TOMMY LOUGHRAN may forget a fight, but not his workout with DEMPSEY

Nice read

 

Awes

Awesome story!

 

I've always found this article very interesting as there is so little written about what Dempsey was really like in his championship years .. keep in mind that he was a very tough kids that grew up in hobo jungles, mining towns and bounced in ***** houses as a teenager thru early 20's .. so much of his transformation has been airbrushed by history and the sports writers who were paid to cover and build him up .. I have little doubt that a few decades later he did become a gentleman of sorts but no way in the 1920's was he a finished product .. Loughran commenting on his eccentric behavior and "viciousness " is just a touch but wish he fleshed it out .. I"ve read tiny snipits saying Estele Taylor was terrified of his temper and that he beat up Abe Attell for hitting on her and a few other things but most seem lost to history ..

 

Any reports at the time of the sparring session?

 

Yes, great read… but as we all know, stories from the past, recounted many years later by old-timers, should be taken with a grain of salt!

 

Great read.

I remember reading an article in The Ring from the 1970's I think where the writer said Dempsey was old but he had big hands and a look in his eyes that said he was a proper so and so in his day. Dempsey had a tough start to life and his hobo years weren't easy, one doesn't forget those years and it doesn't soften you up.

 

Here's the AP report the article mentions. It's not quite as flattering to Loughran - they reckon Dempsey had him in real trouble by the end of the two rounds.

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1926-09-12/ed-1/seq-80/

 

These stories are very different.
It seems to me that the AP is less likely to be inaccurate or distorting things for Dempsey than the Loughran not being honest, or more likely recalling things in a way flattering to his ego 50nsome years later.

 

Absolutely no doubt .. can you imagine a 16 year old kid from the sticks living that life ? I know how Dempsey's youth riding the rods and living in hobo and mining camps has been romanticized as Americana but in reality it was like living a penitentiary lifestyle. You can be sure he at the very least saw quite a bit .. no need to wonder where his savage fury to fight for survival came from ..

 

In dempsey in nevada one person related the young dempsey slamming his hand down on the bar exclaiming ill take the toughest guy here but the bartender didnt allow it.....dempsey would pass the hat after and get some change along with bartender and some for the loser....when allowed.....entertainment on the weekends.....dempsey realley was no different from countless tough scrappy fighters most were pretty good guys but just don't mess with them

 

Excellent stuff, thanks very much!

 

I like this...thanks!!