In the Ring With Jack Dempsey - Part I: The Making of a Champion

Yet I was among the very first here to lay down some cash to buy the book, and among the first to finish it... so where does my passion lie?

Have you read it yet?

Have you offered any refutation to the issues I have mentioned?

 

Ive interviewed Wills’ family for my book and they were adamant that he was born in 1889.

 

It was filmed but sadly its been lost.

 

You tell me. I don't know. I think yr just hate him. Period

 

Also, familysearch.org lists a birth record for "Harrison Coleman Wills" in New Orleans for January 20 1889. Pretty sure it's him as the parent names match the details on his 1916 marriage record and also it's the same birthday that he would later put on his draft card, just 3 years earlier.

 

Obviously many of us speculated that previous Dempsey biographies might have done justice to the topic.

Are you saying that I need this for Christmas?

 

I think the gravitas of Fleischer's view of Jeff would be called into question anyway if the only time he saw him was in the Johnson fight. We have the film. What in the world did Jeff show in that fight which would justify rating him #2 all time through the era of Ali and Frazier?

 

BUY IT!

 

Nat very likely saw films that just are not around today with clarity on Jeffries and his opponents. He also had 1st hand testimonials we can only dream of. In Nat's opinion, Jeffries beat the best competition. I do think #2 is a little high, but 5 is not.

Nat did not live to see Ali beat Frazier or Forman, but did live to see Norton and Frazier beat Ali. So I think that would be his justification. When Frazier beat Ali in their first fight, Nat jumped on Ali big time. Worth a read.

As for Dempsey himself, he felt Jeffries was the greatest. Lots of the time did.

 

I would say for sure ..

 

Can't wait for Volume 2!

Maybe Adam will veer toward guys like Ketchel or Langford or Gans... Or more likely, he'll move on to other pursuits.

 

One minor complaint I have about the book is Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger is often listed as Philadelphia Public Ledger, while, as far as I know, these two were two different newspapers in contents. Louis Jaffe, James Carolan, Robert Maxwell wrote for the Evening Public Ledger, while the more experienced and famous Billy Rocap wrote for the (morning) Public Ledger.

 

I'm waiting for someone who has the courage to write a book about Willie Meehan, the Augustus Burton of his day. Who will step up to the task?!

 

There is more about Willie in this book than any other collection out there ..

 

Interesting stuff here on every page .. the talk about Willard being out of shape is fiction ... of course he was 37 and had been inactive but the man trained hard and came into the dight in shape .. was fascinating is the actual description of how he came back from the murderous first round and was pretty dangerous in the second .. the man had an exceptional chin and courage ..

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