Undated to his lawyer, but this has to be not long after Dempsey signed to fight Wills in early 1925 (second contract he signed to fight Wills). The contract provided that Dempsey receive $125,000 “on demand” once he signed the contract. “Fitzsimmons left yesterday. Told him contract broken. I refuse to bicker anymore. It was up to them (to) deliver money on demand. He asked to see Syndicate before giving out any statement. Have telegramed syndicate to get together immediately. Let’s get a definite answer one way or another. Fitzsimmons away ? Saturday, Jack”
Couldn’t get the $$$ don’t get the fight end of Harry just wasn’t a big enough draw apparently? He should’ve if it was a sport, but boxing is a business.
There was a third contract dated March 1926 but the circumstances surrounding this contract are odd. First unlike any other Dempsey title fight he didn’t sign this one. His name was typed in. Secondly Dempsey always insisted upon a significant sum upon signing. Here the contract only provided TEN DOLLARS to Dempsey (which was paid) but $50,000 to Wills that was never paid. It was this contract that Dempsey walked away from to fight Tunney. Later, in 1930 Dempsey was sued for breach of contract which he won when the judge told the jury to find Dempsey the victor. (the plaintiff could not determine what charges Dempsey was liable for). In 1932 an appellate judge sent the case back to be retried and he determined which charges related to the proposed fight Dempsey could be held liable. Case law greatly minimized this number so the case was never retried.
I’ve read statements where Wills is quoted as saying “Dempsey will never fight me” during the time period in question. However years later Wills stated “It was those that controlled the sport that did not want a mixed race bout. I know if it were up to Jack we would have fought”.
Dempsey signed to fight Wills three times. The information available indicates the first bout fell through when the NYSAC lowered ticket price to a max of $2 killing the bout. The second the promoters could not come up with the required financing. The third appears shady with Dempsey not getting any up front $ and the contract never being officially signed. Dempsey if anything was afraid of not being paid and the results of the second contract show this to be a valid concern. The third contract where Wills was not paid $50,000 obligated show the promoters were still having financial issues.
