Jack Dempsey: The Twilight Years

Jack Dempsey: The Twilight Years

The last thing an ageing Jack Dempsey needed in 1926 was Gene Tunney. Fighting many things, including three years of inactivity, Tunney, a fighter very much ahead of his time, was just all wrong for a sluggish heavyweight champion of the world who had lost plenty of what made him the rampaging can’t-miss fighter of his prime. The ‘Roaring Twenties’ had a fighter to match that moniker. Apart from a few exhibitions, Dempsey hadn’t fought in the previous three years while Tunney was laser-focused on fighting and beating Dempsey. The absolute peak of Dempsey was almost certainly lost in those three years spent in the wilderness.

His fight with Georges Carpentier was the first million-dollar gate in boxing history. The fighter who knocked out Carpentier and brutalised the likes of Jess Willard and Luis Firpo was a thing of the past.

The great Pulitzer Prize winner, Red Smith, once said of Dempsey, “In the ring, he was a tiger without mercy.”

In front of 120,000 fans at the rain-soaked Sesquicentennial Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia, Tunney outpointed a sluggish Dempsey over ten rounds, and the story of the ‘Manassa Mauler’ looked over after suffering his first defeat in eight years. But Dempsey who was only 31 when Dempsey outboxed him, wanted revenge.

It was the first time the world heavyweight championship had exchanged hands on a points decision. The Tunney-Dempsey rematch a year later would also go to points but not without more than a hint of controversy. A fight that had one of the most talked about moments in boxing history. But Dempsey had to get past the future heavyweight champion Jack Sharkey in July 1927 before he could get another chance to reclaim his world heavyweight title.

Sharkey, the pre-fight betting favourite dominated the early rounds, and even Dempsey admitted that he thought Sharkey would knock him out. But in round seven, the direction of the fight suddenly changed. Sharkey turned to complain to the referee about some perceived low blows, and as Boxing News wrote, ‘Jack Sharkey took his eyes off Jack Dempsey and woke up on the canvas.’

A left hook did the damage, a punch Dempsey said of, “I hit him with one of the last good punches of my life.” 82,000 fans at the Yankee Stadium in New York had witnessed the last fight Dempsey would ever win.

Two months later Tunney and Dempsey met again in front of 104,000 fans in Chicago. Dempsey was always able to draw big crowds, and even in his decline, that popularity didn’t seem to wane. In truth, his defeat to Tunney had even seemed to enhance it.

The referee Dave Barry would play a pivotal role in the rematch. Barry had warned both fighters that in the event of a knockdown, the standing fighter should revert to a neutral corner before the count would commence.

For six rounds it was a repeat of their first meeting. Tunney was slicker and faster, and Dempsey was yet again showing his age and the effects of his long career. But the former champion found a punch from his peak and dropped Tunney heavily. But Dempsey forgot what the referee had told him. The rules had changed since Dempsey won the title with his blitzing of Willard in 1919. Back then there was no need to retreat to a corner of neutrality. Did that cost Dempsey his revenge? Tunney was given the benefit of a few extra seconds to recover. Would Tunney have risen before the ten-count without those few seconds? Tunney said he picked up the count at two and could have got up right there and then and he did appear ready to rise at any point. Dempsey said: “I have no reason not to believe him. Gene’s a great guy.” But the debate will likely rage for eternity. The fight and the myth of ‘The Long Count’ was born.

Tunney did get up, he recovered, regained control and even dropped Dempsey in the following round and yet again won a convincing decision over the former champion.

Dempsey was still only 32 but wisely never fought again and left the sport with a 64-6-9 resume. The Hall of Fame fighter died in 1983 aged 87.

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