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Jack Dempsey

“From the small boy to big man on campus.” “From geek to sheik”. “From hobo to champion.” These phrases have been used to describe thousands of people across the world who have defied the odds and made themselves into successful celebrities. But only the third phrase fits the one man that accomplished this task: Jack Dempsey. Known under many monikers (The Manassas Mauler, Kid Blackie, The Hobo Warrior), Dempsey would compile one of the greatest records in boxing history. Fighting a total of 80 official fights( not including over 50 exhibitions after his retirement), he won 60, lost six, drew eight, and won over 80 percent by way of knockout. He also participated in many historical bouts, fighting with the likes of Jess Willard, Jack Sharkey, Gene Tunnney, Gunboat Smith, and Jim Flynn. He even bankrupted the town of Shelby, Montana in 1925 when fighting Tom Gibbons. But it all started back in a small mining town in Colorado.

William Harrison Dempsey was born on June 24, 1895 in Manassa, Colorado. One of eleven children, Dempsey didn’t really have that much of a childhood. He spent his time working mostly with his father in the coal mines, making just enough money to get by. At the age of 16, Dempse

After this demolition, boxing became more and more attractive to the public. Boxers from other divisions started to emerge, there were rivalries that attracted crowds and increased publicity and coverage meant the appeal of boxing was huge. During this time, Dempsey defended his title 6 times and participated in over 20 exhibitions. In the middle of this dramatic run, he fought Tom Gibbons and proceeded to bankrupt the town of Shelby, Montana.

y left home and traveled on freight trains as a hobo, where he usually found refuge in small mining towns. From 1911 to 1916, as a hobo, Dempsey fought numerous times under his first boxing nickname, “Kid Blackie”. His first fight ever, in 1912, was a KO over Fred “The Fighting Blacksmith” Wood. He even kayoed his future manager, Andy Malloy, later that year. Since these fights were not historically recorded, it is said that he probably fought well over 100 fights before his real career began. But it would be under the guidance of his main manager, Doc Kearns, and promoter, Tex Rickard, that the “Manassa Mauler” would become in one word: legendary.

Dempsey would go on to retire after this bout, fight in over 50 exhibitions, and cement himself in the pinnacle of boxing’s greatest heavyweights. His beginning was that of a simple one, working in coal mines, hopping train to train. But when he put those gloves on, stepped into the ring, and the bell sounded, he became a livin

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