Dempsey footage

It's good thing that Dempsey got up to the ring, because he dominated Firpo for 90% of the fight and such a lucky circumstances should never make you a champion. I mean, who really believes that Firpo fight was close?

 

Dempsey was knocked down three times in the fight including once out of the ring and committed numerous fouls including literally standing over Firpo while he was down in clear violation of the rules in force under the Walker law. Dempsey had a fight on his hands with a guy who was one of the crudest challengers in history. If it was the one sided beating you characterize it as it wouldnt have gone down as one of the greatest fights of the roaring twenties.

 

I've seen only on KD on the film.

 

3 Knockdowns? Can you back this up? I saw the knockout of the ring and the hands touching the canvas by Dempsey when off balance, which is barely a knock down. That adds up to 2, where's the 3rd knock down?

 

The film is edited. Just after the bell rang in the first round Dempsey was knocked down. You can see Firpo hits him with a right, Dempsey goes to his knees, then the film cuts to him rising from this knockdown but you dont see all of the sequence. The newspapers mention it as well.

 

Yes, I've been saying that for years. This film is highly edited. There is also controversy in terms of Dempsey not only being helped back into the ring, but the number of seconds he was out of it.

I've heard stories the Argentina film shows Dempsey out of the ring for a longer period of time.

At any rate, I gave Dempsey's testimonial. He thought he was knocked out and came too on his stool. Could he have made it back into the ring without help? That's the $64,000 question.

 

Under the rules, Fripo is the winner. I agree Dempsey had the better edited filmed action. Firpo was a crude slugger there to be hit. The interesting thing this is Dempsey's testimonial. He thought he was knocked out, and Fripo didn't land much which begs the question, how good was Dempsey's chin? Solid, but not much better than that is what I think.

 

To my mind, Dempsey can't be faulted if reporters pushed him back in the ring. He had no control over that. The reporters were observers, not Dempsey seconds. The rule against receiving assistance has no application here. It only make sense if it one of Dempsey's handlers who give him assistance.

 

Then perhaps the fight should be a No Contest and are-match was needed?

Without the reporters breaking his fall and helping him get back into the ring, would he have beaten the count?

 

A version of the film with portion showing Dempsey going out of the ring and getting back in unedited exists and Dempsey was definitely back in the ring and on his feet before the 10 ten count with time to spare. Its notable though that when Dempsey is through the ropes Firpo steps back more than half way across the ring to give him time to recover his footing. A luxury Dempsey rarely ever afforded an opponent.

 

Spectators are just part of the ring environment. They have a right to be where they are. When a fighter falls in their laps, they are only protecting themselves as would any person in their situation. They did not actively interfere. If they had grabbed Dempsey and held him back, then that might be considered interference and grounds for a ruling of No Contest. What happened was well within the normal bounds of a reasonable human response. The reporters were just part of the scenery, not active interventionists. If the reporters hadn't been there, who knows how and where Dempsey would have landed? But the reporters were there, so the question is without substance.

 

I agree, Firpo looked terrible vs Wills. Firpo was an over rated and hyped man, who managed to floor and hurt 2-3 x Dempsey in short order. Why not a re-match? It was a highly talked about fight and had issues with the rules.

On film, Dempsey doesn't look too hard to hit.

Brennan ( who was in the lead and Dempsey had to rally to beat ) Carpenter, J. Sharkey and Tunney show us this. Before these guys, Meehan beat Dempsey and gave him fits. The conventional wisdom is Greb whom Dempsey avoided as champion could not stand with him.
I say BS, Greb was fast and durable with good defense. Greb could pull a Meehan ( who was 5'9" tall close to even higher with Greb ). Dempsey wasn't know for late round stoppages. His own wife called him a 4 round fighter, point being Greb could make it close over the course of 15 rounds and possibly upset him.

 

While I agree with this, the spectators broke his fall and helped him back into the ring. The rules say a fighter if knocked out of the ring must get back in it unassisted which did not happen. That's why I say NC or re-match.

I can all but assure you the reporters there wanted Dempsey to beat a foreign born South American. If the situation was reversed and it was Firpo who fell out of the ring, would the reporters help him back into it with the same zest?

 

Dempsey being knocked out of the ring was a push IMO.