The Famous S.I. Article by Kearns on the loaded gloves

I have hear tales that say you can see something that looks like metal falling out of Dempsey's glove, but never saw anything like that on the film I have seen.

Jess Willard himself found a bolt in the ring, and kept it his entire life.

 

It's an interesting article but bull****. Boxing Illustrated conducted an experiment using plaster of paris in 1964 they coated Cleveland Williams hands with it and, after sufficient time had elapsed had him hit the heavy bag ,the powder disintegrated. Nat Fleischer was in Dempsey's dressing room when his hands were wrapped .Jimmy Deforest wrapped them. Kearns had nothing to do with the process.


extent as to lead many to question whether Dempsey's gloves were loaded.[5] This was the subject of a 1964 Sports Illustrated article which contained an interview with Dempsey's manager. Jack Kearns, who claimed that he had placed a bet on the fight and coated Dempsey's hand wraps with plaster of paris;[6] however, Kearns made this statement after he and Dempsey had had a falling out. In 1964 heavyweight contender Cleveland Williams tested the theory by coating his bandages with plaster of paris, toasting them for 35 minutes, and punching the heavy bag five times. The plaster of paris had disintegrated.[6]
Nat Fleischer, later founder of The Ring Magazine, 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."[7] 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." There is a photo of the ring with what looks like a cigar in the bottom right hand corner. Willard was in no state to go looking for railroad spikes ,horseshoes or bolts after the fight he could barely see or walk.He made his way out of the arena by clutching hand over hand on the fence, like a blind man reading braille.

 

This story got started in late 1920 when Jimmy DeForest, Dempsey's trainer for the Willard fight, stated that he had wrapped Dempsey's hands in a special tape that hardened over time. He stated he had done the same thing for Kid McCoy.

It was actually not uncommon during this era for fighters to wrap their hands in hard bicycle tape (my book on Greb had a photo of Joe Borrell, who was known as a puncher, with just these wrappings prior to fighting Greb) but I have several photos of Dempsey just prior to the fight with Willard and before his gloves were slipped on. Not only are his hands not coated in plaster but his wraps are not bicycle tape. Indeed Willard crosses the ring and shakes hands with Dempsey. You would think he would have noticed something then and drawn attention to it. Also, Willard's cornerman is in Dempsey's corner when the gloves are put on and later stated that the stories of loaded gloves were baloney.

 

I know you are not a big fan of Dempsey's but you don't let that get in the way of the truth and I respect that.

I used electrician's tape a couple of times when I was young it encases your hand in something akin to a brick but it tightens and constricts the blood supply. As you've said it was common practice back in the old days and GunBoat Smth mentions having his his hands loaded against Willard in Heller's book..

I've heard about the tea foil being used but never seen it in practice.

 

As bad as it sounds to use bicycle tape to load your wraps it was very common back then and actually allowed if both parties agreed. Generally the only time it wasnt allowed was if one party objected. But Ive seen several instances where a guy wanted to come in with gloves loaded with bicycle tape and the opponent literally said "put whatever you want on your hands." Thats either false bravado or extreme confidence in your ability.

As for Dempsey, its just another one of those myths that has refused to die. I dont know why Jimmy DeForrest would have said that but its obvious from all of the evidence we have that Dempsey's gloves werent loaded. He didnt need loaded gloves. There is no denying that he was a dynamite puncher with or without loaded gloves and Willard had looked out of shape and disinterested in training. He had horrible sparring partners and he was coming off a very long layoff at an advanced age. When your best sparring partner is a smallish middleweight (Joe Chip) it doesnt bode well for your HW preparation. Even the hellish damage done to Willard (which many have used as proof of Dempsey using loaded gloves) was exaggerated. Chip was with Willard before, during, and after the fight. He admitted that Willard had been badly beaten and suffered bad swelling, but stated that he had not lost any teeth, suffered a broken jaw, or broken ribs as was later alleged. He was a bloody, swollen mess but you dont need bicycle tape or a plug of pig iron to do that to someone in a fight. Particularly not a fight like this where you essentially had an F-15 in a dogfight with a WW1 dirigible.

 

The true extent of Willard's injuries are both elusive and exaggerated, but I'll be damned if something wasn't broken that day.

So many clean, powerful shots were landed, particularly the left hook to the right side of Willard's gory mug.

This content is protected

This famous picture shows some serious damage inflicted on the right side of the face. The right eye looks very much like Antonio Margarito's after Manny Pacquaio was through with him; of course, it later turned out to be an orbital fracture.

 

As I recall, the Sports Illustrated story of alleged loaded gloves came from Jack Kearns' autobiography, which also had numerous inaccuracies.

- Chuck Johnston

 

A photo is but a snapshot in time. It does tell you if something happened after it. If Dempsey loaded his left glove ( It was the hook that initially hurt him ), Willard would notice nothing at all as they shake hands with their right. Just saying, what you wrote would easily be dismissed in a court of law.

Dempsey had a bet on a first round KO, and raced out of the ring early, which is a very odd thing for a new champion to do when he thought the fight was over.

 

Dempsey did not have a bet and was unaware Kearns had done so until the Doc told him .

 

If Dempsey had loaded gloves I think he would have killed Willard for how many times he hit him.

 

Dempsey broke the jaw of 7 foot Big Ben Wray in 2 places with one punch from sparring gloves, he didn't need loaded gloves.

 

Yeah. He was able to drive all the way back to Kansas a few days later. I doubt he had a broken jaw or orbital. Still, he was rightly ****ed up.

And yes, the Kearns accusation has been defeated on photo and practical evidence.

 

Yeah Dempsey was already a hard puncher. Look at what Luis Resto did with tampered gloves and he wasn't one tenth the hitter Dempsey was.

 

Actually in a court of law you're considered innocent unless proven guilty, not the other way around.