0Rooster4Life0 presents a Tribute To Jack Dempsey
Born in Manassa, Colorado, with the name of William Harrison Dempsey, he grew up in a poor family of mixed Irish origin and Native American background. Because his father had difficulty finding work, the family traveled often. He himself dropped out of grade school to work. Dempsey left home at the age of 16, eager to start a better life for himself. Due to his poverty, he frequently had to travel underneath trains and slept in hobo camps. However, Dempsey was a strong, powerful youth who quickly discovered he had a talent for fighting. With the help of his older brother Bernie, he began training to be a professional boxer.
Desperate for money, Dempsey would occasionally go into saloons and challenge for fights saying "I can't sing and I can't dance, but I can lick any SOB in the house." If anyone accepted his challenge, bets would be wagered. According to Dempsey's autobiography, he rarely lost these barroom brawls.
Dempsey's exact fight record is not known because sometimes he boxed under the pseudonym, "Kid Blackie." This practice continued until 1916. In between, he first appeared as "Jack Dempsey" in 1914, after an earlier middleweight boxer Jack (Nonpareil) Dempsey, drawing with Young Herman in six rounds. After that fight, he won six bouts in a row by knockout (as Jack Dempsey), before losing for the first time, on a disqualification in four rounds to Jack Downey. During this early part of his career, Dempsey campaigned in Utah frequently entering fights in towns up and down the Wasatch mountain range and keeping in shape with such sparring partners as Frank VanSickle day after day.
He followed his loss against Downey with a knockout win and two draws versus Johnny Sudenberg in Nevada. Three more wins and a draw followed and then he met Downey again, this time resulting in a four round draw.
Ten wins in a row followed, a streak during which he beat Sudenberg and was finally able to avenge his defeat at the hands of Downey, knocking him out in two. Then, three more non-decisions came (early in boxing, there were no judges to score a fight, so if a fight lasted the full distance, it was called a draw or non-decision, depending on the state or country the fight was being held in).
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Dempsey worked in a shipyard while continuing to box. After the war, he was accused by some boxing fans of being a draft dodger. It was not until 1920 that he was able to clear his name on that account, when evidence was produced showing he had attempted to enlist in the U.S. Army but had been turned down.
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