Dempsey's one-punch KO over Morris - real or fake?

I think it must have been real because Morris was trying to beat Dempseys head against the ringpost when the knockout took place.

You tend not to do that when you are throwing a fight.

 

You can never know, a lot of times back then fights were fixed. Still are today, but not in the sense of a dive, but with fixed judges. I think he beat him 3 times though, so there is little doubt on who the better man was. Maybe it was a fix, or maybe the crowd had never seen a one-punch knockout that Dempsey could deliver.

 

It might not be true. He occasionally makes things up when his favourites are questioned.

 

Dempsey spoke well of nearly all his opponents ,but he didn't like Morris and said so in his autobiography.

 

Dempsey and Moriss hated each other.

Moriss used to bait Dempsey and he found an angle that got to him.

Sufice it to say that when the bell rang it was personal.

 

AP report:

NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 17. -- Jack Dempsey of Salt Lake City, claimant of the heavyweight championship, knocked out Carl Morris of Oklahoma in the first round of their scheduled twenty-round bout here last night after one minute of fighting.

The knockout blow was a short left hook to the stomach, delivered during a period of hard infighting. Many of the 7000 spectators believed for a time that Morris had slipped and fallen, as the blow was visible only to those near the ringside.

The bout started with a brisk exchange of short jabs. After breaking from the first clinch, Dempsey rushed Morris near the ropes and during the infighting delivered the final blow. Morris did not regain consciousness for four minutes.

Dempsey weighed in at 185 pounds and Morris at 220. They received $4000 and $1250 respectively. The Utah boxer was a favorite in the betting, as high as 5 to 1 being offered that he would knock out Morris and 6 to 5 that the Oklahoman would not last three rounds. The bout was held in an open air arena.

 

Youve come up trumps again Senya ,thanks for the detail.

 

Unfortunately don't have the Times-Picayune for that month, so no local source.

 

Here is Dempseys acount of the fight taken from an article by Mike Cassey:

“Going down to New Orleans, I had two days’ time to think things over. I boxed Morris in Buffalo and knew his style pretty well. But I realised he was tough. I made up my mind not to take unnecessary chances as the New Orleans fight was booked for 20 rounds. I figured it out that Morris would want to stick the limit and that he’d play a defensive game and make me carry the fight to him – that he would wrestle in the clinches and make me carry his weight and try to get me tired. It’s no cinch, you know, to lug a big guy like him around for six or eight rounds.

“Going down on the train, I doped it out this way: I’d let Morris set the pace, nailing him when he left openings but never going in and mixing with him. What I planned to do was outbox him and wait for a chance to sink the ship.

“When the referee calls us to the centre of the ring, Morris was so polite I became suspicious. It was Jack this and Jack that. He Jacked me to death. When we get our instructions from the referee and are going back to our corners for the first bell, Morris yells out so everybody could hear him, ‘Make this a clean fight, Jack, no rough stuff’.

“Out we come, Morris laughing and leading with his left. It fell short. I tapped him with a left on the nose. He keeps on laughing. He swings his right. I duck and he grabs me. Right off the reel he starts the rough stuff The moment he got hold of me, what does he do but rush me across the ring and slam me into the ropes, throwing all his weight on me and rubbing my back ten or fifteen feet along the top rope You know what that does, don’t you? Just burns your back, that’s all. And there’s the guy who says make it a clean fight.

“The referee was wise and cautioned Morris. Morris excused himself and we break. I hooked him with a left to the chin. He was hurt. He lost his noodle, I guess, for he rushes in and grabs me again, though I tried to pull away from him. He got a good hold, like Zbyszko (the wrestler) and slams me into one of the corners.

“He puts one of his ham-like hands against my forehead and deliberately tried to jam my head back over the ropes so my skull would hit the iron post. Trying to knock me out that way. Bum stuff.

“The referee rushes in, yelling at Morris to quit trying to foul. I yelled at the referee to let him go. ‘I’ll take care of him,’ says I as we break away. I lost all regard for Morris. I tore loose, driving a left to the pit of his stomach with every ounce of strength I had, and as he doubled up and begins to sink to the floor, I whipped my right to his chin and he went down like a log. Both his feet were up in the air. The referee counted ten and it was a long, generous count too.

“I don’t think I ever hit a man as hard as I belted Morris in the stomach. Say, that referee could have counted a hundred. Morris didn’t move. His seconds dragged him to his corner.

“I went over to shake his hand, willing to let bygones be bygones, but I got an awful shock.
Morris was as white as milk and as limp as a rag. His lips were purple. On the square, I thought he was done for. I was never so frightened in my life. You know, I don’t want to hurt no man. I turned in and helped his seconds revive him. We worked over him for four minutes before he opened his eyes. I was a happy lad when he looks up and I see he’s all right.

“You see, I went in planning to box him six or eight rounds, but when he tried to burn my back on the ropes and knock my head against the iron post – well, no man is going to do that to me and get away with it. Morris made me knock him out in two minutes.”

 

Before their second fight Moriss visited Dempsey in his dressing room and Dempsey yelled:

“Get outta here, you cheap *******, or I’ll flatten you right now!”

 

One of Morris' seconds, Ike Dorgan, supposedly didn't get the money for his work, and he might have been the source of the rumors of a fix, as his "revenge".

 

Dempsey scored a KO with a body shot.