90 years ago today, Dempsey vs Carpentier!

kmac, best version of the fight I've seen leading up to the Ko. Carpentier was at his best that afternoon, but Dempsey" inside" was the greatest fighter in the heavyweight division. Carpentier was reputed having the quickest and most potent right hand at his weight. Georges flattened Bomb.Billy Wells [2], Joe Beckett, Battling Levinsky, Ted Kid Lewis, etc with that laser right hand, but against the rock jawed prime Dempsey of 1921,
his punches were tolerated easily. Supposedly, Tex Rickard told Dempsey,in his dressing room, before the bout to "give the fans a show for a few rounds ", and it seemed that that was what steel bodied Dempsey did. Thanks for this clip K...

 

From 1918 to 1923 this man was fantastic on the eye.

It is a mighty shame we missed what could have been his best years yet with an active dempsey taking on wills, greb, tunney, sharkey, uzcudun from 23-26

 

This fight was important for two reasons.

It brought fight revenues to a new high.

It also bridged the Atlantic, gaining a high profile in both America ans Europe.

 

Luf, from our point of view today, YES it is a shame that Dempsey in 1923 ,now RICH, Famous and HANDSOME, said to himself,"what the hell,I'm going to finally enjoy myself,accomodate all the women running after me,and go West to Hollywood " ! L, who can blame his thinking then ? Not I .He wasn't thinking of his legacy, after struggling as a hobo all his young life. So Dempsey who at this time of his life would have been a prohibitive favorite over ANY opponent of that time, went Hollywood,laid all the movie starlets of Hollywood, Fired his manager Jack Kearns,and laid off from fighting for THREE long years. He at that time was held in awe by the boxing community. Was considered a "man-killer " ,until he retired from active boxing from 1923 to 1926, when he foolishly ,slowed down and legs shot,and WITHOUT a tune-up fight, took on a razor sharp great boxer, Gene Tunney.But at his tigerish best ,Dempsey's unique blend of panther-like movements , vicious two handed punching,and a do or die attitude never surpassed, made him a tough, tough S.O.B. for any heavyweight that ever lived...Cheers, Luf...

 

I believe he'd have been a favourite and beaten them names at his best but sadly we'll never know :-( just like when tyson went prison, louis went to service, ali lost his licence and vitali suffered his injuries, this was an instance were we lost some truly legacy defining fights.

 

For the 75th and 85th [FONT=&quot]Anniversary's [/FONT]we had a celebration for several days in Jersey City and we even put up a plaque at the site of the fight on the date of July 2nd. I was the guest speaker at both events that they had at the site.

THese pictures were taken at the Jersey City library a few days before the actual date.

http://www.jclibrary.org/libinfo/events/dempseycarp/dempseycarp1.htm

http://www.jclibrary.org/libinfo/events/dempseycarp/dempseycarp21.htm

 

Thanks for sharing man. One of my favorite fights.

 

90 years yesterday Dempsey fought another hand picked bum to avoid the best contenders after getting his ass handed to him by the best boxers of his day??? Ahh right

 

I don't know how many of you watched the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (Prohibition era drama, set mainly in Atlantic City 1920), but I reckon Dempsey-Carpentier might feature in Season 2.

Apparently Dempsey will feature as a bit part somewhere, and it makes sense because the Dempsey-Carpentier fight happened close to Atlantic City ?

 

Dempsey Carpentier took place 120 miles from Atlantic City. That being said I wouldnt be surprised if Demp Carp featured in season 2, especially with a high rolling gambler like Rothstein as one of the villains.

 

:good

I think Dempsey trained at Atlantic City for the fight.

Just found this :

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FA0F16FE3C5A1B7A93CBA9178CD85F458285F9

Mayor Bader was friends with Dempsey, and a big boxing and sports supporter.

 

The more I see of Dempsey in his prime the more I believe he would've been more than a match for any HW past or present. Awesome.