Anatomy of a Fight

Jack Dempsey -vs- Luis Angel Firpo
The Polo Grounds, New York City
September 14, 1923

Anatomy of a Fight - Jack Dempsey -vs- Luis Angel Firpo, takes a deep dive into one of the most famous fights, and fight films, in boxing history, the epic 1923 match between Heavyweight Champion Jack Dempsey and his challenger, Luis Firpo of Argentina.

The Dempsey-Firpo fight was photographed by a film crew hired by the fight promoters. The finished movie had a very limited distribution in the US, due to restrictive federal laws, but it was seen by audiences internationally. In the months and years after the fight, as with many early motion pictures, theatrical prints were lost or discarded or fell into private hands.

Years later, the surviving footage of this fight was pieced together into the a newsreel style documentary which has been in circulation since the 1940s. I have several print editions of the Dempsey-Firpo film and have assembled as complete a version as I have of the fight. With the aid of high definition scans, we can examine footage in fresh detail. I thought a closer look at the film might address a few questions about this controversial match.

Jack Dempsey, The Manassa Mauler, emerged as a knockout artist and leading contender in 1918 with 15 wins. Dempsey at 6’1” and 187-pounds, challenged and knocked out the 6’6.5” 245-pound champion Jess Willard in Toledo, July 1919. From 1920 to 1923 Dempsey made four successful title defenses. The first was Billy Miske, KOd in three, July 1920. Bill Brenan stopped in 12 the following December, Georges Carpentier finished in 4 rounds in boxing’s first million dollar gate, New Jersey, July 1921. Only Tommy Gibbons went the distance, on July 4, 1923, losing to Dempsey in 15 rounds.

Firpo would be next.

Luis Angel Firpo was the first boxer from Latin American to fight for the heavyweight title. Firpo was nicknamed The Wild Bull of the Pampas for his strength, punching power and relentless aggressive style. Arriving in the United States in 1922, the 6’2” 216-pound heavyweight fought his way up the ranks. Within a year Firpo had won twelve fights with eleven by knockout - including knockouts of Bill Brenan in March 1923 and stopping former champion Jess Willard in eight rounds the following July.

The showdown between Jack Dempsey and Luis Firpo was finally set. The bout was held at The Polo Grounds in New York City, on September 14, 1923 in front of 85,000 spectators.

At the bell Dempsey takes the fight to Firpo and runs directly into the challenger’s best punch, an overhand right that drops Dempsey to his knees. This fact has been established, but not often seen, due to an edit in the film. As Dempsey is falling, there’s a jump cut, and the action picks up a moment later with the fighters in a clinch.

This is the first of well over a dozen jump cuts I found in the footage, some creating noticeable gaps in the action. While some of these breaks cuts appear random, others appear intentional edits where the impact of punches have been removed.

The fight continues. Firpo is knocked down, gets up and is knocked down several times. The age of the film and lack of clarity makes it difficult to gauge every punch, particularly the impact of each. As powerful as he was, Firpo was an awkward, and at times clumsy fighter. His lack of experience put him at a disadvantage against a seasoned boxer like Dempsey. Yet, Firpo rises each time and throws himself back into the action with remarkable determination.

Despite having been off his feet five times, Firpo had the strength and drive to knock Dempsey down a second time, this time with Jack landing briefly on all fours.

Twice more Firpo goes down. Once from a right hand and partial slip, and another from an uppercut. Dempsey stands in the corner, just a few feet away, waiting for Firpo to stand. According to the New York Times, the neutral corner rule was in effect. Firpo was quote as, “surprised when Dempsey stood directly over me when I was down.” But the State Athletic Commission “took no action” regarding referee Johnny Gallagher failure to enforce it on either Dempsey or Firpo.

