The truth: The Dempsey contract

Here is a pretty good summaryof things, though i am sure the two main players in this game will both find things they do and dont agree with or like.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/a... wills life story boxer dempsey&searchLimits=

 

Reposting the same thing over and over and over isnt going to change what happened nearly 100 years ago today. Of course Dempsey is going to say no promoter could be found. Yet it totally ignores that promoters were chomping at the bit to promote the bout and Dempsey and Kearns ignored all offers. What was Mullins supposed to do? Theyd been strung along by Dempsey for 3 years and if he said no to the contract Dempsey would have just said Wills was afraid to sign. The fact that Dempsey is spinning this story is evidenced by his story in the next paragraph that once the 30 days was up he signed to fight Gibbons. Unfortunately for Dempsey's credibility this contract issue was in the summer of 1922, nearly a year before he fought Gibbons.

Nat Fleischer, who had as much to do with building the myth of Jack Dempsey as anyone described it this way: "The articles signed were nothing more than articles indicating good faith on the part of the boxers, as the contract had the three most important items, place, date, and terms, blank. Paddy Mullins, feeling that all was not straightforward, insisted that Kearns accept an agreement to have all bid submitted within in thirty days, but Mullins lost his plea." Thats important because it illustrates plainly that Mullins hands were tied in the matter and that he didnt just blindly accept this sham of a "contract."

James Dawson of the New York Times described the "contract" exactly the same way: "In reality the articles amount to little more than an indication of good faith on the part of the boxers, for of necessity the three all important details terms, time, and place are left blank."

In reality the context of the situation, and context is everything, was that after defeating Kid Norfolk in Rickards elimination bout Wills posted a challenge and forfeit of $2,500 with the New York State Athletic Commission. When the commission accepted this forfeit it became binding by the Walker Law. Ten days later the commission gave Dempsey a further ten days to accept the challenge or be stripped. This is when Dempsey signed those "good faith" articles. Specifically to kick the can down the road and prevent the commission from stripping him. Three years later the exact same thing happened and right when the commission was about to strip Dempsey he had his friend Floyd Fitzsimmons cook up the other phony contract he signed. And once again, Wills had to accept in good faith or Dempsey could simply say that Wills wouldnt sign a contract to fight him. Yet it was always Dempsey who balked and came up with excuses. Not Wills.

As for having having thirty days you are wrong. Obviously you havent read the "contract". So once again you started with an argument and then are trying to build your "facts" around the argument. The problem is I have read that contract word for word and have a copy of it I can refert to. I dont have to take Dempsey's spin on it. It states that the contest is to be held within sixty days, not of the signing of this "contract" but within sixty days of the acceptance of an offer by a reliable promoter. This means that they could wait and wait and wait and refuse all offers as unacceptable, never having to fight Wills. Thats a big difference from the articles actually saying the fight had to be held within sixty days of the signing of the "contract" in question. Thats why Mullins was so intent on having all bids entered within in 30 days. Because it would have held both promoters and Dempsey's feet to the fire. It would have essentially set up a very similar situation to a purse bid, which is held in modern times. Promoters would bid on the Dempsey-Wills contest and Dempsey and Kearns would have been forced to accept the best offer and fight Wills essentially within 90 days of the signing of this "contract". Who fought that clause? Kearns and Dempsey. In fact Dawson questioned Kearns specifically about the fact that the contract was open ended: "His attention was called to the fact that no time limit of any kind was placed on the bidding for the contest. He replied that this permitted the parties concerned to make sure they would get the best bid possible, but in other boxing circles it was pointed out that the latitude of this clause was unlimited and that it might be midwinter or even later before a bid was finally accepted and that in reality it meant that the fight would not be held until next year." This is important because at the same meeting Rickard announced that he had already begun work on an aborted Dempsey-Willard rematch which illustrates that Dempsey, Kearns, and Rickard had no real intention of participating in a Wills fight and this was fairly obvious to everyone covering the signing of this "contract." When promoters started making offers Kearns started making excuses. The first promoter that approached him Kearns demanded a $500,000 guarantee, not a percentage, a guarantee. Unheard of in boxing at that point and illegal in New York. The next promoter that approached him Kearns demanded that his only stipulation was that the arena be able to seat 100,000, thats 10,000 to 20,000 more seats than Boyles 30 Acres could hold. In short it was a ridiculous demand to make. So you see, immediately Kearns, not Wills, began putting up roadblocks. So when you pretend that Dempsey agreed to fight Wills but that nobody would sign him so he decided to fight Gibbons you are wrong and so was Dempsey for pretending that. When Dempsey says that the contract was written specifically to get him out of the fight and the bind he was in with the commission Im not reading anything into it Im taking it at face value.

