This fight took place in 1923, the same year my father was born, so
it is a little before my time. Still, from a historical standpoint,
Dempsey is my favorite fighter, and was my childhood idol.
Along with Marvin Hagler vs. Tommy Hearns and George Foreman vs. Ron Lyle, Dempsey vs Firpo
is one of the most brutal fights in Boxings history, with three minutes
and fifty seven seconds of pure savagery. Dempsey was knocked out of
the ring by a series of punches from Firpo and into the laps of several
sportswriters. At least ten people have claimed to help Dempsey back
into the ring, helping him to beat the count..
This is the fight that caused the neutral corner rule to be
implemented after a knockdown. The same rule that Dempsey ignored, in
the heat of battle, several years later when fighting Gene Tunney (The
Long Count). Dempseys failure to go to the neutral corner delayed
referee Dave Barry by several seconds, giving Tunney time to recover
and giving birth to arguably the biggest and most famous (or infamous)
controversy in boxing
