BoxRec

I was recently going through a 1940s magazine from Argentina ("El Grafico") and found the story of one
Calvin Respress, a heavyweight born in Macon, Georgia in 1891 and who by 1946 (the date the article was written) had been living in Argentina for about 20 years.

The article explained how Respress helped boxing become a popular sport in Chile and Argentina and mentions his fight with Chilean Heriberto Rojas in December 1914 in what was Respress' South American debut.

He then toured Argentina, where he enjoyed popularity being a black american heavyweight (given that Jack Johnson --who had fought some exhibitions in Buenos Aires himself-- was champ at the time)

But what made Respress famous and the reason argentines never forgot him was because of his relationship with Luis Angel Firpo, El Toro Salvaje de las Pampas
He fought Firpo twice in Santiago, Chile, first losing on a foul in 1918 and then by points in 1919. Respress says in the article that after these encounters they became friends and when he came back to the US in 1921 they kept in touch wrriting letters to each other.

Respress says that the impression Firpo had left on him led him to offer to bring him to the States to different promoters, but was repeatedly turned down by them with remarks such as "you must be crazy" or "we sure don't need to import any more argentine meat, we have enough".

Finally on Oct 29th he wrote a letter to Firpo telling him to come as he had managed to line up some fights for him. Three months later Firpo was making his US debut with a 7th round knockout of Tom (Sailor) Maxted in Newark, NJ.

Respress said that was one of the few times he went against his deep religious beliefs: He had to lie about his nationality and say he was Brazilian, because --according to him-- the regulations of the time didn't allow for an American to be in a foreigner's corner.

After Firpo's fight with Dempsey the Argentine offered him to bring him back to Buenos Aires with him, and Respress accepted to try his luck again in South America for a few months. He had four bouts in a period of six months and then retired on the request of an argentine woman he had just met and who he later married.

Respress decided to stay in Argentina, had three kids and when the article was published he was getting ready to come back to the US for the first time in more than 20 years. He was going to Macon, Georgia to visit his parents graves. I wonder if the people there recognized him and knew he was the man who brought Firpo to the U.S.

I can remember reading in an old boxing book, i will get it and post later, that firpo was very unlucky not to get a DQ win over dempsy.

I believe it was something about when firpo knocked Jack out of the ring, something happened and a more competant corner would have got firpo the title by DQ


Anyone else remember anything like this?

>>I believe it was something about when firpo knocked Jack out of the ring, something happened and a more competant corner would have got firpo the title by DQ<<

It must have been because people at ringside helped Dempsey back into the ring when he got KD'd into the first row.

Rafael wrote: It must have been because people at ringside helped Dempsey back into the ring when he got KD'd into the first row.

I also heard something about Dempsey hitting Firpo while he still had both hands on the floor in the first round.

Terap,

Scroll up. Look at Tyson's reply. Look at Rafael's after that. We are not discussing what we saw but rather what the different historical accounts on the fight were.

Well, the version I mentioned comes from Gene Tunney in his "Long Count" account published in "Press Box: Favorite sports stories"

Gene Tunney wrote: With all his accuracy and power Dempsey hit me flush on the jaw, the button. I was knocked dizzy. Whereupon he closed for the kill, and that meant fighting fury at its most destructive. When Dempsey came in for a knockout he came with all his speed and power. I didn't know then how many times he slugged me. I had to look at the motion pictures the next day to find out. There were seven crashing blows, Dempsey battering me with left and right as I fell against the ropes, collapsing to a sitting position on the canvas.

Of what ensued during the next few seconds, I knew nothing. I was oblivious of the most debated incident of the long count and had to be told later on what happened.

The story went back to the Dempsey-Firpo fight, to that wild first round during which Firpo hit the floor in one knock-down after another. This was in New York, where the rule was that a boxer scoring a knock-down must go to a neutral corner and remain there until the referee had completed the count. In the ring with the Wild Bull of the Pampas, Dempsey undoubtedly through excitement of battle violated that rule, as the motion pictures showed clearly afterward.

Jack confesses he remembers nothing that took place during that entire fight. Firpo landed a terrific first blow. Dempsey, after suffering a first-blow knock-down, apparently jumped up to the fray by sheer professional instinct--the fighting heart of a true champion. Instead of going to a corner, Jack would stand over Firpo and slug him as he got up. After one knock-down, Jack stepped over his prostrate opponent to the other side, to get a better shot at him--the referee was in the way. After another knock-down, Dempsey slugged Firpo before the South American had got his hands off the floor, when he was still technically down. The Champ might well have been disqualified for that--not to mention the fact that he was pushed back into the ring when Firpo battered him out. The referee, however, in his confusion permitted all the violations.

If you want we can discuss the film in another thread.

terap wrote:Why in the world would anyone offer 2nd hand hearsay when the film is available?

I can talk about what you dismiss as second hand hearsay accounts from people that gathered in Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo to listen to live radio broadcast of the fight. And how argentines who didn't make it to the Plaza would find out about the result by the flashing lights of a 300 feet tall Lighthouse built that same year. If the Light was green it meant that Firpo had become heavyweight champion of the world, if it was red it was Dempsey's triumph.

But that's all second hand hearsay, so why don't we just sit in front of a VCR and watch the fight for the 1000th time?

>> Dempsey did not land on the first row. He landed on the newsmen and the counter-table which was built around the ring to hold their typewriters etc. <<

That's what I meant. Sorry about the semantics, Benny.

>> The newsmen pushed him off of them a simple matter of self defense. <<

I recently watched the film again (I recommend you do the same). He was not just "pushed," he was aided. It is not clear to me (and to many other people) if he could have made it back before the count of 10 w/o this aid.

P.S. Please respond nicely....

Bautiful here as well Ben (well, except for those hard luck Cubs). Just thought about you when I watched Harold Johnson-Doug Jones match the other day. Good fight!

Watch the the fifth knockdown.

Calvin also fought an exhibition with Firpo in 1923 --
1923
Nov 4 Calvin Repress Lima, Peru Exh 4

One record I ahve shows a KO2 in their first fight, while most show foul.

In the interview I mentioned, Calvin himself says that he lost that first fight on a foul, although he doesn't specify exactly how.

I knew that Firpo had fought exhibitions in Lima, but I wasn't aware it was against Respress. Thanks Mike.

The foul result is waht the CBZ goes with at this point, so no argument there.

Any chance I can get a scan of the article for the CBZ archives? (I read Spanish so that isn't a problem).
[email protected]

No problem Mike.
I don't have a working scanner at home so I'll make the trip to Kinko's and email it to you later on today.