 

Horses "champ" at the bit. They do not "chomp" at it.

 

"Champin The Wonder Horse"!

 

The Dempsey Wills story is a sad and sorry saga!

Wills got screwed out of a title shot due to his race, for reasons that are complex (at least in terms of who was responsible).

Wills got written out of history for reasons of convenience.

Historians rediscovered the fact that Wills had existed.

This resulted in a vicious anti Dempsey movement that threw the baby out with the bathwater.

This has resulted in a vicious pro Dempsey movement, that also threw the baby out with the bathwater.

Let’s try to boil this down to the primary evidence, and what we can constrain as being likely!

 

http://grammarist.com/usage/champing-chomping-at-the-bit/

 

Then call me a purist.

 

Spot on article regarding Dempsey Wills. Much more realistic and accurate summary of what went on.

http://www.boxing.com/the_trouble_with_harry.html

One thing to remember is that years later Wills cast NO BLAME WHATSOEVER on Dempsey. In fact he stated that Dempsey wanted the fight but the powers who ran boxing did not want the bout to occur. Wills, the man himself, stated Dempsey was not to blame. End of discussion.

 

Dempsey in the 1950's:

"The facts clearly show that in 1926 I tried desperately to arrange a fight with Harry Wills but the deal collapsed when my guarantee was not forthcoming. Wills and I had signed to fight with a promoter named Floyd Fitzsimmons of Benton Harbor, Michigan. Wills, I understand, received fifty thousand dollars as his guarantee for signing the contract. I was to have received one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in advance of the fight. As the date of the fight grew nearer and my money did not appear, I became anxious and asked Fitzsimmons what was the matter. He wired me to meet him in Dayton, Ohio, assuring me that he would have the money for me there. I met Fitzsimmons in Dayton who handed me a certified check for twenty-five thousand dollars and a promise to let me have the balance almost immediately. I balked at that, demanding the full amount right away. Fitzsimmons tried to placate me by calling the bank where he said he had deposited the money. The bank, unfortunately for Fitzsimmons, informed him that it did not have that much money on hand, that there wasn’t enough to cover the twenty-five thousand dollar check he had given me. Furious, I returned the check to Fitzsimmons and told him the fight was off. Later, the Fitzsimmons syndicate financing the fight sued me for failure to honor a contract. I won the case."

 

I believe the following article written by Jack Dempsey appeared in a 1963 issue of Ebony magazine.

“From the inception of boxing in this country it has been dominated by men who developed out of struggle with life. Our first real heavyweight champion, Tom Molyneaux, was born a slave in Virginia and won his freedom with his fistic talent. Fighting as a freedman in New York he beat all challengers and earned the right to be called the first American heavyweight champion.

All of the great old-time Negro boxers were born under poor and depressing circumstances but rose above their environments to win acclaim wherever they fought. Peter Jackson, Sam Langford, George Dixon, Joe Gans, the immortal “Old Master,” and Jack Johnson all knew what it felt like to be up against the wall and cornered. Their bitter experiences were reflected in their superb endurance and their toughness of spirit. Their early poverty showed itself in the way they handled themselves as men and boxers.

