Pop Culture Text - St. Dominic High School

182 With Amusement for Allfined” people to boxing’s constituency. In 1921, for example, he establisheda special “Jenny Wren” section for female spectators at a championshipbout. “Women,” he said, “have given us insurance for the future of boxing.”He also searched for a fighter who could draw crowds, something thatJess Willard had not done. Indeed, after Willard defeated Jack Johnson in1915, he did not defend his title for three years, choosing instead to tourwith a Wild West show. 14Rickard found his fighter in William Harrison “Jack” Dempsey. Bornin tiny Manassa, Colorado, Dempsey was the ninth of thirteen children ofa poor Irish American family that sometimes received charity assistancefrom a local church. He learned to box in taverns, hobo jungles, and miningcamps. “I can’t sing and I can’t dance,” he would announce in cheapbars, “but I’ll lick anyone in the house.” If he won the ensuing fight, hepassed the hat for donations. Otherwise, he nursed his wounds and headedoff to the next place. He was virtually unknown when Rickard discoveredhim and paired him as the underdog against Willard in a mid-1919 heavyweightchampionship fight. In Toledo, Ohio, with the heat soaring to 106degrees, the 180-pound Dempsey faced off against the massive Willard,who was six feet five and almost 300 pounds and had already killed onefighter. Fans gasped in surprise when Dempsey knocked the champion tothe mat seven times during the first round, sending Willard to his cornerwith a broken jaw and missing teeth. In the fourth round, Willard sat dazedon his stool while his assistants tossed a bloody towel into the ring. Dempseyhad catapulted to fame. Rickard made sure that he stayed there. In 1921,he matched Dempsey against France’s Georges Carpentier, the light heavyweightchampion of Europe. Carpentier weighed only 170 pounds, butRickard blew the fight out of proportion, touting it as a battle between a“foreign foe” and an American, and spreading rumors that the Frenchmanwas working on a mysterious punch. Over eighty thousand fans brought inboxing’s first million-dollar gate and watched Dempsey knock outCarpentier in the fourth round. (“He can’t fight,” Rickard had told Dempseybefore the fight. “I could lick him myself. So I want you to be careful andnot kill him.”) In September 1923, Dempsey fought an Argentinean, LuisFirpo, whom Rickard touted as the “Wild Bull of the Pampas.” During theelectrifying first round, Firpo knocked Dempsey out of the ring. Still, thechampion needed only five minutes to win the bout, flooring his opponentnine times. By then, Dempsey had established himself as the “ManassaMauler,” a celebrity who could earn $500,000 annually in vaudevilleshows, movies, and other appearances outside the ring. 15Dempsey became boxing’s first millionaire champion, the poor kid whoultimately made it to the big time, eating at fancy restaurants, mixing withfamous people, and receiving an invitation to the White House. He alsoblended many of the era’s paradoxes. On one level, he fit with the emerging