Jack Dempsey vs. Jess Willard

[A Theist]

On July 4th, 1919 in Toledo Ohio, Jack Dempsey stepped into the boxing ring to challenge the much larger Champion, Jess Willard for the Heavyweight Boxing Title. The first round of this title fight is reputed to be the most brutal in boxing history. Jess Willard, (the Pattowatomie Giant), stood 6' 6 1/2 feet tall and weighed 240 pounds at the time of this fight, (huge for a man of that era). Willard won the Heavyweight title by knocking out former champion, Jack Johnson, in the 26th round of their title fight just four years earlier. Jack Dempsey, the much smaller challenger, stood 6' 1 and weighed around 183 pounds for the fight. Willard's straight up erect boxing stance was also common to the era...Jack Dempsey is considered to be the forerunner to the modern day boxer. The differences in fighting styles between Dempsey and Willard are apparent. Willard stood erect and moved slowly around the ring...Dempsey was fast, mobile, aggressive, always moving and Willard was the perfect target for Dempsey. Willard was knocked down seven times in the first round. He suffered a cracked skull, broken ribs, shattered jaw, a broken nose, four missing teeth, partial hearing loss in one ear plus numerous cuts and contusions at the hands of Dempsey...

[The Grand Nudger]

They woulda called that one when he went down the second time nowadays. He was spent.

[A Theist]

They woulda called that one when he went down the second time nowadays. He was spent.

Can you see the video I posted? It's not showing up for me.

[Nine]

Its shows for me.

[Faith No More]

I can see it.

[Minimalist]

Works fine. Thanks for posting it.

That announcer is annoying as hell. Never shuts up.

[A Theist]

Works fine. Thanks for posting it.

That announcer is annoying as hell. Never shuts up.

You're welcome. For some reason it's not showing up for me.

My wife's great-grandmother was Jack Dempsey's aunt, who also was either a sister or a niece to Devil Anse Hatfield of the Hatfield / McCoy fame. Dempsey's mother and father were originally from West Virginia until they converted to Mormonism. Shortly before Jack was born, his mother and father moved to Manasseh, Colorado, hence his nick-name, 'The Manasseh Mauler'. My wife's mother said she can still remember as a young girl, that Jack Dempsey would return to West Virginia for family reunions. She remembers her mother telling her that a famous person would be at the reunion....she said when she saw Dempsey, that in her eyes, he looked big and tanned.

Also, if you notice Dempsey's fighting style, it's very similar to the styles of fighters like Rocky Marciano, Joe Frazier, and Mike Tyson. At only 6'1 tall and 183 lbs., Dempsey was rated in the top 10 hardest hitting Heavyweight champions.

[A Theist]

Here's a you tube video I found of the Jack Johnson / Jess Willard Heavyweight championship fight, April 15, 1915...Havana Cuba. Jess Willard won the Heavyweight title after knocking out Champion Jack Johnson in the 26th round of this title bout. Johnson is reputed to be one of the best defensive fighters in boxing history and was rated the best Heavyweight of all time by Nat Fleischer of Ring Magazine...

One must consider the consensus opinion of those who saw Jack Johnson and his contemporaries fight. Nat Fleischer, founder of Ring Magazine, saw every heavyweight champion from James J. Corbett to Muhammad Ali and rated Jack Johnson as the greatest heavyweight he had ever seen. Fleischer wrote, “Jack Johnson boxed on his toes, could block from most any angle, was lightning fast on his feet, could feint an opponent into knots…he possessed everything a champion could hope for punch, speed, brains, cleverness, boxing ability and sharp-shooting. Johnson’s mastery of ring science, his ability to block, counter, and feint, are still unexcelled.”

...Jess Willard, aka The Pottawatomie Giant was huge in size for a fighter of his era at 6' 61/2 and 245 lbs...Willard was powerful and was once a circus strong man. Willard was once charged with second degree manslaughter after he accidently killed an opponent in the ring...he was later absolved of those charges...Notice the similarity of the boxing stances of both these fighters...erect and not much lateral movement...this stance was common to the era...enter Jack Dempsey four years later who brought a new fighting style to boxing and was the forerunner to the modern day boxers, (compare Dempsey's style to fighters like Rocky Marciano, Joe Frazier, and Mike Tyson). Unlike other fighters of the era, Dempsey fought from a crouch and was constantly moving. He was aggressive and extremely fast on his feet. He moved laterally, bobbed and weaved, and his fast hands threw powerful bone crushing punches from all angles. His lighting speed and his mobility made him a difficult target to hit, and his punching power made him a very dangerous opponent...according to Ring Magazine's, Top 100 punchers of all time, (spanning all weight classes and eras), Dempsey rated 7th place as one of the most powerful punchers in boxing history...Two other fighters also deserve honorable mention as boxing's greatest, although not champions. Sam Langford who even Jack Johnson, (when he was the champion), and Jack Dempsey, (Dempsey was an up and coming contender at the time and he wisely refused to fight Langford, noting that he wasn't ready to face him), refused to fight...Langford was known for predicting which round and what part the ring he would knock out his opponent...also, Ernie Shavers, the hardest hitting Heavyweight of all time, who destroyed top rated opponents like Ken Norton in the first round....In any event, a fight between Dempsey and Johnson, both in their primes would have been a fight of the century, not sure of the outcome of such a dream fight but I imagine it would have been along the lines of the Frazier / Ali trilogy...Ironically, in their third match up Ali was ready ready to throw in the towel, he thought he was dying but Frazier's corner threw in first...Ali was so physically drained, he had to be helped out of the ring....I kind of imagine a Dempsey / Johnson fight would have been similar along those lines....anyway, enjoy the video... BTW Min, I think you'll like this one, there's no irritating voice over in this video...

[Dee Dee Ramone]

I am not so into boxing, but the story sounds like David vs. Goliath to me.

[jonb]

I have gone off boxing, but some of the characters it throws up, are people with an extra something about them, and probably at the top of that list has to be Jack Johnson. The man was something special.