On September 14, 1923, in the fourth defense of Jack Dempsey’s heavyweight title, held at the Polo Grounds in New York, his contender, the Argentine Luis Ángel Firpo, alias the Wild Bull of Las Pampas and the first Latin American to dispute the heavyweight title title, he came very close to winning it.
That fight was forever etched in boxing history due to a singular fact that will never be repeated: a few seconds after the first bell, Firpo shook the champion with a powerful right hand to the jaw, but The Manassa Mauler held the blow and attacked with fury at the challenger. to knock him down up to 7 times. Still battered, the overwhelmed Firpo launched a relentless two-handed attack, finished off with a hard right hand (and a light, imperceptible push) that sent the monarch out of the ring. The latter fell on the typewriter of a journalist, who, along with other of his colleagues, helped Dempsey get into the ring, an illegal assist completed by referee Jack Gallagher, in clear violation of the Marquis of Queensberry’s rules, which among other clauses they forbade any support for a fallen boxer.
Thousands of times it has been written and said that Dempsey was between 14 and 17 seconds out of the ring, which in fact made him the loser by TKO.
When action resumed in the second round, Dempsey rocked the Argentine with combinations from both hands to drop him 4 times. Gallagher, with obvious bias towards his fellow American, ruled Firpo out of action at 57 seconds into the round.
Meanwhile, in Buenos Aires and in various corners of the country, thousands of fans who followed the fight in the capital, by radio, showed their discontent with angry street protests.
When they entered the ring, the 28-year-old Dempsey, considered one of the greatest heavyweights in history, was 56-4-9, with 43 knockouts, while the 29-year-old, 11-month-old challenger from Buenos Aires , had 21 knockouts in 25 wins, with 2 losses.
He never received another shot at the title. He retired after 9 more fights, the last one on July 11, 1936 at Luna Park, losing by RfTD3 to Chilean Arturo Godoy. He left a record of 31/26 KO)-4/3 KO)-0. He is considered the Father of Argentine Boxing.
