Revisiting the Jack Dempsey 'loaded gloves' controversy

TBH I heard it was a train tie but never really looked into it because it seem far fetched. Plaster is more reasonable. Ill let someone who knows speak to likelihood but I am curious if anyone else ever heard the tale featuring a train spike or was that just old man talk unique to where I live?

 

Sports illustrated I believe also debunked the myth. I believe the reason it came back was because Kearns needed money yet again and started it. Dempsey sued and Kearns admitted he lied about it. Nothing but myth

 

The railway spike story comes from pictures of the fight which show a dark cylindrical object by Willard's left knee as he lies slumped in the corner at the end of the first round. The theory was that Dempsey had an iron weight gripped in his fist throughout that round and dropped it when the round ended.

The problem is, the film clearly shows that the object wasn't there when Dempsey walked away from Willard. The camera stays on Dempsey, and the next time we see Willard, the object has appeared. The likeliest explanation seems to be that some jackass at ringside chucked a cigar at him.

 

I think Monte Cox debunked this in his article. I would suggest looking into that.

 

Hmmm. Benefit of the doubt naturally, but the fact Dempsey bet big on a first round knockout has always made me wonder…

 

Dempsey didn't bet on the fight at all,and he was unaware Kearns had wagered on a 1 round ko.Jimmy Deforest bandaged Dempsey's hands in front of Walter Monahan ,Willard's sparring partner.Jack & Jess shook hands in the ring before gloving up.

 

Yes a cigar or something like that imo.

 

Are you sure? That’s not the story I always heard. If that’s the case it would strengthen Dempsey’s case for innocence.

@mr. magoo well well well

 

Perhaps I stand corrected on that one. Thank you

 

That’s it, I don’t think people are used to seeing a heavyweight champion that hungry and it can’t really happen in todays climate (in most of the civilised world) he was the sort of guy who was letting his brother hook him in the mouth in a chicken coop at the very beginning just to prove himself lol - after he got the title he couldn’t be the same.

 

“When you haven’t eaten in two days you’ll understand,” or words to that effect, describing the hardship of life on the road & rails.

 

He was once nearly grape’d by Hobo’s on the rails… he started out as a skinny kid fighting grown men in bars, Jack was a product of the times he was all aggression and had a hungry “take what’s mine” in his style… his record also reflects the formless sort of way it was… with whacky 4 rounders against the “Fat Wilie” types, a dive(I’ve read against Flynn) and stuff like 10 rounder title fights against Tunney? There wasn’t much shape to the game JD stepped into and it was at its closest to a business then ever IMO which is reflected in the trajectory of title reigns such as Corbett’s etc, I think that if he’d come along a little later but had’ve kept the style he had in a more “regulated” boxing world he would’ve been a great champion like Louis he understood that the long lay offs ruined him but they made him rich and being a fighting champion was too much risk for a former starving undesirable… I’d rather rake it in, be the most famous athlete alive and read war and peace as well.

 

Very well-surmised. If I could have lived in any champion’s time, it would have been Dempsey’s. He was a phenomenon of unprecedented star power.

 

The great and late @djanders was alive when Dempsey was champion, still a pup but his posts are great helluva resource to tap into you get a feel for the reverence for the past giants in his posts… he saw the debut of Jersey Joe Walcott, Met Sam Langford, Marciano and more he did boxing in the army so he knew what he was seeing but despite all of this he considers Evander Holyfield his favourite HW which always interested me. I counted him a good man loved every interaction with him, hold a grudge against anyone I spotted rude to him.