What If Dempsey Hadn't Made It Back In To The Ring?

Jack destroys him in a rematch

 

A rematch is quickly arranged, because it is in the interests of all parties.

It is basically a guaranteed million dollar gate.

Dempsey destroys Firpo in the rematch.

 

Firpo was a smart businessman, and I don't think that he would risk his big payday against Dempsey, by fighting another contender like say Gibbons first.

 

If I was Firpo I would self promote the hell out of the second fight lap up all the glory get as out of shape as I wanted and take an obvious dive to p1ss Dempsey and the boxing world off and strip him off the chance to actually beat me then I would retire like an absolute **** and wreck history.

 

“Jack you gotta realise, I hold all the cards and If you take that tone with me I’ll just have to retire”

 

“Just going to get a packet of smokes Jacky boy I’ll be back”

 

Well Dempsey would have held one card.

The rematch would almost certainly be the biggest gate in history, and Firpo's end of the purse, probably the biggest pay day for a champion in history.

Having said that, if Firpo had played the long game, we might have seen Dempsey Wills!

Wills was the second biggest pay day of the era.

 

I really don't see Firpo stalling here. The amount of money being offered him would be too much to play around with. He couldn't risk Jack fighting again as a contender and losing to somebody. However unlikely that might have been, it would have spelled bye bye to the huge pay day. As for Firpo taking a dive in the rematch, all that would have done is add some controversy to Jack's career. Even if Firpo swore he took a dive, some still wouldn't have believed him. In the end, Jack would have been champion again and fighting on as such.

In addition, there would have definitely been no Dempsey - Firpo 3 if Firpo had admitted a dive. However, there may have been if he at least gave a respectable account of himself. This, I'm sure, would have been on Firpo's mind as he trained for the 2nd fight with Dempsey.

 

No, no. You don't understand. If he never has the second fight he never redeems himself. If it takes to long to happen his legacy takes a hit and when It does happen I would come in overweight as heck and take a dive all the legacy of the first win no damage and a second payday.

 

There would have been a rematch, but I think it would not have come off before the summer of 1924. The big gates is those days were in outdoor fights in ballparks, so the money matches were arranged for the warm weather months.

I think Dempsey would have won and then there would have been a rubber match.

Firpo would have been in the driver's seat though. I wonder if he might have demanded the rematch be in Argentina where the officials would be on his side. Dempsey still would have won it if he could avoid being disqualified. He would have had to obey the rules though, which he certainly didn't do in the 1923 fight. Fighting other and lesser challengers in Argentina might have been an option also. The U. S. authorities could strip Firpo but he would still have been the real champion and able to tell them where to go.

But there were other options for Firpo, like Wills. That fight being for the championship would have been big money also. The gate would have been less, but Firpo might have been able to demand and get a bigger slice and so make up the difference. I wonder what would have happened if Firpo demanded Dempsey and Wills meet in an elimination with Firpo to defend against the winner. That is the route I would have taken. It would have put Dempsey in a box. He would look even worse ducking Wills in a non-title fight than drawing the color line in title matches.

 

Firpo would of been Johansson to Dempsey's Patterson imo. We would of seen 3 great slugfests with plenty of knockdowns. I think fights 1 and 2 would be the classic fights and the 3rd one with Dempsey putting the stamp on the series with a impressive early round knockout.