Dempsey KO'ed By Godfrey ?

Dempsey had Godfrey in camp in preparation for the Tommy Gibbons defense, not for the Firpo defense later that same year. In training for Gibbons, Dempsey actually broke Godfrey's ribs, forcing poor George to withdraw from his scheduled bout on the undercard of the title fight. Probably just as well I suppose, fat chance Godfrey would have gotten paid at the end of the night, given the way things went.

 

Several years ago while I was doing research on the Dempsey-Gibbons fight, I found several articles in the press concerning Godfrey as an impressive sparring partner. There was a long article in TIME MAGAZINE on 7-2-1923. I wish now I had copied down these articles, but the gist of them was that black employees at the training camp addressed Dempsey as "Jack" or "Mr Dempsey" but addressed Godfrey as "Champ". Time reported that white sportswriters, being paid under the table by Jack Kearns, hushed up what was widely reported in the black press, who were not on Kearn's payroll, that Dempsey had been knocked cold by Godfrey while sparring.

Who knows? What is certain that Dempsey released this statement to the papers. It was quoted by TIME and on the newswires.

"If George Godfrey ever knocked me out, it must have been while I was asleep. He certainly never did it while I was awake. And never since he has been in camp has he shaken me up."

It has close to fifty years since I read it and I don't have a copy now, but in his 1959 autobiography Dempsey claimed that when "Godfrey's people"--who had arrived by the train from Chicago--were watching the two spar one Sunday, he "allowed" Godfrey to be a hero to his folks. Godfrey was dead by then.

Make of all this what you can.

There were later reports that Godfrey had suffered rib injuries. I found an article in the NEW YORK TIMES from August 26, 1923, reporting Godfrey sparring with Dempsey in the lead up to the Firpo match.

The practice of promoters and/or managers paying off reporters seems to have been a common practice in those days. This makes it hard to figure what to make of any of these old rumours.

By the way, I just read Godfrey's obituary in the TIMES. He died alone in a dingy hotel room in 1947. The article noted that Godfrey often bragged to his friends that he had made over one half million dollars in the ring. This sounds totally unlikely to me. I lot of the rumours concerning Godfrey seem to originate from Godfrey. It is probable he was not a reliable source.

 

There is an article in the New York Times archives from August 26, 1923, reporting Dempsey as sparring with Godfrey in preparation for the Firpo fight.

I don't think it was worth buying this article but these are the lines the Times gave as a preview:

"Associated Press--August 25, 1923--The power of Jack Dempsey's was revealed today when the heavyweight champion came dangerously near knocking out Jack Burke and George Godfrey, the two heavyweights, in one of the roughest workouts the champ has engaged in since establishing camp."

 

I have read that Godfrey also sparred with Firpo,and that Dempsey paid for Godfrey's funeral Dempsey was said to be very fond of George,but that would not preclude him from bashing him up ,he beat the **** out of martin Bourke and they were good friends.

 

He knocked out Billy Miske when had brights disease. He actually tried harder to knock Miske out because he had brights disease. As if the thought of just taking it back a couple of notches and boxing a tame, non-aggressive fight and winning on points never even occurred to him. It's fare to say that Dempsey just didn't give a **** about you after the gong sounded. When the fight was on you were the enemy, an opponent to be defeated as decisively and as quickly as possible, the most mercy he ever had on a friend in the ring was to knock them out faster.

 

Dempsey seems to have spoken verry highly of George Godfrey.

He said that he thought that he was better than Harry Wills.

He also said after Tunney retired that Godfrey was the best of the remaining crop.

I dont know if Godfrey knbocked him out in sparring. It is always possible. Things stranger than fiction happen in sparring.

Kearns said that he would never let Dempsey spar with Godfrey in the weeks leading up to a fight for fear of injuring him and having to pospone the fight.

They undoubtedly sarred a lot of rounds together but the stories coming out of the training camps are a bit ambiguous.

 

"Due to the lack of sparring partners, Jack Bernstein, junior lightweight champion, was pressed into service, stepping the two final rounds."
:nut

 

I don't know the point of this. If you check post #4 above, you will see that the Times reported Dempsey as sparring thst day with Jack Burke and George Godfrey. Dempsey might have been short of sparring partners, but Godfrey was one of them.

 

I simply quoted part of the newspaper article of which you gave the preview of. Bernstein sparred with Dempsey too that day. There's a way to see them for free, without paying for them.

 

So. And what has the icon got to do with it?

 

Just thought it was crazy that it was so hard to find sparring partners, he had to spar with 130-pounder.

 

It wasn't unusual for Dempsey to spar with small men, including even lightweights, to work on his speed. He didn't let loose power shots against men this small. The little guy, like Bernstein, was paid and got good publicity. There were always plenty of reporters hanging around a Dempsey camp.

 

He just battered Godfrey to the point the latter asked Kearns to persuade Jack to take it easy with him, he just almost knocked out Jack Burke, and then he's taking on jr. lightweight as a desert? What's he gonna do in order not to knock him out, shadowbox?