In the Ring With Jack Dempsey - Part III: The Championship and Beyond by Adam J. Pollack continues the story of Jack Dempsey’s life and career following his 1923 title defense against Luis Firpo. As usual, readers will enjoy descriptions of Dempsey's fights, training, sparring, exhibitions, the pre-fight hype, predictions, pre- and post-fight analysis, discussion of his potential opponents and their careers, with heavy emphasis on Gene Tunney, Harry Wills, Jack Sharkey, Harry Greb, and others. Also included are the economics, negotiations, controversies, legal, political, and racial obstacles in making the Harry Wills fight, multiple court battles, Dempsey's personal life, long layoff, and more. Hundreds of rare photos are included. 598 pages based on primary sources, concluding the three-part series of the most thorough books ever written on Jack Dempsey's life and career. https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:c6f97691-6cea-4981-9fd1-1d34e5de973c Check out amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online booksellers. https://www.amazon.com/Ring-Jack-De...=in+the+ring+with+jack+dempsey,aps,115&sr=8-1 https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in...i-adam-j-pollack/1146048938?ean=9781949783100
I received my copy this week and already engulfed in the book. So far after the first 100 or so pages, my take aways are that Wills is slipping some, that the footage we have of him looking poor in Madden and Firpo bouts are not outliers of the rest of bout but in fact a snippet of how the remainder of those bouts were fought. Also Greb hasn’t come off at this point in time as a clear cut second challenger to Dempsey after Wills. He seems to be a little uneven in his performances against the likes of Bogash, Flowers, Tunney, Norfolk - top fighters all of them and kudos to Greb to fight such a brutal schedule, but every fight seems to be quite divisive on the winner. Nothing is screaming man killer - which the press is clearly looking for in an opponent to Dempsey.
Didn't realise until today this had been released. will be ordering this week to complete collection. Are you going to do any more books Adam or is this the end of this series?
He doesn't want to do it. The Willard book by Allen & Mace is decent though. Would be good if he reconsidered. Personally got a few decent books about heavy champs. I would like him to do a project on Barbados Joe Walcott
I was surprised to learn how split the press and crowd was on who was winning in the Dempsey vs Sharkey bout, quite divided opinions. On film the limited view we have, it always appeared clear to me that Sharkey was winning fairly wide, but that Dempsey was hanging tough and coming on with a deliberate and methodical body attack. The referee and 1 judge actually had Dempsey up at the time of the stoppage. The other judge had Sharkey up 4-1-1. Which is what I thought was more in line to the consensus. Also never realized that Sharkey after he defeated George Godfrey, Godfrey ended up on the first Dempsey Tunney undercard just two days later. That’s crazy. Even Greb needed more rest after a bout. Lot of good nuggets in this book - thanks for the exhaustive research.
I agree. He might not enjoy it, but it woudl answer a lot of questions. There is a lot of ambiguity regarding Willard's early career, and what exactly he amounted to. Even if Pollack has covered it elsewhere, it would serve a purpose to have it all in one place. God help us if he gets to work on other weight classes.
Didnt fancy this one due to the politics to be honest,Glad i took a chance as the first two books are great.This is again another 5/5 and i havent finished it yet.Nice one Mr Pollack I was genuinely stunned to see the photograph on page 313! Are there any decent books on that rascal Abe Attell out there?
Book is a very thorough history of Dempsey and the history surrounding Dempsey during the twenties and beyond. Was particularly interested in the Dempsey Wills (Coliseum Club) trial in 1931 and the appeal in 1932. Dempsey won the trial due to the inability of the plaintiffs to determine damages. The judge since the plaintiffs could not prove/determine their case asked the jury to come back with a decision favoring Dempsey. A year later the appellate judge determined what costs the plaintiff could recoup which was legally limited.
