Jack Dempsey:Fact and Fiction

[butterfly1964]

This will probably annoy you, but I wasn't talking about his personal life. I'm fully aware of him leaving home at 16 and such.

I meant in his career, and climbing the ranks. He fought nobodies, and got a title shot.

Fred Fulton, Carl Morris, Willie Meehan, Billy Miske, and Bill Brennan were hardly "nobodies".

[j]

fact or fiction?

he once met a high level chinese boxer who let dempsey punch him in the stomach as a demo and whom taught him a corkscrew style punch.

i've seen an alleged photo of this meeting, but it remains under the questionable catagory.

just food for thought, fellas.

[j]

btw, as a fighter, i do not see why he would be overrated. he had a fighter's mentality and a decent understanding of a punch. perhaps not the best technician, but very ferocious.

his book, championship fighting, is not just a boxer's bible but also a martial artists' classic. i recommend the book.

[CletusVanDamme]

btw, as a fighter, i do not see why he would be overrated. he had a fighter's mentality and a decent understanding of a punch. perhaps not the best technician, but very ferocious.

his book, championship fighting, is not just a boxer's bible but also a martial artists' classic. i recommend the book.

I have looked for the book where did you find it. It is said to be a gem and I agree with you.

[Yogi]

I have looked for the book where did you find it. It is said to be a gem and I agree with you.

Championship Fighting by Jack Dempsey;

[CletusVanDamme]

Championship Fighting by Jack Dempsey;

Thanks you very much. I will get on that when I get home.

[titoi]

"You're the kayo kid"!

Championship Fighting by Jack Dempsey;

Wow - what a great book! Thanks for posting that. More than just a raging beast in the ring, Dempsey was a really thoughtful guy!

[Yogi]

No problem guys.

[squealpiggy]

Dempsey fought all of the top contenders to get a shot at Willard. He had to because Willard hated Jack's manager, Doc Kearns (he had good reason to, Kearns had publicly embarrased Willard on several occasions). He had seventy three official fights by the time he stepped into the ring with Jess. True he had a lot of barnstorming fights, a lot of exhibitions and the like, but that was the sign of the times, people did whatever they good to scratch out a living. Calling him the most overrated fighter in history is pure revisionism.

[QueensburyRules]

William Harrison Dempsey

Changed his name to Jack Dempsey at the age of 19.

Called Harry while growing up.

Learned fighter skills while riding the railways as a hobo. It was here he had to constantly fight off *******ual **** because of his young age and appearance.

Desperate for money, Dempsey would occasionally go into 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 his challenge, bets would be wagered. According to Dempsey's autobiography, he rarely lost these barroom brawls.

Digging ditches, picking peaches, cutting timber and being a circus roustabout were among his jobs early in his career while traveling from town to town.

After retirement, he worked occasionally as a referee and was owner of Jack Dempsey’s Broadway Restaurant from 1935 until 1974 on the site the old car barn across from Madison Square Garden. Dempsey was also a commander in the U.S. Coast Guard.

10 brothers and sisters

Dempsey made two films during his career, "Daredevil Jack" & "Manhattan Madness" He also co-starred in a Broadway play called "The Big Fight" with this then wife Estelle Taylor. • Jack was the 9th of 11 children.

Trained to be a boxer at Young Peter Jackson's gym in Salt Lake City Utah at the age of 16.

He started boxing professionally in 1914 calling himself "Kid Blackie".

Knocked out Jess Willard in 1919 to win the Heavyweight boxing title and held that honor until September 23rd, 1926 when he lost a 10 round decision to Gene Tunney in Philadelphia.

Throughout his career Dempsey had 4 different managers: Andy Malloy, A.J. Aurback, Frank Price and Jack "Doc" Kearns.

Never broke or injured his hands in his entire boxing career.

At one time Dempsey shared an apartment with Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks Sr.

On his 75th birthday, in 1970, Dempsey was invited to Madison Square Garden where 19,000 people sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

Dempsey was inducted into the boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.

Dempsey wrote a book on boxing, Championship Fighting: Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defence, which was published in 1950. Although the book has been out of print for the past 56 years, many boxers-- professional and amateur alike-- have continued to praise it as "the finest treatise on boxing ever written (source to follow)." The book was also seen as a turning point in boxing, as it was the first serious study of the sweet science. Dempsey, thanks to this book, has been proclaimed by some to be the world's first modern boxer.

- -Manna from the Heavens couldn't replace seeing Kid Blackie in action.

BTW, his book is more than just boxing, it's about general self defense with a prenatural Zen philosophy about how to stay out of trouble and extract yourself when trouble came.

He was active near the middle of the Louis camp for the Schmeling rematch. He and Max were great friends, but the fight had morphed into a morality play of global nationality that sparked Jack to Louis.

Blackburn as we know had a hot, literally murderous temper when crossed, so it's a testament to what he saw in Jack that he stood back for those sessions where Jack imbued Joe the withThe Eye of the Tiger. He and Joe were lifelong friends afterwards.