Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-08-13
FIRST FIGHT IN
GOTHAM Melted
CHAMP IS DOLLARS

New YORK, Aug. 12.-(P)-Jack
Dempsey would rather fight than make
arrangements for ring encounter,
now that fstiana has become bog BUSH
ness and he has assumed his own
management. he told a representative
of the Associated Press after he had
shifted from one foot to the other for
three hours while trying to get HIM
self licensed for a bout with Gene
Tunney in New York
The champion said that he had hon
estly tried for nearly five years to get
a fight with Harry Wills and all he
had obtained was condemnation, sum-
monses and headaches. Jack said his
only lodging had been of process
servers i'll recent months, and that he
preferred sparring with an anita gonist
in the ring if he could only succeed in
arranging a hght.
Coming back here to the big town
always reminds me of the days 1 first
broke in here Dempsey said.
Il was fiat broke and couldn't get
fight anywhere when I first hit New
York in 1915. I finally got a shot that
paid me SIS. then couple more than
paid me s25 and $40, all prelimina-
ries.'
But Dempsey has passed from the
give and take days of 10 years ago
when he was an obscure plugger, seek
ing fights. to a position where a match
with Tunney probably would mean
return close to $500, 600
Isn't your three-year lay-off going
to be big handicap In meeting Tun-
ney?' Dempsey was asked.
1t hasn't helped me any. that's
cinch. but the fact that ] always keep
myself in good condition is going to
help. You know | never smoke or
drink don't like the STUFF, and I
always have had A habit of keeping up
my exercise and getting plenty of
sleep. I'm not far from my best
fighting weight now and won't have
any trouble getting down to about lSs
or 90 for Tunney."
The champion scaled 2024 in his
street clothes a the boxing commits
sion offices on Tuesday.
The eye and the punch are the
things that suffer most from a long
lay-off' he went on. I'm going to
get plenty of boxing so that | can get
the timing Of my blows down pat
again. Then I'll work out with lot
of fast fellows to develop my foot
work and Judgment of distances
How do you size up Tunney"'
Don make any ilISldht du'ht
him-hes the best of the lot. Look
at his record. He knocked out Tom
Gibbons. who STAYED the limit with
me, and BARLEY Madden. who last
ed Is rounds with Wills. He also
knocked out Carpenter
what was your toughest
hght?"
"Since 7 have been champion the
Firpo battle was the toughest. He
clipped me on the side of the face
at the start with wallop that
nearly finished me. That was the
hest blow he landed-not the right
handler. accompanied by shove that
sent me flying out of the ring later
in the first round
Il never really got over that first
crack. Although I whaled into him
and put him on the floor several
times | was still dizzy. | could still
see three or four Firpos when he
went down. When | got back into
the ring after ] was knocked out L
was even worse off. I never even
heard the bell that ended the round,
Consequently | didn't know had
hit him after it sounded.
Il was panned for that. you re-
member. A newspaperman came TO
me dIleTWd1h anu dShttl llt NIlCtiicl
| had heard the bell. Not wishing
to admit was too grogsy to hear ii.
said. Sure | heard it The next day
big story came out that | had adj
mittcd hearing the bell and socked
F'irpo afterwards. thus committing
foul, which would have disqualified
me.
That was a tough fight but the
toughest of a II were a pair of scraps
had with a fellow You probably
never heard of-Joe Sudenberg.
middleWeight. We fought two
draws back in 1915. one at Goldfeld
and the other at Tonopah, New. We
were both on the floor at intervals
from the start to finish of the first
bout and they had to carry me home
in wheelbarrow. In, the second
fight I knocked him down seven or
eight times in the first few rounds
but tired, and he came back to paste
me all over the ring in the latter
rounds
My new nose? Say, that's a
joke. It's been busted SO many times
there's not much left Of it. | had
it fixed for the pictures, and got a
lot of publicity out of it as result.
but I've had the remodelling done
dozen times. IL it's busted again
I'll have it fixed, that's all
Feel it, or take a sock at it, if