The Washington times., 1931-07-08
GONG SOUNDS
.. ASREFEREE
TOLLS 7
BY JACK DEMPSEY

A dozen years have come and
gone since I stopped Jess willard
in Toledo on July 4, 1919. but the
memory of it isn't exactly vivid
in the minds Of quite a few his
torians. Some Of them have pic
tured me as rushing Willard
like an enraged tiger with the
opening gong"-which is dead
wrong.
Others tell about Jess popping
me with an uppercut in the third
round. Wrong again! Various
happenings Of that battle are so
twisted around by the Il recall"
squad that I sometimes think
they are talking about two other
fellows.
When the gong banged I Ger.
tainly did not rush Willard. I
simply walked out and got within
range so as to draw a left lead
from Jess. I wanted to see what
kind Of a body opening he would
leave. He led that long left and
it cleared the top of my head as
I ducked. AS I was ducking 1
noticed what slick target the
huge body of big Jess made.
Sunk Right Into Heart
So I got in close again to coax
him into taking a left-handed
poke at me. That's what he did.
AS the punch started, ducked,
stepped in, and let go a right to
his heart with everything could
put into a punch. 1t landed with
1877 pounds back of it. Jess let
out a fearful grunt and bent
over. His whole frame was quiV-
ering from the shock.
That's when / tore ina left
to the jaw, a right, a left
and down went Jess. Six times
he went dOwn-and got up on
his own. The seventh time he
was completely through. Ollie
PecOrd, the referee, counted
''ten over him and then lifted
my hand in token of victory.
A wild scene followed. While
Wizards handlers were hauling
him to his corner the frenzied
fight crowd came charging
through the press box and climb
ing into the ring. My handlers
fearing that the hysterical
crowd might, in its excitement,
do some stunts that would make
me lose an arm or a leg for SOU
venier purposes-ordered me to
quit the ring and hustle to the
dressing room.
Fans Swamped Him
So 1 climbed out and the
parade started, with big Bill"
Tate leading and the Jamaica
Kid" my sparring partners. bring
ing up the rear. Thousands
swarmed around us, wanting to
congratulate me. Some tried to
rip off my gloves; others grabbed
at my tights. And all around
was booming noises.
Yet, above all those sounds I
heard the voice Of Jack Kearns,
high pitched then and screeching.
"come back!"
/ didn't know why. But the
manner of KearnS indicated
that something had gone wrong,
somewhere and that the most
vital thing in my life just
then was to get back into the
ring without delay.
Kearns was now frantic in his
recall signals. I saw the ring
being cleared and sensed that
something had happened and
that the fight was not over. So
I had to start a sideshow fight
one that would enable me to
get back into the ring with a
minimum of delay.
Did Not Hear Bell
The confusion had come about
cue to the fact that the bell, a
faulty one. rang when Pecord
reached ~" but he had not
heard it.
Not until one minute after the
round actually was over was it
possible for the timekeeper to get
the attention of the referee and
notify him that the fight wasn't
ended. This factor was all in
favor of Willard because the &C
tual lapsed time between the first
and second round was almost
three minutes which he spent
resting in his chair while I was
out in rigside section fighting all
and sundry in my wild effort to
get back into the ring.
Copyright 1881 King Features
Syndicate Inc)