Suddenly, Firpo finds his footing. He drives Dempsey back to the ropes. He clubs and mauls as Dempsey attempts to fend him off. Firpo holds Dempsey’s chin with his left and follows through with a sweeping right that begins as a punch . . . but ends as a shove. Dempsey falls back between the top and middle strand, which acts like a giant rubber band, flipping Dempsey’s legs up and briefly over his head. Dempsey’s rear end bounces over the edge of the platform and allegedly on to the typewriter of New York Tribune writer Jack Lawrence. In less than a second, the film shows Dempsey lifting himself upright.

At this moment there’s another cut in the film. The sequence goes from a medium to a long shot. There’s long been a debate about how much time Dempsey was out of the ring. Witnesses testimony ranged from four to fourteen seconds until Dempsey climbed black inside the ropes.

The film and cut are keys to determine the timeline. I zoomed in the long shot to compare with the first camera view. There’s a very slight difference in the two camera angles, but when comparing the positions of the referee, Firpo, and the ringsiders, the cut is a match.

It turns out, there’s no time gap between shots. The timeline is unbroken. Dempsey is seen quickly scrambling back into the ring. He even had the presence of mind to hold down the bottom strand while climbing back to his feet as the referee counts four.

The entire knockdown sequence lasted less than five seconds.

As Dempsey gets to his feet, it’s now Firpo who stands close by. Launching another attack, Firpo drives Dempsey back to the ropes, not once, but three more times. Dempsey holds, parries and evades enough to survive. Finally breaking lose, Dempsey turns Firpo around and slams home a counter right to Firpo’s jaw. Firpo is hurt and his momentum is broken. The challenger covers up in the final seconds of the round.

At the bell, the film cuts back to the long shot. Dempsey tags Firpo with a left as they separate, but the referee intervenes. Firpo stumbles to his corner, while Dempsey strolls across the ring with his head down. Dempsey later said, after Firpo knocked him down, “I saw eight million stars” and claimed to be blacked out through much of the fight.

In the second round, Dempsey lands a series of left hooks. The two wrestle in a clinch and Firpo stumbles to the canvas, clearly not a knockdown, but the referee counts anyway as Dempsey walk to the corner. Firpo gets up and misses a long right. With Dempsey’s back to the camera there’s a mix of grappling and swings on the inside. Firpo drops for the last time and is counted out. As Dempsey and handlers lift Firpo to his feet, the challenger looks over a Dempsey, perhaps unsure if the fight is actually over.

As Dempsey’s arm is raised, he has an expression of relief and exhaustion. The champion takes a moment, then walks over to pay respect to his vanquished challenger.

Controversy swelled immediately following the fight and continues to this day.

Many protested that the referee did not enforce the neutral corner rule. Others contended that Firpo shoved, rather than punched Dempsey out of the ring.

And, Firpo may have escaped being counted out early in the first round. That, according to the United Press Sports Editor Henry L. Farrell, who wrote that 10 seconds had elapsed after the fourth knockdown, but the timekeeper hesitated, and the referee lost track of the count, tolling nine rather than ten.

And finally, it’s unclear from the film how much meaningful help Dempsey received from ring siders. Dempsey was never completely off the ring apron. His descent was likely halted by the typewriter table and at least the face and hands of one journalist. But being in the path of a collision is not an act of assistance. The ring siders were, according to author Frank G. Menke, just trying to, “keep Dempsey from breaking their necks”. The question is over a technicality. The film suggests, that it was Dempsey who, in less than five seconds, did most of the work to get himself back up into the ring.

In the end, this epic match, played out through all its excitement and drama just as it was meant to. As with many great sports events, it was a roller-coaster ride of thrilling mayhem, of missed opportunities, of rules cast aside, of raw athleticism where luck had no favorites, where no human was really in control, and when time itself seemed to go off the grid. And yet somehow, in the end, the fight brought itself to a justified and thrilling conclusion.

Decades later, in 1951, the Associated Press sports writers voted the Dempsey Firpo fight as the “most dramatic sports event” of the first half of the 20^th Century. (http://www.perno.com/lists/MDM.html)