Page 112 - Doug Werner Boxer's Start-Up

Chapter Eleven

Fitz’s classic quote before that fight: “The bigger they
are, the harder they fall.”

In 1908 Jack Johnson became heavyweight champion
and one of the great ones to boot. But he was black,
brash and slept with a white woman.Back then this was
like a visitation from the Anti-Christ. It laid open
America’s ugly, seething struggle with race, and com-
bined with the anti-boxing elements at work, knocked
the sport full on its backside. Because of the swirling
mess associated with this guy, black fighters (especially
heavyweights) were ignored and denied meaningful
opportunity for years.This is where all that Great White
Hope business originated.

Then there was Jack Dempsey. All the pieces of his
saga fell together perfectly to create one of the greatest
legends in sports history. The right tale (from rags to
riches --- an American story of success), the right face
(rugged, handsome, mean), the right promoter (Tex
Rickard, mastermind of the first million-dollar gate), the
right race (white), the right decade (the roaring ’20s)
and the right fighter (a killer with bombs in both hands).
After the First World War, America was ready to close in
on itself and have some fun. And Jack Dempsey, along
with Babe Ruth and Red Grange, gave it to ’em, baby.

Gene Tunney beat Dempsey twice in two titanic bouts.
He did it with his head, skill and training. He was a
boxer’s boxer, a gentleman and another rags to riches
fighter who fathered a United States Senator after he
hung up his gloves.

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