Jack Dempsey defends his World Heavyweight title against the South American Heavyweight Champion, Luis Firpo. The first round of this classic fight would go down as one of the most exciting seesaw battles in boxing history! More info below...
Luis Angel Firpo, nicknamed the "Wild Bull of the Pampas", began his boxing career in 1917. His record at the time of the Dempsey fight was 25-2, with 21 wins by way of KO. His 2 losses came at the hands of the vastly more experienced Angel Rodriguez who was the South American Light Heavyweight Champion and a former Jack Johnson sparring partner, Dave Mills. Firpo would subsequently beat Mills by KO twice in rematches, both winning and defending the South American Heavyweight Championship in the process. In 1923 Firpo would ramp up the level of his competition to earn a shot at Jack Dempsey. In the space of 5 months Firpo would pick up 8 big wins including disposing of former Jack Dempsey opponent and World Heavyweight title challenger Bill Brennan in round 12, knocking out undefeated Jack McAuliffe in 3 rounds and stopping former World Heavyweight Champion Jess Willard in 8. His knock out of Willard in particular is what many people still consider to be Firpo's greatest career win.
Jack Dempsey had been reigning World Heavyweight Champion since 1919 when he forced then Champion Jess Willard to retire on his stool after 3 brutal rounds. Although Dempsey wasn't the most active World Heavyweight champion he had successfully defended his title against Billy Miske, Bill Brennan, Georges Carpentier and Tommy Gibbons. Over the course of his 9 year career Dempsey had amassed an impressive 52-4-9 record.
The fight itself was one of the shortest and fiercest battles ever fought between heavyweights. Firpo was considerably larger than Dempsey on paper. He stood close to 6'3" tall, had a 79" reach and weighed in at 216lbs. Dempsey was 6'1", had a 77" reach and weighed in at only 192lbs. Even with the size disadvantage, Dempsey would knock the big Argentinian down 9 times before he finally stayed down for the full count. However the biggest knockdown of the fight was actually delivered by Firpo himself, knocking the Champion clear out of the ring near the end of the first round! If it hadn't been for some ring side assistance to help Dempsey get back in, Firpo could very well have been the new World Heavyweight Champion!
Dempsey would say after the fight; "He (Firpo) is game and the hardest puncher I ever faced. It was the first time I was knocked down since I became champion and I'll never forget it. I saw eight million stars when I got that punch on the chin that knocked me out of the ring. ... I didn't even know he had knocked me out of the ring until I came to on my stool between rounds. I thought I had been knocked out." Dempsey's win against Firpo would be the final successful defense of his World Heavyweight title. After a 3 year gap Dempsey returned to the ring against Gene Tunney in 1926 but lost a lop sided 10 round decision and his title. In 1927 Dempsey also lost the rematch with Tunney, a fight now referred to as "The Long Count Fight". Dempsey retired from boxing with a 54-6-9 record and is still remembered to this day as one of the most exciting heavyweights of all time!
Firpo continued boxing for another 2 years following his loss against Dempsey, initially retiring in 1926 following a 12 round decision win over European Heavyweight Champion, Erminio Spalla. After a 10 year retirement, Luis Firpo returned to the ring in 1936 at the ripe old age of 41. He picked up 2 easy wins against no name opponents before making the ill-fated decision to step in the ring against up and coming Arturo Godoy... Firpo retired on his stool after being knocked down 9 times in 4 rounds. Firpo retired with a 31-4 record and is still hailed as a legend in South America, which includes having a soccer team named after him, Club Deportivo Luis Ángel Firpo!