I am personally indebted to a number of Negro boxers who worked as my sparring partners in the years when I was learning how to handle myself in a ring. When I was fighting I had many Negro sparring partners at my training camp. One of these, Bill Tate, became one of my best friends. Now living in Chicago, Illinois, he is one of the finest men I have ever known. Then there was Panama Joe Gans, a great and clever fighter, who taught me a lot. The Jamaica Kid, a very fine heavyweight, worked with me before the famous 1919 fight with Jess Willard. The Kid did a lot to get me into the superb condition that enabled me to beat Willard and win the world’s championship.

Sam Langford, one of the greatest of all heavyweights, is another Negro fighter who showed me some tricks and gave me the benefits of his vast experience. I worked with Old Sam in Chicago when I was a youngster. I never forgot what Langford taught me. He was cool, clever, scientific and a terrific hitter besides a fine man.
Battling Gee and Battling Jim Johnson, both Negroes were also on my payroll as sparring mates. I was a pretty rough customer in those days and my sparring partners had to be good and tough to stay with me. All of these men more than made the grade.

Many times I’ve had the charge hurled at me that I was prejudiced against Negroes. It is time this utter fiction was laid to rest once and for all. All my life I have believed that all men are basically brothers and that differences of color and religion are superficial. I hate prejudice. I hate discrimination. I hate intolerance. Boxing has been guilty of its share of color bias but I categorically deny that I ever practiced it either as a fighter, manager or promoter. The several Negro fighters who have been under my management will testify to my long-held belief in equality of treatment for all men, regardless of color.

Since I am on the subject of the color line in boxing, let me clear the air of the many rumors and suspicions and charges that have been moving around me as a result of my failure to fight Harry Wills. I have never run away from a fight in my life. Ever since I left public school to work in the Colorado mines, my credo has been to fight all comers and may the best man win. Harry Wills was a great fighter in his prime and I would have liked to have been matched with him. But it was not to be. The reasons had nothing to do with color prejudice on my part (which I have never held), nor fear of Wills fighting skill. I wanted to fight Wills badly, but Tex Rickard, who had the final say, never matched us.

Rickard was a Texan. He had a rough time of it out in San Francisco, California, after the Johnson-Jeffries fight which he promoted in Reno. The repercussions of that fight swirled about Rick’s head for a long time after the fight and he was a victim of ugly charges and a wicked smear campaign. This experience soured him on mixed fights for the heavyweight crown. As a result he was never anxious to promote a match between Wills and myself.

The facts clearly show that in 1926 I tried desperately to arrange a fight with Harry Wills but the deal collapsed when my guarantee was not forthcoming. Wills and I had signed to fight with a promoter named Floyd Fitzsimmons of Benton Harbor, Michigan. Wills, I understand, received fifty thousand dollars as his guarantee for signing the contract. I was to have received one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in advance of the fight. As the date of the fight grew nearer and my money did not appear, I became anxious and asked Fitzsimmons what was the matter. He wired me to meet him in Dayton, Ohio, assuring me that he would have the money for me there. I met Fitzsimmons in Dayton who handed me a certified check for twenty-five thousand dollars and a promise to let me have the balance almost immediately. I balked at that, demanding the full amount right away. Fitzsimmons tried to placate me by calling the bank where he said he had deposited the money. The bank, unfortunately for Fitzsimmons, informed him that it did not have that much money on hand, that there wasn’t enough to cover the twenty-five thousand dollar check he had given me. Furious, I returned the check to Fitzsimmons and told him the fight was off. Later, the Fitzsimmons syndicate financing the fight sued me for failure to honor a contract. I won the case.

When the Wills fight failed to materialize, Tex Rickard jumped back into the picture and matched me with Gene Tunney. The rest is history. And that is the real story behind the negotiations for the Harry Wills fight which never came off. I am sorry Wills and I never got a chance to square off in the ring. I am sure it would have been one beautiful scrap.”