on the chin with a sledgehammer for five dollars.” That’s almost exactly what happened at the start of the fight with Firpo. Jack swung and missed with a left and walked into a long straight right. He went down and took a knee, got up and dropped Luis Angel with a short right to the body.

Jack liked to cut the big men down to size with his body of work. He said: “Tall men come down to my height when I hit them to the body.” That said, Jack wasn’t a very big heavyweight even for those times. Standing six feet one inches tall, for this one, he weighed one hundred and ninety two and a half pounds. Whereas brooding, scowling, sullen, Luis Angel was almost six feet three and was two hundred and sixteen and a half pounds.

Jack then went to work with a will and a way after his initial shock followed by his very own initial response. During the next ninety seconds he canvassed the Argentine six more times. Going to a neutral corner rule was actually in force, but its nicety wasn’t observed on this fabled evening!

It was looking like a slam dunk, but then in the dying moments of round one, Luis Angel rose from the embers like an avenging phoenix, trapped Jack against the ropes and landed a sledgehammer right to his jaw, catapulting him through the ropes. Jack landed hard on the press tables, badly gashing the back of his head on a typewriter. Friendly media hands shoved him upright and right back from whence he came. He made it back into the squared ring as Referee Johnny Gallagher had reached the count of fourteen. The permitted time for someone who gets knocked out of the ring is twenty seconds! Luis Angel launched a ferocious attack on still groggy Jack, who covered up and lasted until the bell. All this mayhem had occurred in round one!

Jack’s most famous saying was: “A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t” Never was it more true!

Sport’s richest prize was within Luis Angel’s meaty grasp, but he proved ham fisted and let it slip through his chunky fingers. As the bell clanged for round two, Jack was in no mood to take any more risks or chances, much less liberties. He tore into Luis Angel dropping him with a left to the body and a right to the chin. Luis Angel staggered upright and was poleaxed by a short blockbuster right to the jaw. He writhed on the canvass and try as he might, couldn’t beat the ten count. It was all over at the fifty four seconds mark. Jack strode over and picked up his stricken opponent, who was still not fully compos mentis.

We had to wait until 2001, until John “Quiet Man” Ruiz of Puerto Rican descent defeated Evander Holyfield, to become the first every Latino world heavyweight champion of the world. Prior to that Oscar “Ringo” Bonavena wasn’t quite able to achieve it, against Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

Jack lived to the ripe old age of eighty seven. He fought two legendary classics with Gene Tunney, losing the title to him and then again in spite of the legendary “Long Count.” Afterwards in the changing room he quipped to second Wife Estelle Taylor: “Honey I forgot to duck.” Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney became lifelong friends. Jack campaigned for Gene’s son John who became a Senator. Years later as elderly gents and to commemorate their battles, they got up into the ring, squared up, fell into each others’ arms, dancing a walz, much to the delight of the fans. It was a sure fire hit!

Jack’s battle with Luis Angel Firpo has passed into legend. Jack, Luis Angel and of course Gene, now reside above, amongst the Angels. Perhaps Angels with Dirty faces?